The biodynamic, a natural regulation of the vines

The vine on the surface:

Branches and leaves fall onto the ground in autumn, forming a bedding which is eaten by the aboveground biomass. Their droppings will be crushed in fine elements by basidiomycota mushroomsand microbesthat transform it in humus. Then, bacteria will slowly mineralize the humus.

The vine have two root systems:

• The first where the root attach to the organic matter to assimilate the minerals coming from the humus;
• The second, a root rotating system which goes to the source rock.

The vine assimilate the minerals produce by the bacteria all along the roots, then when it reach the source rock, it is transformed in clay.

The vine in depth:
The death roots are eaten by an endogean biomass, allowing to the vine to develop more roots into the vacuum of those interstice.
The assimilation of the minerals all along the roots will also lead to a clarification of the water before it goes in the groundwater.

Transformation of the humus in a clay-humus complex

The worms makes galleries from top to bottom. They eat organic matter on surface then they get down, which is rising clay. They have a gland in their gut which is rich in calcium (positive ions). Their droppings permit the mix of clay and humus charged in negative ions with calcium (positive ions), and it create the clay-humus complex. Furthermore, it reduces the soil by the formation of galleries from top to bottom, which is avoiding the compaction.

This natural balance permit to the vine to produce a qualitative wine of « Terroir », because it benefit from an avoiding soil and it can capture all the minerals coming from the soil and those from the source rock on which one it is planted.

Then all we have to do is to don’t degrade the functioning system of the soil by respecting some easy rules to do not unbalance it:

1. Keep the humus on surface because the aboveground biomass, the mushrooms, microbes and bacteria who are living in are aerobic (they need oxygen to develop).
2. Do not settle the ground.
3. Do not add fertilizer because it stimulate the bacteria which mineralize the humus and delete this one… and unbalance this natural functioning.

 This is what we are attached to at the Château Fougas!!!

In Switzerland and in New-Zealand, researchers compared biodynamic systems to conventional farms. They saw that the fertility of the soil and the biodiversity were higher in the biodynamic plots than those in the conventional farms. The biomass of the micro-organisms, their diversity and the microbial activity observed were higher and had better results. They suggest that this microbial activity improve the assimilation of the phosphorus, the use of the nitrogen and the productivity of the plants.