Biodynamic Wine

Growing

R E G A N

K I L M O R E

D E M E S N E

B Y L A N D S

When Orion and the Dog Star moveinto the mid-sky, and Arcturus seesthe rosy-figured dawn

Hesiod 8th C BC

Historical references

• In ancient Greece and Rome wine was a cultural symbol of death and regrowth.

• Louis Pasteur’s understandings of alcoholic fermentation changed the nature of wine growing and winemaking

• Scientific and rational agriculture replaced spiritual approaches with N K P

Rudolph Steiner 1861 –

• The Agriculture Course, June 1924

• Koberwitz, former Eastern Germany

• a series of 8 lectures to farmers

• became the foundation for the Biodynamic method of Agriculture

“The best sound a vine can hear is the noise of the wine-grower’s feet”

Nicholas Mills

Rippon Vineyard Central Otago

NZ

1. The Soil

2. The Vine

3. The Cosmos

The Soil

Conventional

Organic

Biodynamic

A system of manuring will maintain and sustainthe humus content, microbiological life, and earthworm activity of the soil.

Peter ProctorGrasp the Nettle

N leaf growthP root development, respiration, photosynthesisK sap flow and photosynthesis

Biodynamic Compost Preparations 502 – 507

• Combine with “forces” or “processes” and “substances” to vitalise ordinary compost into biodynamic compost.

• 4 elements of nature: earth, water, air and warmth

Biodynamic Compost Preparations 502 – 507

502 Yarrow

503 Chamomile

504 Stinging nettle

505 Oak bark

506 Dandelion

507 Valerian

Biodynamic Compost Preparations 502 – 507

502 Yarrow The lungs

503 Chamomile The stomach

504 Stinging nettle The liver

505 Oak bark The brain

506 Dandelion The self

507 Valerian The blood

502 Yarrow (lungs)

• Breathes in cosmic influences.

• Connection to sulphur and potassium.

• Contains potassium and selenium.

• Potash forming

503 Chamomile (stomach)

• Digestion

• Contains sulphur

• Works on calcium and potash

• Prevents malformations

504 Stinging Nettle (liver)

• Cleanses

• Decomposed organic matter into mineral

• Makes compost and soil sensitive

• “Intelligence” and awareness

505 Oak Bark (brain)

• Reigns in excess

• Protects, heals

• Tannic acid give insecticidal properties

• Calcium (living form) for health and growth

• Prevents fungal attack

• Prevents excess vine vitality

• Raises pH without lime

506 Dandelion (self)

• Inner body, or the self

• Holds the other energies together

• Perfect potassium:silica relationship

• Silica draws in outer planets cosmic forces

507 Valerian (blood)

• Warmth

• Concentrates phosphorous in the soil

• Attracts light for photosynthesis

Preparations 502 - 507

• Don’t worry about the detail

• Concentrate on the principle

• Aim for balance

• Quality is more important than quantity

“The vine must be made to struggle,

but not to the point of serious stress.

So balance is important.”

Mme Lalou Bize Leroy

Domain Leroy, Burgundy

Maria Thun Barrel Compost Spray

• Called “cow pat pit” in Australia and NZ• Improves soil quality• Repairs chemical soil damage• Activates decomposition and microbial

processes• Aerates soil and improves soil structure• Balances and stabilises soil nutrients• Stimulates formulation of humus

Spreading biodynamic compost

• On soil in autumn when the earth “breathes out”

• Worms take compost into the topsoil

• Roots busy in autumn

• Lightly turn topsoil after spreading

How cow pat pit is used

• Sprayed in soil in Autumn when the earth inhales

• Used as a primer before solid compost and Horn Manure 500

• Spray two times a year to every 2 years

• Aim to get soil in balance by Spring

Cow pat pit raw materials

• Cow manure

• Biodynamic preparations 502 – 507

• Basalt (ground)

• Grains (ground)

• Eggshells (or dolomite or bentonite)

Cow pat pit preparation

• Insert solid biodynamic compost preparations separately into mixture

• Stinging nettle (504) in the centre to represent the sun

• Liquid valerian (507) sprinkled on top to warm it up.

