Dr. Radko Tichavsky is a Czech born Mexican Agrohomeopath. He is a co-founder and director of Instituto Comenius in Mexico and author of Handbook of Agrohomeopathy, 2007 (Spanish) and Homeopathy for Plants, 2009 (Spanish), Organon de la Holohomeopatía and creator and teacher of Holohomeopathy.
He is now offering a one-semester virtual course in Holohomeopathy (in English). You can learn how to define and analyze holons and how to repertorize the specific homeopathic treatment beyond just disease or pest names. You can find out more here: www.icomenius.edu.mx
Many readers asked about Radko Tichavsky’s books. Below is a photo of them. They are available Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. For ordering or information: [email protected]
Editor’s Note: JT (Jenichen/Tichavsky) potency is often mentioned below. It is a centesimal dilution followed by 500 succussions or five hundred continuous turns with a wooden stick to the right and 500 turns to the left (if handling larger volumes). The JT potency frequently has a better reaction in plants and it is very important in preparation of live bionosodes.
Dear Professor Tichavsky,
I ask for advice for Gardenia Jasminoides (Kleim’s Hardy) which has many leaves with yellowed midribs. The attached photo also highlights a wonderfully cured Azalea Japonica with its tips: Zincum and Niccolum 12JT and Pine and Boswellia Sacra Resins at 4JT against anthracnose. Thank you! I wish you good days!
Thank you
Roberto Migliorelli
Radko Tichavsky:
Dear Roberto,
I am very pleased with your progress. In the photo of the Azalea japonica it looks like very good progress. Thanks for sharing and giving us the feedback. Regarding the Gardenia jasminoides, it is important to check the pH of the soil, this should be below pH 7, since the plant prefers acid soil.
Otherwise in more alkaline soil it develops different physiopathies, which may be linked to low iron availability mainly, and may or may not be related to fungal and bacterial attacks.
The solution for the yellowed midribs of the leaves is based on two strategies: The first one consists in the application of live bionosode 3 JT of Aloe vera gel, due to the content of bacteria of the phylum Firmicutes, mainly Bacillus spp. These are very important for healthy Gardenia jasminoides plants, since they collaborate with these bacteria to protect themselves from fungal diseases more common in this species such as Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. Maculifolii gardeniae. The second strategy consists in Ferrum sulphuricum 6 CH applied foliarly.
You can also include in the remedy kit for Gardenia jasminoides cumin oleate (Cuminum cyminum), mixed with clove oleate (Syzigium aromaticum). An emulsion of this oil is prepared in water and applied at 3 JT potency, as a preventive remedy for the different fungal pathogens that abound in this species
Dear Dr. Tichavsky,
This Sabal Palm has wilt. I have another one 10 feet away that looks perfect. I’ve heard it may be a fungus. Is it possible to bring a palm back from wilt?
Thank you
Tiffany
Radko Tichavsky:
Dear Tiffany,
Sabal palm (Sabal palmetto) often suffers from severe stump rot disease caused by the fungus Ganoderma zonatum. It originates in the soil, and the pathogenic fungus takes the form of white rot that enters the tree through the roots, although it does not affect the roots, and eventually rots the entire lower part of the trunk.
For treatment, live bionosode from Pleurotus tuber-regium (Agaricomycetes), a very common edible fungus, can be used. The fresh fungus is crushed, the contents are filtered and the liquid is dynamized in the form of live bionosode at 3 JT potency and applied to the soil around the plants.
Another strategy consists in blocking the lignolytic enzymes of the Ganoderma zonatum which is formed by a group of enzymes such as manganese peroxidase, lignin peroxidase and laccase. This can be achieved with bionosode vivo 3 JT prepared from Trichoderma harzianum, an antagonistic fungus that can be easily found on the internet.
It is also possible to apply Paenibacillus polymyxa which can be obtained by liquefying an organic Raphanus sativus root in non- chlorinated water, filtering the contents, making live bionosode at 3 JT potency and applying it to the soil.
