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Home garden

Biodynamic preparations in the garden

For vegetable beds, fruit trees and lawns: how much you need, how long to stir, when to spray and which pack is enough for your garden. With the preparation days in the calendar.

Packs for the gardenCalculate yearly needPreparation days in the calendar
Two hands full of crumbly garden soil with an earthworm

Amounts in the garden

Guide values for 1,000 m² of garden. Smaller beds need less; the calculator below works with your own area.

Preparationfor 1,000 m²WaterStirringper yearTime of day
Horn manure 50010–20 g5–10 l60 min2×evening
Horn silica 5010.4 g4–6 l60 min2×morning
Barrel compost60 g10 l20 min2×evening
Horsetail preparation 50810 g dried herb10 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.

In the garden year

  • Horn manure in spring and autumn, in the evening and close to the ground.
  • Horn silica twice in the growing season, in the morning as a fine mist. On young plants only from the third or fourth leaf.
  • Barrel compost twice a year for the humus, especially after harvest and on tired beds.
  • Horsetail as a preventive against fungal diseases; under fungal pressure every seven to ten days.
  • Valerian before frost nights over plants at risk, 3 to 5 ml in 10 l of water.
  • Root vegetables: horn silica in the evening, two to three weeks before harvest.

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

Allotment: enter in m². At least horn manure in spring + autumn, 2× horn silica during the growing season, barrel compost 2× for humus care.

Manure to prepare

Enter at least one area or amount of manure.

Packs for the garden

Price and availability as listed in the Präparatekiste shop. Larger farm packs are on the page of each preparation.

Sold and shipped by the Präparatekiste shop.

Stirring and spraying

Stirring pot, garden sprayer and storage box, and what to know about stirring, spraying and storing.

  • 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.

  • Storing the preparations

    Biodynamic preparations are stored cool, frost-free and surrounded by peat or coconut fibre, which keeps them moist and stable. Horn silica, by contrast, is kept dry and in the light.

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 garden

Biodynamic gardening: getting started →Biodynamic gardening for beginners: sowing by the planting calendar, building compost with the preparations, horn manure and horn silica in the home garden with quantities, horsetail and a plan for the first year.

  • Growing practice on a biodynamic farm

    Crop rotation, green manure and mechanical weed control are the arable basics of a biodynamic farm beyond the preparations, laid down in the Demeter standards.

  • Biodynamic preparations

    The heart of biodynamic farming: nine preparations, numbered 500 to 508, applied to soil, compost and plants in very small, highly diluted amounts.

  • Compost preparations

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

  • Horsetail tea

    Horsetail tea or horsetail decoction is a boiled extract of field horsetail (508). It is diluted and sprayed onto soil and plants, preventively against mildew, rust and rot.

  • Nettle liquid manure

    Nettle liquid manure is a fermented water extract of stinging nettle. Fresh, it is used against aphids; fermented and diluted, it is a strengthening plant extract rich in nitrogen and iron.

  • Seed bath

    In a seed bath the seed is soaked for a while in a stirred preparation or a herbal tea before sowing, then dried or sown straight away. Valerian, horn manure, the compost preparations and horseradish tea are documented.

  • Tree paste

    Tree paste (trunk coating) is a brushable mixture of clay, sand and cow manure, often with horn manure and horsetail. It tends the bark of fruit trees the way compost tends the soil.

  • Maria Thun

    Maria Thun (1922–2012) was a biodynamic researcher. From 1963 she published her sowing calendar every year and shaped the work with moon and zodiac rhythms in horticulture.

Frequently asked questions

How much horn manure 500 do you need in the garden?
10–20 g for 1,000 m², stirred in 5–10 l of water for 60 minutes. Time of day: evening.
How much horn silica 501 do you need in the garden?
0.4 g for 1,000 m², stirred in 4–6 l of water for 60 minutes. Time of day: morning.
How much barrel compost do you need in the garden?
60 g for 1,000 m², stirred in 10 l of water for 20 minutes. Time of day: evening.
How much horsetail preparation 508 do you need in the garden?
10 g of dried herb for 1,000 m², simmered for 60 minutes and diluted to 10 l of water. Time of day: morning.