Vital Force Soil Energizer

Vital Force Soil Energizer is a customized blend of 13 ingredients, each with distinct functions. It provides an enhanced combination of nutrients for plant growth and development, and promotes the biological activity of soil to maximize growth potential. In addition to the ingredients in our other products, Soil Energizer contains a microbe package that greatly increases biological activity in your soil.

Functions of Vital Force Ingredients

Ecochar

The base of our Soil Energizer is Ecochar, a revolutionary biochar made from a range of sustainably recycled farm waste materials. In this product, we use Ecochar made from dried distiller’s grain sourced from a bioethanol plant.

Biochar has long been recognized as capable of providing many important soil properties and functions necessary to maintain soil health, fertility and function, ensuring proper plant growth and performance. One big advantage of Ecochar over other types of biochars, specifically those made from wood, is its high nutrient content. Wood biochars tend to be very nutrient poor. If added to soil without prior nutrient loading, they can tie up the existing nutrients and prevent them from being available to plants and other soil biology. Ecochar comes preloaded with nutrients, minimizing any potential nutrient tie up.

Some recognized benefits of adding Ecochar to soil include:

Improves tilth and reduces soil bulk density
Increases soil water holding capacity
Increases cation exchange capacity (CEC - the ability to hold onto and transfer nutrient cations: ammonium, calcium, magnesium, and potassium)
Increases anion exchange capacity (AEC - the ability to hold onto and transfer nutrient anions: nitrate, sulfate, phosphate)
Improves fertilizer utilization by reducing leaching from the root zone
Retains minerals and nutrients in a plant available form
Helps plants resist stressful conditions
Supports soil microbial life and biodiversity

Humates

Humates are a recognized critical aspect of soil fertility and plant nutrition. Soil Energizer uses a uniquely processed, water-soluble humic acid that is added to the Ecochar, along with a rock mineral product (see Azomite below), to provide an enhanced biochar. Some recognized benefits that humic substances provide include:

Improves soil texture
Increases water retention
Increases cation exchange capacity
Alleviates excess salt buildup
Increases nutrient availability and uptake
Improves seed germination

Azomite

In addition to the soluble humate product, we also include Azomite, a well-recognized and widely used rock powder, to help promote soil remineralization. This product is added along with the soluble humate to formulate our enhanced Ecochar product. The main purpose of this addition is to help ensure the EcoChar is charged with essential mineral nutrients, including micronutrients vital for soil biology, plant health and function.

Microbial Food Sources (Prebiotic Component):

A major component of Soil Energizer is the addition of a range of sustainably sourced components, commonly referred to as “prebiotics”. They serve as a source of nutrition for naturally occurring microbes in commercial soils, and for the microbial component of Soil Energizer. Just as with human nutrition, soil health (and by extension plant health) is promoted via a balanced diet. This is why Soil Energizer has eight distinct “prebiotic” components. The inclusion of such a varied list of microbial foods is partly because the prebiotic components have different capabilities in terms of what types of microbes are stimulated. This ensures that we provide a viable food source for the widest possible range of microbial organisms. In addition, the prebiotics have different breakdown profiles, with some having a rapid and short-term feeding rate, others having a slower and more long-term feeding rate. This helps ensure the longest possible stimulation of the soil’s biological component.

Breakdown profiles of Soil Energizer Prebiotic Components:

1. Blood Meal - Rapid

2. Feather Meal - Slow - Moderate

3. Soybean Meal - Moderate

4. Kelp Meal - Moderate

5. Alfalfa Meal - Slow-Moderate

6. Bat Guano - Rapid

7. Worm Castings - Slow-Moderate

8. Meat and Bone Meal - Moderate

Microbial (Probiotic) Component

The final component of Vital Force Soil Energizer is a powerful combination of microorganisms with benefits recognized not only for soil health and function, but also for the health, performance and productivity of plants. This microbial formula consists of 16 species of beneficial bacteria and fungi, including two strains of beneficial fungi, six species of endomycorrhizal fungi, and eight species of beneficial bacteria. What makes our formula so unique and powerful is not only the combination of ingredients, but also the quantity of each microbial species. Together, they make Vital Force Soil Energizer one of the most comprehensive microbial packages available.

Endomycorrhizal Fungi (24 spores per gram):

Glomus intraradices: 4 per gram

Glomus mosseae: 4 per gram

Glomus deserticola: 4 per gram

Glomus aggregatum: 4 per gram

Glomus fasciculatum: 4 per gram

Glomus clarum: 4 per gram

Beneficial Bacteria: (650,000,000 spores per gram)

Bacillus subtilis: 100,000,000 per gram

Bacillus licheniformis: 100,000,000 per gram

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens: 100,000,000 per gram

Bacillus pasteurii: 100,000,000 per gram

Bacillus pumilus: 100,000,000 per gram

Paenibacillus polymyxa: 50,000,000 per gram

Azospirillum amazonense: 50,000,000 per gram

Azospirillum lipoferum: 50,000,000 per gram

Beneficial Fungi: (50,000,000 per gram)

Trichoderma resii: 25,000,000 per gram

Trichoderma harzianum: 25,000,000 per gram

Recognized functions of Endomycorrhizal Fungi:

Enhances plant root systems, helping facilitate the uptake of water and mineral

nutrients, particularly phosphorous

Facilitates root growth and overall plant establishment
Provides plants with increase resistance to abiotic stress, particularly drought

Functions/Properties of Beneficial Bacteria and Fungi:

1. Nutrient Solubilization and Uptake

Some microbes in Soil Energizer help convert organic forms of nitrogen in soil into forms the plant can utilize.
Other microbes help convert organic phosphates and insoluble phosphate compounds into soluble, plant available phosphorus
Solubilization and mineralization processes also help increase the availability of other nutrients such as Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B, etc.

2. Nitrogen Fixation

Some microbes in Soil Energizer are nitrogen fixing bacteria able to convert atmospheric nitrogen gas into plant available forms
This nitrogen fixation increases the supply of plant available nitrogen, which may help reduce the need for supplemental fertilizer applications

3. Plant Growth Promotion

Some microbes in Soil Energizer naturally produce beneficial plant hormones which help promote growth and increase yields independently of supplemental fertilizer applications

4. Abiotic Stress Reduction

When plants are exposed to abiotic stress (temperature extremes, salinity, drought), ethylene production in plant roots increases, drastically inhibiting root growth (termed ethylene stress)
In response to high ethylene levels, some of the microbes in Soil Energizer are able to produce the enzyme ACC deaminase, which lowers ethylene levels and helps reduce negative impacts of ethylene stress

5. Extracellular Enzyme Production

Many of the beneficial microbes in Soil Energizer secrete a range of enzymes that help promote the decomposition, transformation and cycling of nutrients. Present in organic matter and plant residues, Soil Energizer helps make these nutrients available for uptake by plants and soil microbes

To purchase Ecochar or Vital Force, visit our shop here. If you have any questions about our technology, installations, products, or general inquiries, contact Shane McGolden at 812-455-9258 or ShaneMcGolden@gmail.com.