I enjoy watching TED lectures. If I see any plant/fig related I will try and post it for those that are interested.

This is from this week and talks about how we are running out of the important element, Phosphorus.

Biologist Mohamed Hijri brings to light a farming crisis no one is talking about: We are running out of phosphorus, an essential element that's a key component of DNA and the basis of cellular communication. All roads of this crisis lead back to how we farm -- with chemical fertilizers chock-full of the element, which plants are not efficient at absorbing.

http://www.ted.com/talks/mohamed_hijri_a_simple_solution_to_the_coming_phosphorus_crisis.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2013-11-02&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=top_left_button

Thank you for this post.  I remember reading that China was restricting its exports of phosphorus for this reason.  One way or another we'll become smarter producers of food, usually only when inefficient methods become too expensive.  Very sad if it takes a crisis sometimes to get us to stop polluting our waterways.  How are we not taking things like the gulf of Mexico's dead zone more seriously?  Permiculturists, work faster!

I think this is great info. The only fertilizers I use on my land are goat manure, chicken manure and wood chips - because I have goats, chickens and lots of trees. Most animal manure has some phosphorus in it because the phosphorus in the feed is passed on through the manure. I also use microbial soil inoculations. So, I think I'm already doing what the speaker suggests. I'm curious to know how many of you fig growers add phosphorus fertilizers to your fig trees.

I have yet to watch this video yet but will, From Baud and Pons, they are recommending a small amount of P for feeding compared to nitrogen and potassium (potassium seeming to be the most important)  so far what I have been using for my fertilizer is Fish Hydrosolate which has phosphoric acid in it to stabilize it, next year I will be feeding with blood meal, bone meal and potassium sulfate.  There will also be added Alfalfa tea, gypsum, maybe some lime, and reduced amount of fish fertilizer as it doesn't seem to add much other than P.  They will be top dressed with some manure at the start of the year and have mycrorahziae, which if you have too much P will kill the fungus, so I am thinking the P I will need to add will decrease with introduction of the fungus.

The Mycorrhizal Fungi Is the key to the way phosphorous is used in the future. In most soils, you will not have to add phosphorous. Watch the video!

I don't think it is off topic at all.  Thanks for posting, it has been awhile since I watched a TED video.

It was a good opportunity to brush up on my high school french too. Merci!

I agree that the fungi if practical is a much better solution than adding all the phosphorous to our land and waterways as it causes trouble.  Here in Florida in a lot of counties we are required to use say 10-0-10 fertilizer, fertilizer that contains no phosphorous.  We really don't need it anyway as Florida soils are generally naturally phosphorous rich.  Florida actually has large reserves of phosphorous and it is mined extensively....the county I live in was started because of phosphorous mining.  At current rates Florida could continue mining and selling phosphorous for over 300 years.  There are also vast phosphorous reserves in the western United States that are completely untapped due to economic reasons.  If the price were to rise though it would become profitable and the mining would start.   I would take what the gentleman in the video stated with a very large grain of salt as he seems to be pushing an agenda. If you believe the BS he is selling well I have some beautiful ocean front property in Kansas I am willing to sell cheap.  If though the fungi could supply the phosphorous as cheap as rock phosphate does I think that would be great, better for our waterways so good luck.  Lying to people, misleading people just to push an agenda because you think it is better for the planet and that the ends justify the means....pathetic.  

The good thing with the fungus is that you could reduce your need for phosphorus, you still need some around for it to pull up into your plants but depending where you are, the crop grown etc it could reduce the amount of phosphorus needed.  I think you would have to experiment and research how much you could do in each area before you could tell the savings, then the other factor would be how much does it cost to apply the fungus?

http://www.extension.org/pages/18627/on-farm-production-and-utilization-of-am-fungus-inoculum

It might be feasible for some small scale people to do this by making your own, but I haven't looked at what the costs and efficacy would be for it or calculate how much land you would need to do this on a large scale for a farm.  It may help cut down on how much fertilizer you need but for every person and farm would be different and there are a lot of factors as to how well it would work, but it could help, but how much I cannot say.

I have found on my ground with the mulch I apply I do not give the plants anything except nitrogen.......it is cheap, easy and not adding to the runoff problems as I am on the water.  People tend to think more is better but in many cases extra of a needed mineral actually slows the plants down.  

Wills C.  Please tell what you believe his agenda to be?

It is impossible to know another persons heart or what they might be thinking.......all I can tell you is he is spewing fear and falsehoods.   I tend to not care what the motives are of those that try to deceive, they are not worth the effort.  

Something of this nature cannot be falsified because it wouldn't take long for another biologist to prove it wrong. Florida may be rich in phosphorus but obviously in the big picture, other places on the planet are not so lucky. Having said that, I am sure that some company with an interest assisted with a research grant. Just as a mining company would fund research to contradict these findings. In the end, we must make a decision. Do we continue to mine a resource which is very limited in some parts or do we go the natural way that utilises existing phosphorus more efficiently?

I wish all decisions were that easy.

Maybe in the future we will be able to produce it ourselves. You can produce it from urine if you really wanted it.

Bexley,

Phosphorous is the 11 th most common element on the planet.  A 2 minute google search completely rebuffs what he said.....sorry that is just a fact.  Believing everything you read on the internet is just a really bad idea.  If you want to rebuff him point by point I can...first off when he claims we are almost out is just a lie.  We have a current 300 year supply worldwide with presently found reserves.  They don't even mine rock phosphate here anymore as it is not profitable to do so as pebble phosphate is cheaper to mine.  I would also mention that as phosphorus passes through animals we retain almost none of it so it is excreted so technology could be made to remove it from waste water.  

If you really think we are running out one only has to look at the commodity market which is a perfect reflection of supply and demand.  Here is a link for you showing the cost of rock phosphate for the past 10 years. http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=rock-phosphate&months=120 If we were in danger of running out of the mineral you would see a steady sharp rise in price as supply falls.  Do you?  No.  Why?  Because the people that are in the know and make there money from this know the supply is steady.  Yes there are spikes and peaks from fear mongering like in the video and the rise of cost of oil but as the truth comes out prices fall off.  When an element is truly in short supply the cost of that item rises in a steady bell curve and that process starts decades before we the public here anything about it.....supply and demand.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/06/27/there-is-no-phosphorus-shortage-stop-designing-damn-fool-systems-to-recycle-it/   As you can see the gentleman in the video is wrong.....my bet he has stock in a fungi company or he owns rock phosphate futures and is trying to get the price to spike again to make a lot of money.