Horn Silica 501 | Château Monty

Horn silica 501 or horn quartz (horn silicum) as it is sometimes known, is the yin to horn manure’s yang. While horn manure 500 influences the lower art of the vine and its roots, horn silica 501 influences the upper part of the vine, namely its shoots, leaves and the wine grapes. Whilst horn manure 500 is sent to work when the afternoon sun is approaching the yardarm and sprayed in thick drops on the dark and heavily tangible earth to pull vine roots downwards, horn silica 501 is mistily wafted into the bright intangible atmosphere to yank the vine shoots upwards as the morning cockerels are clearing their collective throats. Steiner said that horn silica 501 complements and supports the influence coming from the soil as a result of the horn manure 500. Horn silica thus represents a concentration of the forces within sunlight.

Von Wistinghausen et al. describe silica (quartz, SiO2), ‘the most beautiful form of which is rock crystal, [as being] the main constituent of the earth’s crust (47%). In its pure form it is wholly translucent, hard, and water-insoluble. In spite of this silica is taken up into plants (grasses, horsetails) and the bodies of animals and humans (skin, eyes, nerves). It structures the soil (sand grains) and is found in aluminium silicate and in colloidal form in clay. Plants are able to take it up in colloid form. The atmosphere also contains finely dispersed silica. The fact that silica is found in sense organs, above all in the skin and in the eyes, makes us aware of its relationship to light. Industrial uses of quartz are in glass, optical instruments and for information technology. Very finely ground quartz has a large light-reflecting surface area. This is put into cow horns, which are then buried in the soil to expose the silica to the light and warmth of summer. When stirred in water for one hour and sprayed on to plants, this preparation conveys light qualities that have been transformed by the summer processes in the soil. This light energy promotes and organizes plant metabolism.’

Horn manure 500 mobilizes matter in the plant which horn silica 501 forms and sculpts, working on the internal structure of plants, favouring their uprightness or verticality (more visibly erect vine shoots) and strengthening the outer cell walls (epidermis) of vine leaves and grapes.If horn manure 500 drives into wine a sense of place or terroir, the horn silica 501 ensures this sense of place tastes ripe.

Horn silica 501 and the lime–silica polarity: When asked in the discussion after the fourth lecture of his Agriculture course about the importance of silica, Steiner replied that, ‘it is through silica that the actual cosmic factor is absorbed by the Earth and becomes effective’. He also said that ‘everything active in silica-like substances contains forces that do not originate with the Earth, but rather with the so- called distant planets – Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These planets are working in the siliceous substances.’

Silica’s relationship with these higher or so-called ‘warmth’ planets is said to give it the ability to make a tremendous impact on the assimilation of light by plants. Less than 10 per cent of a vine’s annual growth above ground results from the action of its roots in the earth. Over 90 per cent comes from the leaves via photosynthesis and the atmosphere. Photosynthesis involves the transformation of invisible, intangible, ‘cosmic’ matter into matter. Stimulating photosynthesis in the leaf by spraying horn silica 501 helps chlorophyll formation. This in turn stimulates enhanced fruiting (fertilization, seed formation) both during the year the vines are sprayed, and in the following year too because the reserve buds for the following year form on the current year’s fruiting shoots. Vines sprayed with horn silica 501 produce grapes with increased disease resistance, enhanced aroma, colour and flavour, with higher nutritional quality (lower nitrates, increased dry matter) and which produce wines with enhanced ageing potential.

Thus horn silica 501 complements horn manure 500 by putting the silica-rich flesh on the horn manure 500’s calcium/lime-filled bones. ‘Plant life as we know it today can thrive only when these two forces – the forces of substances like lime and like silica – are in equilibrium and are working together properly,’ said Steiner, as if the horn manure 500 were ‘pushing from below’ via the roots in the soil as the horn silica 501 ‘pulls from above’ via the leaves in the atmosphere. The horn preparations thus allow two parallel streams of etheric formative forces to flow. One stream flows downward into the earth and is associated with moisture, soil fertility and digestive processes (horn manure 500). The other stream, flowing upward into the atmosphere, is associated with dryness, fruiting and ripening processes (horn silica 501).

