The Albrecht System

[BigVanVader]

I am in a Market Growers facebook group and several farmers with a lot more experience and knowledge than me use this method of soil amending/fertilizing. I'm curious if anyone here has tried it and what the results were.

Like most things nowadays there is a ton of conflicting info online, but I have seen the results that the farmers mentioned had using this system, and it does make me strongly consider trying it.

My yields have been slightly declining for the past 2 years even though I use compost, manure, and all sorts of organic matter. I also apply lime, mag, and sulfur yearly as recommended by my soil test. The main issue I have with the Albrecht method is that is can be very expensive to do organically, and can take multiple seasons to see results. The basic principle makes sense to me, but in reality it seems feeding the plant may be more economical and effective in my situation.

Any info/help appreciated!

[Rajun Gardener]

Before you spend all that money you should try a Soil Savvy soil test and compare that to your usual soil test. The SS tests what's available that the plant can take up not what's in the soil and that difference is what makes them better. And it's on sale with free shipping.
https://unibestinc.com/products/

[rhines81]

Here's a good article on it ... makes perfect sense: "It is fairly certain that in the vast majority of cases, yield increases ascribed to Albrecht recommendations are in fact due to associated improved crop management practices."

https://www.farmersweekly.co.za/opin...ical-outdated/

[TexasTomat0]

BVV - I don’t know if this is scalable, as I don’t know how big your garden is, but have you looked into adding malted grains to your mix? Either in the mix or as a top dress. You can get them from Brewers store and have them ground To disburse through your garden. Basically the enzymes in the just sprouted seeds greatly increases both bacterial and fungal activity. Just a thought, not necessarily a soil schedule. Either way it is worth reading about.


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[Nan_PA_6b]

What is the Albrecht system?

Nan

[lubadub]

Albrecht created a system for balancing nutrients in your soil. He worked with Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium and Sodium trying different ratios to see what worked best. He was trying to create the "ideal soil." His ratio was essentially 68-12-4-2 base saturation or thereabouts. Michael Astera wrote a small book about this named "The Ideal Soil." The book goes beyond the major nutrients and sets target values for micronutrients and discusses trace elements. It is a bit more complicated than this but I hope I have helped.