Strawberry Micronutrient Deficiency?
I
started reading up on plant micronutrients when I noticed that our
strawberries weren't as tasty this year as last year. Sure, the
heavy rains a few weeks ago probably contributed to the lack of
sweetness, but strawberries that I'd transplanted to
new beds last fall were tastier than strawberries that had been in the
same beds for over two years. Could the old strawberries have
used up micronutrients in their soil, resulting in less tasty fruits?
As I read up on micronutrients, an astonishing story emerged. The
conventionally grown crops you buy in the grocery store are churned out
in massive quantities through farming practices which feed the soil
with chemical fertilizers. These fertilizers provide the plants
with the big three nutrients --- nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium
--- which is a lot like feeding a human solely on artificial protein,
starch, and fats. Over a few years, the crop plants use up all of
the micronutrients in the soil and start producing food which is also
deficient in those micronutrients. An unreferenced post
on Wikipedia
suggests that dealing with these micronutrient deficiencies could make
us 10% smarter. And maybe make our strawberries tastier?
| This post is part of our Micronutrient lunchtime series.
Read all of the entries: |
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.
- Remove comment
- Remove comment
- Remove comment
- Remove comment