Fish Brew Blog

We often talk about the soil food web as a static factor that is either there and healthy or damaged and absent but it is a lot more complex than that.  It is an everchanging ecosystem that shifts as it interacts with the greater ecosystem and environmental changes.  When working with farms and orchards, it is often important to have ways to measure the soil food web and assess the efficacy of efforts to influence it.

Well seriously, can you? An assumption we hear often is that food grown naturally tastes better.  But others may say food is food. Tom-ay-to/Tom-ah-to. But what does the science say on this topic? Is living soil grown food better?

Nitrogen represents one of agriculture’s most critical yet paradoxical challenges.  The atmosphere contains abundant nitrogen gas that plants cannot access directly, yet feeding the world requires transforming this inert atmospheric resource into useable forms. In this post, we want to dive into how nitrogen gets to the plants, how agriculture can maintain productivity while progressively improving sustainability and resilience, and how Fish Brew can play a role in meeting those goals.

You have heard us talk about the diatoms in Fish Brew soil amendments like Bold FLO and Rise & Thrive, but what are they?  Well, the simple explanation is that they are single celled algae that live in the water.  But that would be selling them short. 

Read more to find out how they help in soils!

When you think about how the Amazon rainforest maintains it’s incredible biodiversity and productivity, you probably do not imagine millions of tons of dust travelling 10,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from the Sahara Desert.  But that is what happens every year in one of Earth’s most fascinating natural supply chains.  The Sahara Desert and the Amazon rainforest, exist in an unexpected partnership, connected through an atmospheric delivery system, so large that it compensates for nearly all of the nutrients lost to intense rainfall.

Researchers in China published research in Biogeotechnics where the researchers looked at how diatoms could be helpful in making the lunar soils acceptable for agriculture.

Read more to find out what they found!

A 2023 study published in Scientia Horticulturae investigated how fish effluents, both water and water plus sludge, affect soil fertility, crop yields, and soil microbial communities when used as organic fertilizers. The researchers compared fish effluent treatments to composted horse manure, a standard organic amendment, while monitoring soil chemistry, plant growth, and microbial profiles.

 

Do you live in an area with fertilizer restrictions or a complete ban on lawn fertilizers? You may be wondering how to keep your turf lush and green without breaking the rules.  Fish Brew can help. Read more to find out how!

At Fish Brew, we are committed to creating products that support both thriving plants and thriving soils. One of our flagship offerings—Fish Brew Organic Fish Hydrolysate—does exactly that.

Unlike conventional fertilizers that focus solely on feeding nutrients to plants, our hydrolysate provides bioavailable nutrition to plants and fuels the soil microbiome, promoting long-term health and resilience.

Let’s take a closer look at what it is, how it works, and why it can make a powerful difference in your growing system.

How is Fish Brew a cheat code for better soil biology? 

Restoring the soil food web is not easy. It requires time, patience, and the right conditions. If you have worked with compacted or biologically poor soil, you know that even when you set up the right environment, you still have to wait for the microbes. It is an “if you build it, they will come” situation—and it is a slow process. Unless, of course, you bring the biology.

 

Sasha, Walker and Spencer join Bryan and Marco to talk Diatoms and look at more Fish Brew under the microscope.  

Bryan and Marco talk with Sasha, Walker and Spencer about Fish Brew, while Sasha and Marco explore the soil conditioners, plant probiotics and soil samples under the microscope.