APRIL 29, 2019 - This article was originally published in Garden Culture Magazine, US18
Written by NICO HILL
With the current state of world geopolitics being what it is, you’re forgiven for thinking that this is some propaganda tool from Kim Jong Un. Don’t worry, my friend, this is no such method of MKUltra-style mental warfare, but more a process of growing that, when mastered, will have you busting out overly flamboyant, self-righteous dance moves to celebrate your success.
Growing organically is something that a lot of die-hard growers aspire to do. Quite often you see a hydroponic enthusiast hastily making their way down the salty path, with the promise of ‘total nutrient control’ at their disposal. This is, of course, quite true. You totally can control the nutrients to an excellent degree and this will, when used correctly, provide you with a bountiful crop. Being able to ‘see’ and quantify what is happening at any one moment makes for a very appealing prospect to our analytical – right hemisphere dominated brains.
There Is No Spoon
There is, however, a lot more to plant growth than just nutrients. Hence, why you see a million different bottled additives adorning hydro shop shelves, essentially all trying to fill the gaps of the base nutrients and at the same time, takes more money from your pocket. From enzyme products to amino products to mysteriously alluring ‘boost’ products, everyone wants to find (and then sell you) the next magic product that will double your yield or enhance terpenes, flavors, and quality.
The problem, however, is how disconnected from an actual plant this makes a grower. Blindly following a nutrient chart from week to week, using bottles of nutrients just because it says to do so there on the shiny looking feed schedule. There is another way my friend, and not only will doing it all yourself make you feel totally awesome, but it will also give you a much deeper understanding of plants and the whole natural world in the process. Win-win.
Man vs. Nature
As a species, we humans love to think we know best. Constantly forcing Mother Nature onto her knees and raping the environment, simply as a byproduct of our presence here on Earth. We relentlessly take what we need and do what we want on a global level with little regard to the impact that it has on the land. For example, rather than harnessing the processes, nature has perfected over millions of years of evolution, we choose to use our petrochemical-derived, salt-based fertilizers to grow plants.
The father of modern-day fertilizers even admitted himself that the salty path might not the best to walk along. A couple of quotes from the man himself (Justus von Liebig) indicate that thinking we can improve on nature is fundamentally flawed:
Down the Rabbit Hole
An all-around lovely chap by the name of Cho Han-Kyu has been at the forefront of spreading the good word of Korean Natural Farming (KNF) since roughly 1966. Essentially, KNF involves the grower adopting practices that ultimately harness the processes that already exist in the natural world around them. Enhancing bacterial and fungal life, proliferating the diverse natural life in the soil itself, and using natural inputs that surround you in your immediate environment. Ultimately, working in harmony with nature itself. Yes, I know it sounds like some crazy hippy shit, but it really works, and it is totally cool, man.
Master Cho developed techniques that work alongside the natural world rather than trying to dominate it, and their practice has spread across the globe. Chris Trump has been successfully practicing KNF techniques at his 800-acre macadamia nut farm in Hawaii for years now and spreading the good word along the way. You can find many informative videos he has produced on the old interweb.
The fundamentals of KNF are maintaining a healthy living soil, with rich organic content, rammed with a diverse microbiological life and then irrigated with a range of inputs that are sourced and made from local materials. You continually work to improve the existing natural biological system, creating a powerful and fully functioning soil-food web, rather than washing the life out of your soil with salty water. So, what methods are these exactly then? What does it all involve?
Wha Fi Gwan
KNF requires you to think a little bit more esoterically about the natural world, so get ready to engage your left brain. There are a few techniques to learn, but probably more taxing than learning how to perform these tasks is simply remembering all the acronyms for them, so be prepared to engage your right brain as well. The actual methods to create these will be fully detailed in future KNF episodes (so keep your eyes peeled), but for now the following is a broad summary of what KNF involves.
Written by NICO HILL
With the current state of world geopolitics being what it is, you’re forgiven for thinking that this is some propaganda tool from Kim Jong Un. Don’t worry, my friend, this is no such method of MKUltra-style mental warfare, but more a process of growing that, when mastered, will have you busting out overly flamboyant, self-righteous dance moves to celebrate your success.
