Agro Homeopathy

The Plant Doctor – Radko Tichavsky – April 2020

The Plant Doctor – Radko Tichavsky
Written by Radko Tichavsky

This month, Radko Tichavsky the Plant Doctor offers advice on black know disease, pathogenic fungi of strawberries, Pseudomonas marginalis in parsnips and much more.

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

NEW BOOK:

Organon de la Holohomeopatía

Six years in the making, it is the latest book by Radko Tichavsky, researcher on the application of homeopathy in agriculture. This Spanish language book covers homeopathic interventions in agriculture from the holistic view, allowing greater certainty in repertorizations. It addresses a novel concept of metabolic similarity, not only among plants, but also among different species of the animal and plant kingdom. It studies the formation and dynamics of attractors, areas of greater vitality within the holons and coexistence units of different living organisms Holohomeopathy is a fascinating contribution to the application of homeopathy to plants.  It allows one to discover a universe of surprising relations in vital dynamism. It puts into the hands of the agricultural producer, a valuable tool for the successful handling of pests and diseases in crops of any size.  For ordering or information: [email protected]

The Plant Doctor – Radko Tichavsky – April 2020

Dear Mr. Tichavsky:
My shiro plum tree is afflicted with black knot disease, a pretty horrible-looking fungal disorder.  I pruned out the affected wood in the winter of 2019 (carefully bagging and later burning the cuttings).  But this year a few new growths appeared, so more pruning is in order.  Is there any way to treat this homeopathically to strengthen the tree and hopefully improve its resistance?

I live in rural western Massachusetts, not quite to the Berkshires but in an area known as the Hill Country.  Cold winters with lots of snow… or so we used to have.  The zip code is 01370.

Thank you,
Dale

Radko Tichavsky:

Dear Dale,
Apiosporin morbosa in Prunus salicina(Shiro plum) is associated with different organisms: bacteria, fungi ( Fusarium spp., Alternaria spp., Phoma spp., and Cladosporium spp.) and its vector are mainly mites and some other insects (like Vespa spp. for example).

To achieve a lasting control of this pathogenic fungus, the entire cluster of participating organisms must be covered by repertorization and the treatment. If you only perform the sanitizing pruning by cutting at least 6-12 inches away from the infection and disinfect the cutting tools with 79% alcohol you can stop the infection for the short time, but the presence of the vectors in the tree will re-infect it.

In additionPrunus app. are sensitive to pruning, so if the pruning is repeatedly large, the tree weakens further facilitating the establishment of the fungus. The action should be concentrated first in a pruning and sanitization of the cuts with a mixture of bee wax, terpentine and pine resin during the autumn.

Then apply Silicea terra 200 CH, it is the main homeopathic remedy with oil of Helianthus annuus mixed in water with the remedy as an adjuvant, and sprayed on the trees. The same procedure could still be done in the spring but only before the appearance of the first shoots.

After that you should perform inoculation of Bacillus amylolicuefasciens on your trees. You take Aloe vera roots or Hedera helix roots, whichever two plants you get, then wash the roots well in water, in 70% alcohol and again in water.

Liquefy the roots, filter them in a coffee filter for example, and mix them in 20 litres of water: ½ litre of mineral water, one very well cooked and liquefied potato, and a pinch of sea salt, and the hydrolats from the roots. Let the mixture rest for three days at room temperature (20 degrees Celsius) and spray it on the trees and on the soil around them.

Once the inoculation is done you apply Ruta graveolens 6 CH with a little oil of Helianthus annuus as an adjuvant, twice a month to keep the insect vectors away.

I know that the procedure could seem complicated, but this is the only way to intervene and stop the cycle of the fungus Apiosporina morbosa, aside from the application of broad-spectrum fungicides that have limited effectiveness (between 40-60%) and kill the entire microbial balance in the plant and in the soil, so they are not recommended, and they are perpetuating the infections until the elimination of the trees.


Dear Dr. Tichavsky,
I have a two-year old peach plant whose leaves recently curled into an unsightly mess and all the flowers fell from the plant. I also have a strawberry plant whose leaves are turning brown starting from the edge of the leaf. Can you advise?

I have attached the pictures.  I live in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India and the temperature here currently is:  High 27 C , Low 12 C.  The mailing code is 247667.

Thank you!
V.Guru Charan [email protected]

Radko Tichavsky:

Dear Guru Charan,
In order to control the pathogenic fungi of strawberries one must consider the natural habitat of strawberries, that is to say the limits of the pine forest.

A simple way to simulate this old evolutive environment would be to collect pine leaves fallen in the forest and to distribute them in the surface of the soil around your strawberries.

The other way is to prepare mother tincture of fresh pine leaves in alcohol of 30% and to bring the dynamization to the potency 4 CH and to then apply once a week by aspersion.

Also, Boswelia sacra (a common incense) can be prepared homeopathically and serves very well to control the fungal complex in strawberries.

Zincum 12 CH and Silicea terra 12 CH can also be applied to help the plants fix the fungal problems.

As for peach trees, they seem to be affected by Taphrina deformans combined with Myzus persicae.

As for the Taphrina deformans fungus you have to inoculate Bacillus subtilis in your trees. You can get them as commercial strain. If you can’t buy them in your community, you can prepare a hydrolat from the roots of Aloe vera and apply the same procedure that I suggested in the previous question as far as its preparation is concerned. Aloe vera roots contain both Bacillus amyloliquef asciens and Bacillus subtilis, two highly antagonistic fungal bacteria. Once established and replicating in the roots and the soil they colonize space and give no opportunity for pathogenic fungi to thrive.

