Organic Gardening Article

Patricia Dines (73652.1202@compuserve.com)
07 Sep 96 16:32:31 EDT

A number of people asked me for more information about this so I asked the
original source and this is her reply (plus an interesting note from a group
member). Hope you find this interesting/useful....
P. Dines

--------------- Forwarded Message ---------------

From: Carolyn Pinkston, INTERNET:cpinkston@worldnet.att.net
To: Patricia Dines, 73652,1202
Date: Fri, Sep 6, 1996, 1:32 PM
Subject: Organic Gardening Article

Hi Everyone,
Finally got time on the PC with your addresses and a copy of the
Organic Garden (section New Ground p 18/Sept-Oct issue). Thought I'd go
ahead and recap it for you. It states that research conduced at the
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (published in PLANT and
SOIL) shows that plant can absorb witamins directly from the soil and
that fertilizing with manure can actually boost the level of B12 in
crops. They state that until recently it was thought that you had to
get B12 from eating meat or a supplement. It was not thought that B12
existed in plants. Most of the B12 is manufactured by bacteria and
fungi. The best of which are in animal intestines. These microbes make
B12, part of it is absorbed by the animal and we get it in the meat. The
excess is excreted in the animal's manure. Earlier studies by Dr.
Mozafar, Ph.D., showed that plant roots could absorb molecules of
several vitamins. He grew spinach, soybeans and barley in plain soil for
control, some in soil to which pure B12 was added and some in soil
containing 10 grams of dry cow manure per 1000 grams of soil.
Results showed the spinach and soybeans had twice as much B12 as
the control plants and the barley had 3 times as much. The plants grown
in soil containing pure B12 had the most.
Dr. Mozafar examined manured soiles at the Tanikon Experiment
Station in Switzerland, which had been manured yearly for 16 yrs. These
soils contained about twice as much B12 as soils that had been
chemically fertilized. See his article in Plant and Soil, 167:305-311,
1994.

Hope this helps.
Carolyn Pinkston
TOGA/area 10
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--------------- Forwarded Message ---------------
From: stephen dwyer, INTERNET:smd@wdc.net
To: Patricia Dines, 73652,1202
Date: Wed, Aug 21, 1996, 1:22 PM
Subject: Re: Organic and vitamins

Dear Patricia, ...B-12 is closely related to
chloraphyll, The only main difference is that the central
Magnesium ion is replaced by a cobalt ion. This B-12
is then converted to hemaglobin by replacing the cobalt
with an iron ion. So absolutely fabulous and interrelated
plants, vitamins and blood. It's the life force that's missing
in most supplements. We must eat live food or die.
Sprouts are best see my new plans and list at:
http://www.wdc.net/~smd/agseed.htm
also my organic page at /agorg.htm