Growing organically is something that a lot of die-hard growers aspire to do. Quite often you see a hydroponic enthusiast hastily making their way down the salty path, with the promise of ‘total nutrient control’ at their disposal. This is, of course, quite true. You totally can control the nutrients to an excellent degree and this will, when used correctly, provide you with a bountiful crop. Being able to ‘see’ and quantify what is happening at any one moment makes for a very appealing prospect to our analytical – right hemisphere dominated brains.
There Is No Spoon
There is, however, a lot more to plant growth than just nutrients. Hence, why you see a million different bottled additives adorning hydro shop shelves, essentially all trying to fill the gaps of the base nutrients and at the same time, takes more money from your pocket. From enzyme products to amino products to mysteriously alluring ‘boost’ products, everyone wants to find (and then sell you) the next magic product that will double your yield or enhance terpenes, flavors, and quality.
The problem, however, is how disconnected from an actual plant this makes a grower. Blindly following a nutrient chart from week to week, using bottles of nutrients just because it says to do so there on the shiny looking feed schedule. There is another way my friend, and not only will doing it all yourself make you feel totally awesome, but it will also give you a much deeper understanding of plants and the whole natural world in the process. Win-win.
Man vs. Nature
As a species, we humans love to think we know best. Constantly forcing Mother Nature onto her knees and raping the environment, simply as a byproduct of our presence here on Earth. We relentlessly take what we need and do what we want on a global level with little regard to the impact that it has on the land. For example, rather than harnessing the processes, nature has perfected over millions of years of evolution, we choose to use our petrochemical-derived, salt-based fertilizers to grow plants.
The father of modern-day fertilizers even admitted himself that the salty path might not the best to walk along. A couple of quotes from the man himself (Justus von Liebig) indicate that thinking we can improve on nature is fundamentally flawed:
Justus von Liebig knew (eventually) that we need to work alongside natural principles and enhance their effectiveness, rather than try to re-invent the wheel altogether. Modern-day organic growers will quickly attest to this, being usually quite outspoken when it comes to testifying how much better the produce is with an organic crop. Is it really ‘organic’ though? What does that even mean? Does buying and using bottled nutrients labeled as ‘organic’ even really mean that you are growing truly organically? Well, at the very least, it’s a step in the right direction, I guess.
Down the Rabbit Hole
An all-around lovely chap by the name of Cho Han-Kyu has been at the forefront of spreading the good word of Korean Natural Farming (KNF) since roughly 1966. Essentially, KNF involves the grower adopting practices that ultimately harness the processes that already exist in the natural world around them. Enhancing bacterial and fungal life, proliferating the diverse natural life in the soil itself, and using natural inputs that surround you in your immediate environment. Ultimately, working in harmony with nature itself. Yes, I know it sounds like some crazy hippy shit, but it really works, and it is totally cool, man.
Master Cho developed techniques that work alongside the natural world rather than trying to dominate it, and their practice has spread across the globe. Chris Trump has been successfully practicing KNF techniques at his 800-acre macadamia nut farm in Hawaii for years now and spreading the good word along the way. You can find many informative videos he has produced on the old interweb.
The fundamentals of KNF are maintaining a healthy living soil, with rich organic content, rammed with a diverse microbiological life and then irrigated with a range of inputs that are sourced and made from local materials. You continually work to improve the existing natural biological system, creating a powerful and fully functioning soil-food web, rather than washing the life out of your soil with salty water. So, what methods are these exactly then? What does it all involve?
Wha Fi Gwan
KNF requires you to think a little bit more esoterically about the natural world, so get ready to engage your left brain. There are a few techniques to learn, but probably more taxing than learning how to perform these tasks is simply remembering all the acronyms for them, so be prepared to engage your right brain as well. The actual methods to create these will be fully detailed in future KNF episodes (so keep your eyes peeled), but for now the following is a broad summary of what KNF involves.