Taxus globosa roots are also an excellent source of Paenibacillus polymyxa a bacterium of the phylum Firmicutes which is an antagonist of Ganoderma zonatum, a pathogen on your palm.
Dear Dr. Tichavsky,
We have a newly planted good-sized Maple tree. The trunk is 4″ in diameter and it stands about 30 feet tall. It was professionally planted a couple of weeks ago while we were in Florida. We live in southeastern Indiana so it is just beginning to warm up here. I was wondering if there is a protocol for a newly-planted tree? I was thinking Aconite for shock? Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you
Donna
Radko Tichavsky:
Dear Donna,
The recommendation for the application of Aconitum napellus is derived from agrohomeopathic materials based on the assumption that homeopathic remedies selected from human repertoires maintain the same function in humans and plants, which, truth be told, is unlikely, due to the difference (approximately 50%) between the DNA structure of both organisms. Although the idea of extrapolating remedies from human repertories to plants is widespread and their efficacy is equivalent to or less than 50% probability, i.e. equivalent to hazar or even negligible, or as in this concrete case, useless.
Aconitum napellus in plants is not at all related to temperature control, but rather it is recognized for its insecticidal activity. Very specifically, we use it for the management of some pests in Brassicaceae plants such as Peris rapae and Plutella xylostella.
Aconitine, an important alkaloid in Aconitum napellus also inhibits the germination of some seeds, and its influence on DNA reconfiguration in armyworms is also being studied.
But, aconitine has no recognized influence on temperature management in plants, neither in agricultural allopathy, nor in agrohomeopathy. In fact the Aconitum napellus plant itself is not very resistant to heat and prefers cool places presenting only a slight resistance to frost.
In holohomeopathy we determine the remedies on the basis of metabolic similarity between plants, complying with the Hahnemanian principle of similarity. Under this scientific principle, two plants with metabolic similarity will also harbor (to the same degree) similarity in terms of the endophytic microorganisms that collaborate with them.
Maple tree (Acer sp.) like many other trees, depends in its healthy state on VAM fungi (Vascular Arbuscular Fungi). Maple maintains a high metabolic similarity with fungi of the Glomus family and especially with Glomus etunicatum (again renamed as Claroideoglomus etunicatum). This fungus occurs naturally on avocado trees, but also on corn roots for example.
Glomus spp. fungi have the ability to extend the root endings of trees, leaching toxicity from the soil, making nutrients (e.g. phosphorus) available and facilitating the tree’s access to water.
To give you an idea, ectomycorrhizal fungi can extend the roots of a tree with well-established mycorhiza in a ratio of 1:10, i.e. they establish a perimeter of action far beyond the tree crown, establishing systemic resistance induced by unfavorable climatic conditions such as prolonged periods of drought, heat, cold, through the RNA viruses present in the fungus.
Some of the RNA viruses contained in Glomus etunicatum have the ability to recombine the DNA in the host tree and change its characteristics, forming a tree highly resistant to pests, diseases and difficult climatic conditions.
As for my holohomeopathic advice, it is really simple: look for a particularly leafy and very old Maple in your community and ask permission to collect a bag of leaf litter on the soil surface in the top layer of the first 5 centimeters of soil. Place the sample in non-chlorinated water and let it hydrate for about an hour and filter the contents through a coffee filter. Add a little carbonated water (without flavorings, natural) and prepare live bionosode at 2 JT potency. This bionosode is applied by spraying on the ground in a circle around the trunk up to about the end of the tree’s shade.
In this way you will inoculate the ecomycorhizic fungi and VAM fungi important for the increase of resistance of your maple tree making a kind of transplant of microbiota, promoting a healthy and long-lived maple tree.