Additionally, apply Acidum salicicum 6 CH sprayed on the trees, and before that, cut the sick branches, burning them afterwards to avoid the dispersion of spores.

Myzus persicae is a bug metabolically associated with the Taphrina deformans (they always appears together). Then for its control you can apply Ricinus communis 12 CH with sap of Opuntia ficus indica as an adjuvant.


Dear Radko,
Last summer we had considerable rain and our parsnip crop suffered damage from Pseudomonas marginalis. I don’t know if it will happen again in 2020.  Can you suggest a way to avoid it or deal with it? We live in Stouffville (L4A), Ontario, Canada.

Stouffville lies on 271m above sea level The climate in Stouffville is cold and temperate. The is a great deal of rainfall in Stouffville, even in the driest month. The Köppen-Geiger climate classification is Dfb. The temperature here averages 6.9 °C | 44.4 °F. Precipitation here is about 803 mm | 31.6 inch per year.

Thank you
Michael

Radko Tichavsky:

Dear Michael,
The Pseudomonas marginalis is a Gammaproteobacterium, quite common in soils in nature and has generally a very persistent presence in the holon and in this case is associated with parsnip plants.

In this case it is very important not to focus on Pseudomonas marginalis itself, but on the whole bacterial community, which is the one that finally makes the decision on the virulence of a specific bacterium in a species of collective agreement called “quorum sensing”.

Firmicutes file, for example Bacillales (Bacillus spp., Listeria spp. and Staphylococcus spp.) and Lactobacillales (Enterococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., Lactococcus spp., Leuconostoc spp. and Lactobacillus spp.) are antagonistic to Pseudomonas marginalia and form an equilibrium when the latter become virulent.

You can prepare live bionosode, a homeopathic preparation made from yogurt for example, and apply it at a potency of              3 CH to the soil once a month. The presence of the lactobacteria will help to form a favorable bacterial community.


Hello Mr. Tichavsky,
Spotted Cucumber Beetles, both the adults and the larvae have been eating our crops. We don’t use chemicals, so we need a holistic solution to the problem.  We’re in Jacksonville, Florida (U.S.) (Zipcode: 32211). I’d appreciate any suggestions.

Here’s the climate:

Month High / Low (°F)                   Rain
April    80° / 60°                    4 days
May    86° / 67°                     6 days
June   90° / 73°                   10 days
July   92° / 75°                     11 days

Thank you
Adrian

Radko Tichavsky:

Dear Adrian, Spotted Cucumber Beetles can be controlled easily with the application of Larrea tridentata 3 CH, with Helianthus anuas oil as adjuvant. Applications can be repeated once every two weeks or once a month as needed.


Dear Radko,
Since the Coronavirus pandemic occurred my wife and I have decided to try growing our own vegetables. Once before we tried growing from seed indoors and then replanting.  However, after we replanted them in the garden, the thin little stems of the seedlings broke with the first wind.  Is there a remedy we could use to “toughen up” the stems of those seedlings?

Thank you
Emma

Radko Tichavsky:

Dear Emma,
The resistance of the plants to the inclemency of the climate is established from the endophyte organisms (fungi and bacteria) that live inside or associated with the plants. For example, the mycorhizal fungi of the genus Glomus sp. (you can find them in the first 5 cm of the soil under the old trees of Quercus sp.)

Collect a little of the mulch from the soil, dissolve it in mineral water, filter it, and then this liquid has to be dynamized in water  to the potency 3 CH. Add 20 drops of this remedy to each litre of water used for the irrigation of your plants when they are indoors. In this way your plants will be “micorhized” and will have the resistance to the changes of the climate outside.

About the author

Radko Tichavsky

Radko Tichavsky was born in the Czech republic. He has lived in Mexico for more than 25 years and is one of the most important agrohomeopaths in Latin America. He is the author of the book "Manual de Agrohomeopatia", a homeopathy book on plants. Radko teaches agrohomeopathy in several countries and regularly publishes articles in special journals and internet portals. He works as a researcher and teacher at the university and has already taught agrohomeopathy to many students. He is the director of the Comenius Institute (comenius.edu.mx). More details can be found in the following interview: http://hpathy.com/homeopathic-interviews/radko-tichavsky/

2 Comments

  • Dear Radko,

    Thank you so much for all the information you are sharing. I’ve had blight and other problems with my tomato, cucumber and pepper plants in the past. The leaves start getting yellow, then drying up and turning brown, and the fruit were rotting.

    I’d like to try planting a garden again, after taking a break for a few years, and I was wondering if you can recommend a remedy and schedule for preventing problems for organic gardening, that I can use when transplanting seedlings, and/or starting from seed.

    I’ve watered with silica once after planting in the past but it didn’t prevent problems. I also watered with carbo vegetablis every 2 days, once the problems started, but it didn’t seem to help. I get confused about how often to use a remedy, as I know it’s a delicate balance.

    Thank you!
    Emilie

  • Dear Dr.
    We live in South Florida and have a yard full of various palm Trees. Several of them are dying from Ganoderma fungus conk and we have been told by the Arborist there is NO treatment for this!
    one by one the stalks have many burnt, dead leaves and then the crown of the palm tree just falls off. this process takes several months and we have already lost 3 or our 15 year old palm trees.
    I am new to homeopathy and and trying to understand how to relate a repertory to a plant…
    Can you help please?
    we would be happy to pay a consultation fee.

    Thank you

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