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Farm

Biodynamic preparations for farming

For arable land, grassland and orchards: how much goes on a hectare, how long to stir, what the farm needs in a year and which pack fits your land. With the preparation days in the calendar.

Packs for your farmCalculate yearly needPreparation days in the calendar
Compost heap on the farm

Rates per hectare

Guide values for one hectare of arable land. The calculator below covers grassland, vegetables, orchards and land in conversion.

Preparationper hectarewater per hectareStirringper yearTime of day
Horn manure 500100 g30 l60 min2×evening
Horn silica 5014 g40 l60 min2×morning
Barrel compost240 g40 l20 min2×evening
Horsetail preparation 50825 g dried herb50 l60 min simmering4×morning

Compost preparations: one set for about 10 m³ of manure or compost, up to 20 m³ of slurry or liquid manure.

Preparation calculator

Enter your fields and manure amounts. The calculator shows the yearly need, the ingredients for making the preparations yourself and whether each field gets the Demeter minimum applications.

Broken down by type of land and type of manure. Sources: Wistinghausen, Masson, Demeter-Präparatebroschüre.

Areas

Preparations

Horn manure when working the soil, before every seedbed preparation. Horn silica 1–3× for ripening. Barrel compost 2×/year (spring before sowing, autumn after harvest) supports humus formation and straw decomposition.

Manure to prepare

Enter at least one area or amount of manure.

Packs by farm size

Price and availability as listed in the Präparatekiste shop. The small garden packs are on the page of each preparation.

Sold and shipped by the Präparatekiste shop.

Stirring and spraying

Stirring pot, sprayer and storage box for the farm, and what to know about stirring machines and field spraying.

  • Stirring equipment

    Stirring the preparations takes a round, rather tall vessel and a stirring tool that offers the water resistance: the hand, a stirring broom, a suspended stirrer or a stirring machine.

  • Dynamisation (stirring)

    The hour of rhythmic stirring in water, alternating vortex and chaos, that prepares horn manure and horn silica for spraying.

  • Applying the preparations

    How and when the biodynamic preparations go onto soil, plants and compost: time of day, season, quantities and equipment.

  • Field spray preparations

    The biodynamic preparations that are stirred in water and sprayed over soil or plants: horn manure 500, horn silica 501 and horsetail 508.

When to spray

The calendar shows for each day and your location which preparation fits.

Open the calendar

Preparations today

What the moon’s course offers for horn manure, horn silica and horsetail. Season, soil and weather come first.

Preparations by the moon →

Knowledge for the farm

  • Biodynamic agriculture

    The oldest branch of organic farming, founded by Rudolf Steiner in 1924: the farm as a living organism, with its own cycles and the biodynamic preparations.

  • Farm organism

    The guiding image of biodynamic agriculture: the farm understood as one living organism that produces what it needs from within itself.

  • Manure in biodynamics

    Manure is the central farmyard fertiliser of a biodynamic farm. Cow, horse, goat and chicken manure each have their own properties; stable manure, solid manure and slurry are the basic forms of storage.

  • Compost preparations

    Six biodynamic preparations, numbered 502 to 507, that are worked into compost and manure and steer decomposition.

  • Demeter

    The trademark for biodynamic produce and the oldest organic farming association, named after the Greek goddess of agriculture.

  • Demeter certification

    Demeter certification confirms that a farm works biodynamically. It requires a conversion period of several years and an annual inspection, and builds on EU organic certification.

  • Organic associations compared

    EU organic, Bioland, Naturland and Demeter at a glance: EU organic is the legal minimum, the associations go further, and Demeter is the only one with compulsory work with the preparations.

  • Agriculture Course

    The Agriculture Course (GA 327) is the series of lectures Rudolf Steiner gave at Koberwitz in 1924: eight lectures that form the founding text of biodynamic agriculture.

Frequently asked questions

How much horn manure 500 per hectare?
100 g per hectare, stirred in 30 l of water for 60 minutes. Time of day: evening.
How much horn silica 501 per hectare?
4 g per hectare, stirred in 40 l of water for 60 minutes. Time of day: morning.
How much barrel compost per hectare?
240 g per hectare, stirred in 40 l of water for 20 minutes. Time of day: evening.
How much horsetail preparation 508 per hectare?
25 g of dried herb per hectare, simmered for 60 minutes and diluted to 50 l of water. Time of day: morning.