However, it is tempting for biodynamic farmers in general and winegrowers in particular to focus overly on horn manure 500 at the expense of horn silica 501. There may be three reasons for this. The first is that because the organic movement has hammered into farmers the importance of soil health, horn manure 500 is seen as the all-in- one restorative for soils whose mineral balance and microflora have been adversely affected by conventional modern farming techniques. Second, spraying soil with a brownish-coloured ‘liquid manure’ which horn manure 500 can appear to resemble seems to make more sense to farmers than spraying what resembles glorified water over crops; after all, the contents of a bucket of stirred water and one containing horn silica 501 look essentially the same. Finally, winegrowers – nervy folks who generally get to make wine at most fifty occasions a lifetime – can’t always see why attracting warmth forces into their vineyards, which are invariably located in hot and especially sunny places anyway, is really necessary.

The bottom line, says Hugh Lovel, is that if you are bothering to spray horn manure 500 and as a result are activating microbes, nutrients and growth forces in the soil whilst stabilizing its soil nitrogen you’re missing a trick by not giving equal importance to horn silica 501 – for it is the horn silica which is going to help drive all that goodness into the crops right as far as their growing tips, preventing plants from getting so lush, weak and watery their crops are poor in terms of yield, quality, disease resistance and potential shelf life. Horn silica helps sap move especially forcefully in spring. For winegrowers, horn silica 501 produces vines with more upright and less floppy shoot growth, shoots and leaves which show greater photosynthetic activity, healthier vines in general and grapes with riper flavours, balanced (meaning lower) sugar levels and enhanced nutritional quality.

Modern wines contain significantly more alcohol than their predecessors. Climate change and the mania (which has now peaked, it seems) for planting cool-climate grapes like Chardonnay and Merlot in unsuitably hot areas where they can quickly over-ripen are two causes. Another is that old wineries lacked temperature control so grapes were picked earlier out of necessity, their lower levels of fermentable sugar (potential alcohol) helping prevent tanks overheating and leading to incomplete fermentations and vinegary wines. But another key reason why contemporary grapes – even from cool-climate varieties grown in cool climates – contain higher sugars is the advent of soluble fertilizers. These feed vines direct rather than via the soil as compost does. Fertilizers promote sugar rather than flavour accumulation, meaning grapes which used to taste ripe at 13.5% ABV now need to be 15% for

comparable flavour intensity. In conventional vineyards it is usual to see grapes being picked before a single leaf has fallen, but in biodynamic vineyards grapes should attain flavour ripeness only as the leaves are already starting to fall as nature intended. Horn silica 501 contributes to an alignment of flavour and sugar accumulation, leading to clearer expression of terroir.

Hugh Courtney, who ran America’s biggest supplier of biodynamic preparations, the Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics in Virginia, from 1985 to 2009, having taken over from its eponymous founder, maintains that biodynamic agriculture has been historically weak in the United States due to underuse of both the silica-based preparations, horn silica 501 and common horsetail 508. Courtney says these two ‘cosmic force carriers’ are especially vital to the American continent, an area of the western hemisphere viewed by Steiner as being dominated by earthly forces. The eastern hemisphere, meaning Asia and Australasia, was more influenced by cosmic forces, thus a greater (if not exclusive) focus there on horn manure 500 might be appropriate, and is the approach taken in Australia by Alex Podolinsky (see Chapter 5, Alex Podolinsky’s prepared horn manure 500 + 502–507 spray). ‘In my view we have neglected using precisely those preparations that we should most be using in the Western hemisphere,’ Courtney concludes.48

Making horn silica 501: Having described in the fourth lecture of his Agriculture course how horn manure 500 should be made, Rudolf Steiner described how to make horn silica 501. ‘Once again, take cow horns, but instead of stuffing them with manure, fill them with quartz that has been ground to a powder and mixed with water to the consistency of a very thin dough.’ Quartz, the most common mineral found on earth, is mainly composed of the compound silica. The most familiar silica-rich substances we come across in our everyday lives include sand and glass. In biodynamics, quartz in crystalline form, usually gathered either as rocks from mountain slopes or river beds, is commonly used.

However, Steiner also directed that quartz could be substituted by orthoclase (potassium aluminium silicate), or potash feldspar.Hugh Courtney postulates that while horn silica 501 made from quartz rock crystal may be most effective for those on mainly heavy clay soils, those on sandier soils might benefit from using a form of horn silica 501 with a stronger relationship to the lime end of the lime/silica polarity. In this case orthoclase or feldspar with their constituents of calcium or related elements – feldspar being principally aluminium silicates of potassium, sodium and calcium – would be used.

