Biodynamic Solution Preparation: BD 500

Dear Readers,

As mentioned in an earlier post, my order of biodynamic preparations arrived.  The preparations sent were enough to cover a 1 acre plot, so I would like to share with you how I have been making up the solution of the preparation 500 or horn manure for my little space.

It arrives in a little zip top bag and the Josephine Porter Institute supply you with instructions on how to keep this preparation if you are not going to use it within 3 weeks which requires some jars, a wooden lidded box and peat.

The area I have dedicated to growing biodynamically is a bed 8 ft by 6 ft, so I don’t need nearly as much of this preparation 500 to add to water, to spray on the soil.

As you can see in this photo, I only have a small amount which is being added to a 10 quart bucket of water which has been left standing overnight to allow the treatment chemicals to dissipate.

I’m using a piece of raspberry cane to stir the water to dynamize the preparation ready to spray.

Take care to allow enough room in the mixing vessel to get a good vortex going.  Stir for 20 seconds or so in one direction quite vigorously then allow the water to come to a stop then mix around in the other direction for 20 seconds or so.  Continue this process for 20 minutes.

A word of advice when making the preparations; if you have pets, keep them out of the way when you are preparing the sprays.  Each one of our dogs thought that this was the perfect thirst quencher on a hot morning!

After stirring the preparation, I transferred to a 1 gallon sprayer and sprayed the bed prior to planting and sowing seedlings.  I sprayed the bed 3 times and any left over preparation I sprayed on our fruit trees, the haybale gardens and into the compost bin.  I also spray my biodynamic and gardening by the moon seed trays prior to sowing seeds with the spray to try and give my seeds an extra boost.

The horn manure preparation must be sprayed quickly since it loses it’s potency.  Only spray the preparation onto ground which has been treated with either preparation 502 (Yarrow) or 507 (Valerian) prior to using the horn manure preparation.

Preparations should ideally be dynamized and prepared outside to allow the vortex created in the water to draw in the atmospheric and cosmological influences to benefit the soil and the plants which will grow in the bed.  It was such a lovely day outside that I quite forgot about the time and stirred the preparation for too long but I don’t think it will have any adverse effect on the potency of the preparation.

Do you grow biodynamically? Do you have a better way to make up the solutions for smaller gardens?  If you do, we would love to hear your recommendations.