• After 27 days dig and aerate with spade• Two weeks later use on soil• Looks very rich, dark, fine earth with a clean,

earth smell

Cover crops

• Stimulate humus formulation• Used to bring elements like N and CO² from the

atmosphere the soilCC’s also:• Biodiversity in monocultural vineyards• Provide shelter for beneficial fauna• Protect soil from erosion• Improve soil structure (chicory and lucerne)• Competition for weeds (clover)• Force lateral or shallow vine roots deeper

Cover crops

• Why do biodynamic farmers sow cover crops instead of leaving natural soil cover?

• Cover crops provide greater nutrients than weeds

• If you want to grow wine you must compensate

• Vines are perennial plants • Weeds are left in place, mowed, mulched

or ploughed

The Vine

The Vine Preparations

Steiner devised three further preparations used as sprays:

• Horn Manure (500)

• Horn Silica (501)

• Horsetail (508)

First Use of 500 and 501

• Use horn manure (500) before starting with horn silica (501) when converting to biodynamics

• Encourage strong root system (500) before developing upper part of plant (501)

Horn manure (500)

• Grass is energised in the cow’s stomach• Cows give powerful force and energy digesting

the grass• Grass is released as manure• Manure is buried in cow horn for 6 months over

winter• 501 Stimulates the soil but is not a “fertiliser”• Contributes to veins taste of place, terroir and

soil

Raw Material 500

• Cow dung from pasture – grazed, pregnant or lactating cows, cow horns of native breed; should have previously calved

• Collect fresh cow pats in Autumn • Make preparations immediately• Bury filled horns at autumn equinox in a

shallow pit in well drained earth, horn facing down

500 When Ready

• Dig up in Spring equinox • Should be slightly loose, dark brown, smell

of humus rather than manure• Can be mixed with Cow Pat dung,

chamomile, willow or nettle tea, horn clay• Spray on soil in large droplets• Penetrates soil more easily after light rain• Can keep for 36 months well stored in a

dark place surrounded by peat

Horn Manure 500 Benefits

• Builds soil structure and humus• Attracts and stimulates beneficial soil life• Mycorrizal fungi interface between vine and soil• Brings energy and life to roots• Stimulates deeper stronger root growth• Stimulates release of soil trace elements• Helps regulate leaves by lime and N in soil• Increases water holding capacity • Stimulates generation of seeds

“Ideally, biodynamic agriculture should bring about a balance between the calcium and silica forces, between inward growth and outer form, between dark and light, between the tangible and the intangible, between the inward pull of gravity and the outer pull of the cosmos”

Rudolph Steiner

500 Polar Opposite to 501

Horn Manure 500• Acts on calcium or lime processes (terrestrial), in

dark earth, roots• Calcium works from inside out

Horn Silica 501• Horn silica acts on silica processes• Silica works from outside in • Growth above and drawn to light

When to Apply 500

500

• Filed horn with 500 soil through winter solstice (days are longest) to spring equinox when the earth exhales and atmosphere above brightens

• During a root period when earth is breathing in during the descending moon in the afternoon

How Often to Apply 500

• 2 to 4 times a year

• Once or twice late Autumn after harvest when earth breathes in

• Again once or twice in early spring as first shoots appear before earth breathes out

• 60 to 120 grams (1 horn) into 30 – 120 L water for 1 ha vines

Horn silica 501

• Silica makes up nearly 50% of earth’s crust

• Clear relationship between light and heat of the sun

• Sowers millions of tiny mirrors over the vines, intensifying the sun’s effect

• Brightens both the vines and the soil

Raw Material 501

• Quartz in crystalline form ground into a fine powder

• Can be collected any time• Ground down to fine powder during winter• Mix powder with water into dough-like paste and

fill horns• Bury in shallow pit in good earth, open site• with Spring equinox or Summer solstice Moon in

front of an air/flow sign• Underground all Summer when earth forces

directed outwards to cosmos

501 When Ready

• Dig up at Autumn equinox or Winter solstice

• Spray over tops of vines and on leaves as fine spray

• Keep in glass jar, in light, sunny position• Growers in hotter climates such as