Hello Dr. TIchavsky,
This is my first year with raised garden beds. Seems like everything has failed to thrive. Nothing is really growing. Just stays the same size, which is tiny! The only exception is one Swiss chard plant. I’m guessing I’ve overwatered…? Possibly not enough sunlight. Any help for remedies I could use? I live in Austin, Texas (U.S. Zipcode 78653 ). Climate below:
High / Low(°F) Rain
May 86° / 66° 6 days
June 92° / 72° 5 days
July 96° / 74° 3 days
August 96° / 74° 3 days
Thank you
Shirley
Radko Tichavsky:
Dear Shirley,
Much depends on the type of crops, the type of soil and the light as you mentioned, but as a general rule when plants are stopped in their development, as if they were enchanted by a spell, it is always a problem of two things: nutrition and lack of hormones.
Plants require macronutrients (NPK), micronutrients (Mg, S, Ca) and trace elements (e.g. B, Cl, Co, Cu, Fe, Zn, Mn and Mo), but each plant has different requirements (for each species) and also requires certain nutrients in specific proportions at different stages of their phenological development.)
Even if the nutrients are present, for example in the form of a good composted leaf compost, success is not assured if there is a predominance of heavy metals, which can impede the absorption of nutrients by the plants. In other words, the nutrients are in the soil in the required amount but are not absorbed, for example because of the presence of salinity in the soil or the presence of heavy metals.
To wake up your plants from dormancy you can do the following five steps:
1. Germinate a handful of lentils and once they germinate, blend them in a blender with water, filter the contents through a sieve, dynamize the liquid at 3 JT power and spray all your plants. This will add AIA (Indoleacetic acid, a growth hormone) to your plants.
2. Apply Zincum metallicum 6 CH and Sulphur 6 CH. The application should be foliar (spray) and should be done after sunset (the combination of sulphur and sun may burn the leaves). Both Zincum metallicum and Sulphur are enzymatic precursors in most plants, and will help produce new root clusters on your plants.
3. Cut two stalks of Opuntia ficus indicainto pieces and leave them for 12 hours in a 20 liter bucket of water to solubilize the plant’s sage. Separate the liquid and dynamize it at 3 JT potency and apply it by spraying on the plants.
This homeopathic preparation will add to your soil bacteria that fix nitrogen from the air and make phosphorus available in the soil, but it will also chelate (sequester) the heavy elements that possibly impede the absorption of nutrients in your plants.
4. When the plants produce new shoots (within a week) then apply Calcarea carbonica 6 CH by spraying on the plants.
5. In the following week you will apply Natrum muriaticum 30 CH also by spraying.
Be patient, as agriculture is an art of a lot of observation and study about the requirements of each plant, and well also of some tricks, so you will get good results. Once you taste your own plants and their fruits on your plate you will not want to eat the others, produced with agrotoxics. I wish you good luck and keep your enthusiasm always high!
Dear Dr. Tichavsky,
My garden and land is being overrun by Japanese knotweed, which is highly invasive here in Helsingor Denmark. Is there any homeopathy I can use to fight it spreading? Postal code is 3000.
Month High / Low(°F) Rain
May 59° / 47° 6 days
June 66° / 54° 7 days
July 69° / 58° 8 days
August 68° / 58° 8 days
Thank you
Rosalina
Radko Tichavsky:
Dear Rosalina,
It is estimated that one third of European plants are exotic and invasive plants, and these plants produce annual losses in the millions of EUR.
Japanese knodweed (Fallopia japonica) is a highly invasive plant, and have the ability to hyper-accumulate heavy metals, including copper, zinc and cadmium. The plant by means of its metabolites modifies the nitrogen cycle (nitrifying and denitrifying activities enzymes), which can lead the holon to a chronic nitrogen deficiency, and the modification of the corresponding microbiota.
The method of eradication of this exotic pest is still in its infancy, and so far there is no infallible method of control.
It is possible to eradicate knotweed if a new infestation of rhizome is spotted quickly and the resultant plants pulled before roots have become established. But when the plant has invaded a holon, cutting it or trying to uproot the rhizomes is generally not effective, as the rooting depth extends between 2 to 7 meters deep in the soil and each cut produces hormones that promote subsequent growth.
