At BDNZ, we passionately believe in the practice of biodynamics and the incredibly beneficial affects the practices and preparations have on the garden, orchard, farm and vineyard. Biodynamics can be tailored to suit all types of properties and climates and we love to hear peoples biodynamic “success stories” and so it is with great delight, that we received the following review from Herb, on how Equisetum has been helping him and his team combat downy mildew.

“Our Climate has changed incredibly on Waiheke Island, we used to have a dry, Mediterranean Climate with dry summers, that has now become much more tropical with lots of summer rainfall. This has brought about much more disease pressure, particularly for powdery and lately more and more for downy mildew. Having discovered a couple of years ago the effect of Equisetum on downy mildew has been a bit of a miracle, and has saved our harvest more than once. The yellowing oil spots on the leaves at early onset of downy literally disappear and the leaves turn green again.

For our 4 Ha Vineyard we make a brew of 200 grams of Equisetum, slowly simmered for one hour in the big stock pot we share with the kitchen, than left to cool overnight. the next day we mix it with water and apply it, some times with a bit of CPP added. The pictures I included above are from our ” Thank you spray” to the Vineyard”

Thank you Herb, for sharing your positive results with Equisetum and your fantastic photos. If you’d like to learn more about Poderi Crisci vineyard, please click here

If you would like to learn more about the biodynamic preparations, please click here to visit our biodynamic preparations page, or check out the booklet from our shop, A Closer Look at the Biodynamic Preparations – What they are, what they do, and why, by Gita Krenek.

For non BDNZ members who would like to try using Equisetum aka Preparation 508, please click here to purchase (BDNZ members please sign into the members only section to make your purchase).

There is also an excellent article on the Goetheanum website, about how biodynamics effects the taste and vitality of wine, which you can read here.