A few weeks back we discussed the importance of silicon in crop production. A recent study by Researchers from the Department of Food Science & Technology at the University of California, Davis has found that that beer is a rich source of dietary silicon. So go ahead and pop a cold one after a long day, not only have you earned it, but it has health benefits too.

Beer could also make a good silicon fertilizer as the silicon is in the soluble form of orthosilicic acid (OSA). However you would need 267 cans to equal a pound of applied silicon! A rather expensive fertilizer.

I have heard old-timers say for a healthy lawn pour a beer on it, could silicon be the reason?

Do to problems of links going bad, I have converted the online article to a PDF and saved it on our servers. You can find the article on the study here, http://www.calciumproducts.com/silicon_in_beer.pdf

In an unrelated study, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that sugar has a more important role in cell division in humans than previously thought. This is very interesting to me since at many of this winter's meeting many farmers have asked questions about adding sugar to their sprays and fertilizers.

We were always told by people doing this practice that it stimulates plant growth and soil biological organisms. The reason stated is it a food source for both. Maybe it is stimulating cell division in plants and microorganism as well?

For the same reason as above the web-page on the sugar study can be found here
http://www.calciumproducts.com/sugar_and_cell_division.pdf

And snow, as my friend Michael has said, "snow" is becoming a four letter word. I think I pulled my back shoveling last nights 6 inches. While I am getting sick of the snow, and driving this morning was a little treacherous, the fence lines and farm yards were really beautiful (next time I'll take a picture)! The days are also getting longer and spring will be here in no time!

Yield Starts Here is a blog for farmers, focusing on increasing yield and profitability by focusing on the soil. It is managed by Craig Dick, a Blogronomist and Sales and Marketing Manager at Calcium Products. Find other articles by Craig and guest writers at http://blog.calciumproducts.com/ .