Stem injection of homeopathic preparations is a relatively modern method and can give good results, producing short-term death of the injected stems.
You can cut the plants at 5 cm height and inject homeopathy into the stumps; or cut or mow the plants when they reach the early bud stage in summer and treat regrowth in autumn by cutting the plants and injecting homeopathy.
You can inject homeopathic remedy of “creosote bush” Larrea tridentata 3 CH, prepared from the hydroalcoholic mother tincture made from the stems of this plant. You can get the tincture of Larrea tridentata on the internet.
Hello Dr. Tichavsky,
Leaf cutter ants are killing my trees! Mostly Sweet Birch and Flowering Dogwood trees. I live in vineland New Jersey (U.S. Mailing code: 08344). Summer High: the July high is around 87 degrees. Winter Low: the January low is 24. Rain: averages 45 inches of rain a year.
Thank you
Michael
Radko Tichavsky:
Dear Michael,
The remedy will depend on the exact species of the leafcutter ants, i.e. whether they belong to the genus Atta or Acromyrmex. You can use repellents based on essential oils prepared to the 3 JT potency, for example basil essential oil (Ocymum basilicum), Cymbopogon citratus essential oil or Allium sativum (garlic) oleate.
You can even make a mixture of the three ingredients and spray it around your trees. This is as far as a repellent preparation is concerned. If you want to avoid their presence in the area then look for a rotten orange with the presence of a green-white mold (Penicilinum sp.).
Scrape some of this fungus with the help of a knife into some fresh orange juice and let it stand for a day. Prepare a live bionosode 3 JT in water and apply it at a distance of two meters around the anthills. Do not apply the bionosode directly at the entrance of the nest because ants are very smart and can detect Penicilinum sp.
Cutter ants do not eat the leaves they harvest from trees but clean them, introduce them into their colony, mix them with their saliva and grow fungi together with bacteria (Leucoagaricus gongylophorus with Pseudonocardia sp. bacteria) on them in a kind of subway breeding grounds. Cutter ants feed on the fungi they grow.
The live bionosode of Penicilinum sp. is a strong antagonist of the fungus Leucoagaricus gongylophorus and the ants, frustrated and unable to grow their food, will move out.
It must be taken into account that killing ants with chemical formicides is not at all advisable since leaf cutter ants have an important ecological role: they are soil builders and fertilizers.
In fact, you can make a kind of teacompost dynamize to potency 3 JT from their burrows and use this homeopathic preparation as an excellent fertilizer.
Dear Dr. Tichavsky,
My radishes are being ravaged by wireworms. How can I prevent them?
I live in Sacramento California (U.S. ) Zip Code 94205.
Month High / Low(°F) Rain
May 82° / 54° 2 days
June 89° / 59° 0 days
July 94° / 61° 0 days
August 93° / 61° 0 days
Thank you
Silvia
Radko TIchavsky:
Dear Silvia,
You can fight wireworms (Limonius spp.) and it is important to keep a correct crop rotation, for example, mustard or other wireworm non-hosting plants like lettuce, alfalfa, sunflower. Beneficial nematodes (Steinernema feltiae, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora) are also used.
As for the holohomeopathic treatment, you can prepare a mother tincture of sunflower seeds, crush them and add a 50% grain alcohol tincture of 30% and let it macerate for a week. Then prepare a homeopathic remedy at 3 JT potency and add a few drops of essential oil of Azadirachta indica (“neem tree”).
You can also prepare the mother tincture of Brassica carinata seed and apply it separately or together with the previous remedy at 3 JT potency. We also use Brassica juncea mother tincture; the fresh plant is crushed in water, filtered and applied at 3 JT potency.
You explained that Japanese Knotwood could be injected with Larrea Tridentata made from the stems. I’d like to buy some but I can only find the leaves. Would they work as well as the stems?