The rock crystals or pieces of quartz must be broken up into small pieces and then crushed by being finely ground to the consistency of flour. The cow horns are filled once the ground silica is mixed with water to produce a paste which should be just on the point of being runny. Standing the horns upright or in a sand box allows the horn openings to be filled level and to the brim, leaving them to settle overnight. The small quantity of water which will rise to the top can be poured off so that more of the paste can be added. When the horn’s contents have dried and turned solid, close the horn opening with damp soil. The filled horns are buried in a pit of similar depth to that used for horn manure 500. The horn silica pit should not be near any horn manure pits and should be in the open, so that the sun can reach the site all day. The same pit for horn silica may be reused again and again, as is the case with all biodynamic preparation pits.

Horn silica 501 should spend six months in the ground during its preparation, either between the spring and autumn equinoxes – when the earth’s forces are outwardly directed, or centrifugal – or between summer and winter solstice. Bouchet recommends burying the horns under an ascending moon and for those also following the sidereal moon when this stands in the flower/light constellations: Waterman in the northern hemisphere, Scales in the southern hemisphere and Twins in either hemisphere.54 Burying the silica-filled horns over summer allows them to be ‘exposed to the summer life of the Earth’, said Steiner, so that the silica inside will then form complementary forces to those carried by the ‘spiritual manure’, his name for horn manure 500. 55 Just as cow horns concentrate the earthly forces in the cow manure for the horn manure 500, so the horns concentrate the solar forces in the silica.

Christian von Wistinghausen says pink spots which are often formed by micro-organisms on the outside of the silica horns are of no concern. Horns for horn silica 501 are only used once (see the note to horn manure above on the disposal of used horns, p.20). Some practitioners feel that the silica carries even stronger forces if the filled silica horns are reburied for several years, instead of the usual single spring/summer burial and autumn/winter lifting.

Storing horn silica 501: Horn silica 501 is stored in a clean, clear glass jar which is covered but not airtight and kept in a position which is sunny, in that it catches the morning sun but is out of direct sunlight.57 This preparation should never be stored in the dark. It is said to keep indefinitely if dry.58 Shake the contents of the jar from time to time.59 The contents of one horn should provide around 125 grams of material, enough for 25 hectares of cropland if sprayed at 5 grams per hectare.6

Using horn silica 501: A horn silica spray application for a hectare of land is prepared by adding 5 grams or one level teaspoon to 30 to 70 litres of water and then dynamizing this for one hour in water. The water can be cold, lukewarm or quite warm, in contrast to the water for horn manure 500. No pre-filtration is usually necessary as the silica should be a fine enough powder which will not block spray apparatus. The liquid should be sprayed within three hours of being dynamized. Pierre Masson suggests stirring for horn silica 501 is best initiated at the first signs of dawn, rather than in the pre-dawn dark.

Once dynamized, the horn silica 501 spray is directed skywards at the sun as a fine mist over the tops of the vines. Horn silica 501 is the quickest biodynamic field spray preparation to apply, for even with the lightest of breezes several rows can be sprayed with a single pass. The key practical consideration to be aware of when spraying horn silica 501 is to avoid spraying it when the wind is strong. Pierre Masson recommends a pressure of at least 2 to 3 bars and up to a maximum of 12 for this spray.

Spreading vegetative growth is encouraged if horn silica 501 is sprayed in the early morning, the time when the earth begins to exhale forces, and as the sun is rising, to establish a connection between the crops and the light forces. Ideally morning spray applications should be undertaken on days which are likely to be warm and at least partly sunny.64 Most winegrowers start spraying horn silica 501 as the morning sun rises over the horizon, early enough for morning dew to be still present on foliage,whose presence is said to be especially beneficial. They stop at least an hour before the sun reaches its highest point to prevent any risk of leaf scald. Pierre Masson says a sudden shower soon after spraying will not lessen this preparation’s effect. Spraying just before heavy rain is forecast is inadvisable.

Horn silica 501 is generally used on its own rather than being mixed with other sprays. Some growers who add a dose of the common horsetail 508 spray preparation at the end of a horn silica 501 dynamization argue that by combining two sprays with one they are saving time. In fact they may just as likely be wasting it, and for two reasons. On a practical level adding one undynamized liquid, the common horsetail 508 in this case, to another partly or fully dynamized one, the horn silica 501, will nullify the effect the stirring has had on the latter. Those seeking to combine the two preparations should do so before the one-hour dynamizing period is initiated. Even then, the combination of these two preparations in a single spray may create an opposition on a ‘forces’ level between the pulling-upwards force that horn silica 501 brings to plants, and the downwards-pushing force common horsetail 508 engenders.

