Greenbelt is designed to bring life back into the soil. That, in essence, means to reinvigorate the microbial life of the soil so all nutrients become accessible to the plant.
In living soil plants access the nutrients they require, as they require them. A far more natural and effective situation than the “slow release” chemical fertilisers boast about.
What do the microbes in Greenbelt Bio-fertiliser do in the soil?
The plants have a symbiotic relationship with the microbes using this basic system:
- Sunlight is converted to sugars in the plant through photosynthesis
- The sugars are exchanged with the microbes and fungi for nutrients as required
Included in Greenbelt are nitrogen fixing microbes and fungi that biologically “fix” nitrogen from the air or the soil. Our atmosphere is made up of 78% nitrogen so therefore there is 78,000 tons of nitrogen over every hectare plus any found in the soil. As most crops use anywhere between 50~1,000 units per year per hectare this is only a fraction of what can be made available with living soil.
Yes, rejuvenated soils actually make chemical fertilizers more effective.
We recommend, for existing commercial growers, reducing the chemical fertilizer inputs by 25% the first year and adding Greenbelt in a quantity to replace those nutrients.
For farmers wanting to transition to organic growing this process will continue until the chemical fertilizers are replaced entirely (over 3~4 years).
For farmers that do not have a profitable organic market, the aim is to find the best mix of Greenbelt and chemicals to give the ultimate profit for your farm.
The organic food market is a very fast growing segment of the economy. It generally takes 4 years for a farm to convert over to enable certification. By rejuvenating the soil and reducing chemical inputs the time taken to transition is greatly reduced enabling farmers to take advantage of market trends more readily.
Greenbelt Bio-fertiliser has only recently been made available to the Australian and New Zealand markets, however it is the result of over 40 years of intensive and continuing research and has passed the tests on thousands of hectares and different crops overseas.
Corporations engaged in contract growing as well as farmers cooperatives have used it for years and continue to apply the product on their respective farms enjoying the benefits of restored soils and strong yields.
Here is a link to a page dedicated to the question.
In commercial use the bio-fertilizer is spread by a belt-and-spinner type of spreader.
The next step in our continual development is to have the product pelletized at which time it will be able to be spread by any commercial spreader.
We generally see results at the end of the first crop cycle.
We have seen beans react in a within two weeks and have a 20% increase in yield in 6 weeks.
But in farming there are so many variables that no time-line can accurately by applied to all crops and conditions.
Our target is soil improvement so this takes a few seasons.
The other important factor is not decreasing returns in the process and that is where consultation with our helpful representatives is important.
Greenbelt can be:
- Introduced into the hole at planting
- Worked into the soil at or before planting
- Top dressed
- Side dressed
Commercial
Application rates will vary on crop type and general conditions. The rate is worked out based on the quantities in the chart below and the existing nutrient inputs. We want to maintain the inputs that your agronomist has worked out for you so yields are not affected during the rejuvenation process.
Following are general base line rates:
| Crop | Rate | When |
| Bananas | 4 tons per hectare | applied twice a year, 2 tons per application |
| Potatoes | 2 tons per hectare | applied at planting |
| Sugar Cane | 1~2 tons per hectare | applied at/before plant of fallow crop and cane and standard ratooning times |
| Vegetables (All types) | 2 tons per hectare | Worked into soil before planting |
| Orchards | 2 ton per hectare | Applied twice a year, 1 ton per application |
| Pawpaws | 4 tons per hectare | applied twice a year, 2 tons per application |
| Wheat | 1~2 tons per hectare | Worked into soil before planting |
| Turf | 1~2 tons per hectare | Top dressed |
| Rhodes Grass and Lucerne | 1~2 tons per hectare | Applied after harvesting |
| Rice | 1~2 tons per hectare | Worked into soil before planting |
| Corn | 2 tons per hectare | Worked into soil before planting |
| Pineapple | 2 tons per hectare | Worked into soil before planting |
| Coffee | 3Kg per tree per year | 1Kg per tree three times per year |
We recommend that you apply the Greenbelt Organic Fertiliser and cut back the non-organic fertiliser incrementally in 25% stages.
- Apply the Greenbelt Bio-fertiliser with 75% of your regular fertiliser.
- With the next application, depending on progress, you can look at cutting back to 50% usage of your regular non-organic fertiliser.
- Unless you are aiming to be certified organic produce the final ratio of Greenbelt to chemical fertiliser will depend on where you achieve the most profitable crop. It may be cut back further or it may be kept at 50%, this is totally dependent on results.
To determine how your soil is progressing have your soil tested during the above process for organic content. Depending on how depleted your soil was initially the above figures may need to be adjusted.
Domestic
Spreading Best Practice- Domestic and Market Gardens
New Seeds or Seedlings
Pots: When planting seeds or seedlings in pots place half Greenbelt Organic Fertiliser in the pot and top up the remaining half with soil.
Seedbeds: When planting seeds or seedlings in the ground, prepare a raised seedbed approximately 1 meter wide and 10~15 Meters long. Cultivate the soil. Excavate a deep furrow and fill half with Greenbelt Organic Fertiliser and top with soil before planting seeds. Water after planting
Existing Gardens The addition of 1~1.3 kg/Sq.Mtre (about 1/5 of a 10 liter bucket per Square Meter) is the recommended coverage to begin organic activity in your soil. Simply mix in this amount every month.
For lawns simply spread on top at the same rate then water.