Australia (and specific regions within Australia) are wary of over-using horn silica and burning the vines

Horn Silica 501 Benefits

• Influence seem in upper (cosmic) part of plant

• Allows leaves and shoots to enhance use of light and heat

• Improves photosynthesis

• Augments plants’ assimilation of atmospheric CO²

Horn Silica 501 Benefits

• Encourages ‘light’ or Summer processes to strengthen plant against fungal or insect attack

• Augments ripening, raises sugar (baumé) levels in both sap and crop

• Allows crops to keep longer once picked

When to Apply 501

• In spring stimulates vines upward growth towards the sun in 2 ways: encourages cell division and fruitfulness (consistent crop and reserves buds for following year)

• Avoid during flowering (inhibits fruit set)• Moon-Saturn opposition in months before ripening• Ascending moon under Leo favours seed ripening and

stable yields• End of ripening pushes vine into Autumn mode• After harvest leaves falling, to ripen shoots ad prevent

disease in leaf stem opening

When to Apply 501

• Spray early morning as vines warm up

• 2 to 6 grams in 30 to 300 L water

• Dynamise for 1 hour

• Spray within 3 hours of dynamising

• Can add 508 Horsetail (Equisitum)

Horsetail 508 (Equisetum)

• She-Oak or Asuarina Stricta is used in Australia• 70% silica relates to light• Strong sulphur component is antifungal • Counteracts excess moon influence in soil that

encourages fungal diseases• Treats vines directly not via compost• 100 g p/ha• Stir 20 minutes• Fresh 508 preparation fine spray on vines• Fermented 508 droplets sprayed on soil

Horsetail 508 (Equisetum)

• Concentrated concoction diluted as needed• Use as often as needed between Spring and

Autumn • Use in Summer during flowering mid morning

when flowers open and receptive to solar forces• Spray before strong lunar influence or wet

weather• Reduction in need for sulphur dust for Powdery

Mildew or oidium• Reduction in need for Bordeaux Mixture (copper

sulphate, lime, water) for Downey Mildew

Celestial bodies

• Inner celestial bodies closest to the sun (e.g. our Moon, Mercury and Venus) favour the calcium force

• Outer planets (e.g. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) bring silica influences

• Biodynamic calendars show the position of the planets

• Moon-Saturn opposition reinforces the action of horn silica 501

Horsetail 508

• Supplants horn silica

• Creates a downward movement

• Works to push “fungal level” down off plants into the soil reducing risk of fungal attack

The Dynamics of Biodynamics: practical level

• Preparations are first stirred “dynamized” in water

• dissolves substances and helps microbes multiply fast

• Stirring makes links the solid and the liquid

• Stir one way (whirlpool) then the other mirrors N-S poles influence on water in motion

The Dynamics of Biodynamics: spiritual level

• Spiritual level - vortices are life giving, bring spirit into water and preparations, water becomes dynamic carrier of life energy

• Outside in draws in energy, inside out disperses energy from within

• Changing direction undergoes chaos (imprint of the cosmos)

Stirring methods

• Stir by hand

• Electrically powered machine

• Flow-form fountains

• Flow form vortices are spread horizontally

• Bucket form vortices are spread vertically

Weeds, Pests & Diseases

Weed Control

• Mulching

• Weed tea - apply and correct missing nutrients

• Weed ashing - when weeds have set seed, collect seeds, leaves and roots, spread ash on ground

• Sow cover crops

Pest Control

• Read and understand message pest is sending – is it a beneficial predator?

• Appearance of pests from poor soil management

• Removing pest from ground habitat seeks new habitat in vine canopy

• Pest ashing - burn and spread pest pepper (or dynamise spray) to discourage pests

Disease Control

• Prevention not cure• Prune and shoot positioning so bunches hang

freely• Manage new shoot growth to precent excess

shade and humidity within vine canopy• Use dusting sulphur, lime sulphur or Bordeaux

Mixture to control Powdery and Downy Mildew (approved for Organic and biodynamic vineyards)

Disease Control

• Spray during dry weather so protects as barrier• Never spray on wet grapes because upsets

yeasts and starts berry fermentation • Precents vine wood diseases • Biodynamic pruning paste - cow manure + whey

and diatomaceous earth /clay, seals crevices where fungals diseases may overwinter

