In the previous episode we were talking about some miraculous finds of a senior Indian scientist namely Dr. Krishan Chandra. Let me continue on that.
Anyone who has undertaken farming or even gardening on a smaller scale knows the kind of problem one faces – infertile soil, bad soil structure, bad Ph conditions, various kinds of diseases, pests, insects, and so on. If you expect any decent yield, you either need to spend lot of money on fertilizers and insecticides or be content with whatever low yields you can get using organic fertilizers and without using insecticides.
Organic fertilizers are becoming a craze these days. And obviously many companies are taking advantage of that for a quick buck. The farmer gets squeezed from both ends – high cost of production, and low yields.
But Dr. Chandra has a ‘solution’ for all these problems. I am using the word ‘solution’ as a pun. He literally has a solution; I mean a liquid to solve all your problems. And you may be surprised that this solution costs almost nothing – less than a few dollars.
And you don’t need to run to Dr. Chandra each time you need it. You get it once and then on, you can multiply it yourselves and even share it with your friends almost for free! It is a lifetime ‘solution’ – literally.
What does this solution contain?
Dr. Chandra rarely talks about the actual contents of this solution in scientific terms. He focusses more on how to use it and its benefits rather than about academic details. Even when some of his assistants try to demonstrate its content in lab setup, Dr. Chandra intervenes and changes the talk to informal discussion totally skirting off all technical details!
Dr. Chandra says that he is reluctant to give all the details about the contents since he fears misuse by some commercially minded people to exploit the farmers. All that he casually mentions is that the solution contains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fixing bacteria that we talked about in the previous episodes. But he avoids naming the exact bacteria or how he got them!
For mass appeal, he claims that these bacteria are derived from dung of Indian breed cows or the so called Desi Gaai. If you are familiar with Indian traditions, you know that most Indians revere cows. For thousands of years Indians have been using solution made from cow dung to sanitize their homes. Devout Hindus even take a sip of such a solution believing that it will free them of all the diseases.
Was it just a religious belief or is there more to it?
In recent times many people claim that there is sufficient scientific evidence to show the wonderful capabilities of cow dung and it is not just a religious superstition. Well, I don’t have much information on that.
But what I do know is that cow dung has lot of micro-organisms that are helpful to farming. Cow dung manure, though low in nutrients, is prized more for the effect of these bacteria on the soil.
But did Dr. Chandra really separate these bacteria from the cow dung? And what is so special about Indian breed cows? Does it not apply to any cow? Dr. Chandra never talks about these!
But at least in one of the interviews Dr. Chandra says that he accidentally found potassium fixing bacteria – first time in the world – not from cow dung but from some soil in his own farm.
He narrates an interesting incident. Apparently, there was a storm one year and most of the banana palms in his farm were uprooted except one. And that one palm continued totally unperturbed by the storm. Dr. Chandra was curious to know how that had happened. On examination, he found that that palm had unusually strong roots.
He took a sample of the soil where the palm stood, to his lab and studied it. With some effort he could isolate bacteria from that soil which he found had potassium fixing property. He attributes the strong roots of that palm to those bacteria.
Initially, Dr. Chandra was focusing on decomposing organic waste using microbes. So, he called his magic solution as ‘waste decomposer solution’. But later he found that the solution had much larger scope in organic farming as a sustainable source of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fixers. That is the birth of his miraculous ‘solution’ that continues to be called ‘waste decomposer solution’.
You must be wondering how many gallons of such solution one needs to get from Dr. Chandra. If you have ever used such micro-organisms for your soil improvement purposes, be it rhizobium or fungi like Trichoderma, you probably are aware that you need to purchase them every time. That is an unavoidable drawback that can add to the cost.
Dr. Chandra claims that most commercially available micro-organisms are either contaminated or are ineffective. They may cause more harm than good. He strongly pushes his find which he claims costs nothing and totally free of any harmful effects.
Curious to know more about this magic solution of Dr. Chandra? Join me next time in the continued discussion.
A series of weekly (every Monday 12 PM PST) talks on new ways of Gardening by Dr. King. © Dr. King 2019
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