The following imagery shows the outstanding results being achieved by farmers who have made the change to Greenbelt Organic Fertiliser and the poor results of the neighbouring farmers still persisting with chemical fertilisers
The following imagery shows the outstanding results being achieved by farmers who have made the change to Greenbelt Organic Fertiliser and the poor results of the neighbouring farmers still persisting with chemical fertilisers
Note The green colour of the crop and the strong contrast to the brown colour of his neighbours wheat crop in the background where chemical fertilisers are being used.
and will need to be turned back into the soil.
The Activator has been 40 years in development and is unique on the market.
Compost may have similar amounts of nutrients but it is not as active and inorganic fertilisers have N,P and K and possibly a couple of other macro or micronutrients but no soil rejuvenating properties.
The main aim of Greenbelt is soil rejuvenation. These results are only after one application of one ton per hectare at planting. The results will only improve as the soil is further rejuvenated.
The results are in
The harvest was completed last week with outstanding results using greenbelt organic fertiliser. We received this text from the grower.
Most of the wheat crops in the district went about 1 tons per hectare.
Our harvest using greenbelt organic fertiliser went 2.5 t per hectare, outstanding result. Considering there was no spring rain.
Robert from Kalfresh says The chopper driver said this maize is the heaviest he ever cut, 30+ tonnes/ ac!
This field was beans last autumn, speed tilled once and planted this corn.
A great outcome using Greenbelt Bio- Fertiliser i would say.
I have never seen corn so high with cobs set above my head!
The 8th Green that was previously riddled with fairy rings.
Now the playability is the same throughout and the rings are fading.
This as after only 2 applications of the 1:10 GreenBelt-Bio:Sand mix.
Brendon told me he went into a meeting last week with the professionals and one said they all agreed the course is in the best condition for the longest period that they have ever seen it in. They are all out playing on it every chance they get.
Brendon says that Greenbelt is now the foundation of his green keeping program and this improvement is due to the use of Greenbelt Biofert.
As I keep saying we have the means to supply economical soil rejuvenation. That is what we supply all our clients, whether turf or agricultural. We have a method to start and then maintain a process to rejuvenate the soil and once achieved all other products can be used to get the ultimate crop or turf condition if needed.
These photos below are of a green that is planted with 328 turf the forerunner to the hybrid Novotek. It will be replanted as funds permit.
328 does not like the heat.
Brendon has hit it with 20 litres of foliar diluted in 650 litres of water.
The islands of green are the regrowth.
To show you how good this is, in previous years the whole green would have been brown.
In contrast the good looking greens are the Novotek that is raging and even this would normally be showing signs of stress.
Letter From Rob at Kalfresh 27/04/2016
Mark,
As you know I have been very cautious with my implementation and testing of Greenbelt but it has always been more about the soil health journey than a silver bullet. Consequently, in our year one trials and commercialization I was happy to match our current yields replacing our chemical fertilizers. This proved time and again to be the case.
We are starting our third year with the Greenbelt and our cropping experience varies with our crop types. May I offer the following details of our journey to date –
Carrots – Carrots are a high yielding crop removing around 75t/ ha of crop. In the first year we use 2t/ha of greenbelt and a half rate of base fert. This produced yields of historical average. The next year we trialed 4t/ha of greenbelt as base fert with no chemical and again matched our yields. Consequently this year we are using 4t/ ha of greenbelt and nothing else. Our soil tilth and bed preparation this year however is astoundingly good.
Onions – Onions are another high yielder. Went through the same procedures as with carrots. However last year, our first year of 4t/ ha of Greenbelt our marketable yields almost doubled. From 45t the year before to an average of 75t/ ha. Our top yield being 90t/ ha. An exceptional result, actually a complete game changer in the financial viability of onions.
Green Beans – green beans commonly yield 5 – 7.5t/ ha in the Queensland season. I have been happy to maintain these yields with 2t/ha of Greenbelt. What has changed is the resilience of our crops in the heat, wet and insect attack of the Qld summer. Right now silverleaf whitefly is giving us a real problem. Other growers are experiencing crop losses of up to 60% even after pouring on chemicals. Our crops however are clean and yielding up to 10t/ ha. Difficult to explain apart from the compounding effects of Greenbelt.
Last year we actually had a 3.5ha field of beans completely submerged in a flash flood. In 25 years of growing beans I have never seen them survive inundation, but this crop went on to flower and set a 6t/ha crop.
Pumpkins – Pumpkins are another summer crop that are prone to insect and weather effects. Again at 2t/ha I have seen Greenbelt improve resilience and yield during this difficult growing window. In fact we just harvested 30t/ha of JAP pumpkin last week, while other fields in the area have failed to produce.
Maize – the results of Greenbelt with maize crops have been astounding. This year we grew our maize on 4t/ ha of Greenbelt and no other fertilizer. Our green chop yielded 80t/ha which was a new district record. The plants were over 13 ft high with the cobs set at 6ft from the ground. We also harvested some as wet grain 25%, which yielded at 21 – 24t/ha. This equates to 16.8 – 19t/ ha dry. Far and away the heaviest maize we have ever harvested.
Fungus – one of the most noticeable changes on the farm has been the return of fungus to the fields. In our cover cropping and grain rotations where we leave residues on the top, thick white decomposing fungus threads through the soil. An amazing sight. I have seen some worms returning but our powered tillage for veges is pretty hard on them.
Sorry this is a bit ‘wordy’, but it is the best way to present it.
Cheers, I’ll send some photos.
RH