Biodynamic Remedies

• Teas – put plant in boiled water then soak

• Decoction – put plant in water then boil

• 500 Urticae (500 + nettle + willow teas) for fan leaf viruses and weak vines

• Chamomile tea – tempers stress of heat, cold, rain and drought

Biodynamic Remedies

Nettle tea*

• an astral plant, contains K, Mg, C, and Fe all stimulate vine sap

• soothes chlorosis• repletes and liberates Fe in soil• smell acts as insect repellant• mix with Bordeaux mix leaves softer faster

Chemicals

• Pesticides, fungicides, insecticides, herbicides• Calculated 142 g chemicals per 750 ml bottle of

wine• @7,000 bottles per Ha• 20 spray treatments per year• X 400 L of liquid = 1 T per Ha per year• X liquids added 20 to 40 T per Ha per year• = 1 T chemical spray diluted at 1:20 or 1:40

strengtht is needed to treat 1 Ha of vines

The Cosmos

“We shall never understand plant life unless we bear in mind that everything which happens on the earth is but a reflection of what is takingplace in the cosmos”

Rudolph Steiner

Cosmos

There are 4 lunar cycles linked to the moon’s relationship with the sun:

• Synodic (the sun)

• Apogee-Perigee (the earth

• Sidereal (the stars)

• Ascending – descending (plane of the ecliptic)

Synodic (moon & sun)

• 29.5 days moon and sun phase cycle• Waxing (new to full moon)• Waning (full to new moon)• Felt through medium of water• Waxing increase in moisture content of

earth and atmospheric humidity (plant growth and fungal diseases)

• Waxing good time to apply compost spray, weed/pest ashes absorb easier

Apogee–Perigee (moon & earth)

• Ellipic

• 27.5 day period

• “anomalistic” month cycle

• Perigee – Moon’s closest point to earth “winter mood” water realm, encourages fungal diseases

• Apogee – moon furthest away from earth “summer mood” growth up and away

Sidereal (stars)

• 27.3 days 12 astronomical constellations and zodiac

• Sidera Latin for “star”• Sequence recurs every 9 days, each 12 different

between 0.5 and 3.5 days• Earth – Taurus, Virgo, Caprocorn• Air – Gemini, Libra, Aquarius• Water – Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio• Fire – Aries, Leo, Sagitarius• Vine – fruit/seed crop relates to fire sign, so time

vineyard work to coincide with fire rhythm

Ascending – Descending Moon (planes of the ecliptic)

• 27.3 days moon’s rise and fall and rise• Compared to sun 365 days• Ascending rhythm of the moon invokes a

Spring/Summer mood• Descending invokes an Autumn/Winter mood• When ascending earth breathes out. Plant

growth concentrates above soil, sap flows upwards

• Descending – earth breathes in. Plant growth concentrated underground, sap flows down

Moon – Saturn Oppositions

• Celestial bodies stand opposite each other in the sky at 180 degrees

• E.g. full moon faces the sun

• E.g. moon faces Saturn

Biodynamic Status

• Difficult to time daily vineyard work precisely to favourable aspects of biodynamic calendar (and avoid unfavourable aspects)

• Therefore compromise 2.25 days average moon in front of each constellation

• Do not have to work to biodynamic calendar for B-D status

• B-D status awarded if preparations are used in sufficient quantity (not on when they are applied)

Demeter International

• Founded 1997 • Coordinates activities of individual

Demeter Biodynamic certification programs worldwide

• 18 member countries (not Australia but includes NZ)

• Australia recognised by Demeter but federal government control biodynamics here

Demeter

• Greek Goddess of fertility• Protector of all fruits of the earth• Earth mother – Da Mater. Roman name is Ceres• When her daughter Persephone was kidnapped by

Hades (Pluto) the god of the underworld, nothing grew on earth.

• Persephone was only returned by Hades for 6 months of the year

• Persephone brought spiritual forces to earth manifest through plants

• This human consciousness (spirit) and development of agriculture (matter) are inextricably linked in biodynamics