Spring applications of horn silica 501 are generally seen as ideal as this is when the seasonal movement of both the sun’s arc in the sky and the foliage upon which horn silica 501 works is ever upward. For this reason, spraying when the moon is in its ascending spring–summer phase makes added sense. Winegrowers following the sidereal moon cycle as well spray when the moon stands in the fruit–seed/warmth constellations: Ram in the northern hemisphere, Lion in the southern hemisphere or Archer in either hemisphere. However, few winegrowers lose sleep if forced to spray horn silica 501 under either the root/earth, flower/light constellations or even leaf/water constellations.

Biodynamic winegrowers generally spray horn silica 501 two or three times annually. Four or more sprays per season is considered unusual. Key stages in the vine’s vegetative growth cycle at which horn silica 501 might be sprayed include:

when the first five leaves have appeared in spring;
just before flowering commences;
after the flowers have been fertilized, when the embryonic bunches become visible;
between fruit set and véraison (see below), if wet summer weather has

augmented the risk of fungal disease;

when the grapes begin changing colour in August (véraison) to speed this process up;
just before harvest;
just before leaf

Although assimilation in plants starts as soon as the first green leaves appear, spraying horn silica 501 at this very early stage will inhibit shoot and stem growth (cell division) due to a lack of sufficient foliage. Winegrowers usually make their first application of horn silica 501 from the five-leaf stage onwards, when that part of the plant from which the harvest will be gleaned is beginning to develop. Spraying horn silica 501 when crop flowers are actually open may result in poor seed setting.

Andrew Lorand says that what matters for both biodynamic horn sprays is regularity of use. He advises spraying horn silica 501 during the last three or four months of the growing season and in the fourteen-day periods before new moon, because these seasonal and lunar periods are when ‘tightening’ siliceous forces are strongest (to put this in context, see p.23 for his view on when horn manure 500 should be sprayed).

In wet, cloudy or cool years, when grape ripening is slow or looks like slowing down, horn silica 501 can be sprayed from between when the berries change colour – véraison – until harvest. In this case, rather than being sprayed in the morning as it is in spring, horn silica 501 is sprayed in the afternoon. This induces an ‘autumn mode’ to the vineyard during the period when afternoons are getting shorter, telling the vines to hurry up and ripen their grape skins, sugars and pips or seeds. Spraying horn silica 501 in the afternoon is said to aid senescence by encouraging sap to flow down into the roots. This makes the top half of the plant less ‘watery’ which aids seed and grape ripening, and flavour development and retention.

Hugh Lovel says that when an afternoon application of horn manure 500 has been made, horn silica 501 may be sprayed the very next morning, a form of sequential spraying (see Chapter 5, Hugh Courtney’s sequential spray technique) which has ‘a wonderful balancing effect on the land and atmosphere’. Like horn manure 500, horn silica 501 is not generally applied during the height of summer.

Biodynamic growers see the time between the end of grape picking and the first winter frosts which bring leaf fall as another opportunity to spray horn silica 501. During this period the leaves are still photosynthetically active and food in the form of carbohydrates can be sent to the vine’s trunk and roots. Rudolf Steiner said that autumn rather than spring was the most truly fertile moment of the year because this is when the sun sends its forces in the form of nutritious sap to feed the earth via plant roots and the micro-organisms living upon them. Spraying horn silica 501 over vines now allows them a final burst of photosynthetic activity, to make optimum use of diminishing levels of sunlight because between autumn equinox and winter solstice the earth spends more time in darkness than light each day. By making the top half of the plant less ‘watery’ an added benefit of afternoon sprayings of horn silica 501 now is that openings left on vine shoots by falling leaf petioles can close or tighten more quickly. This allows vines to enter winter dormancy fully sealed and protected. Autumn applications of horn silica 501 thus allow weaker vines to start the following season in better shape, and to produce riper canes the following year.

Spraying horn silica 501 on crops whose plant roots are not well established – young vines or vines which have yet to reach bearing age – may produce unwanted side effects like inhibited shoot and stem growth.75 The risk can be nullified or at least reduced if the young vines have been planted in properly rested, biodynamically composted soil which has also been sprayed with horn manure 500. It may also pay to follow Proctor’s recommendation of spraying horn silica 501 during an ascending moon phase and when the moon is also in opposition to Saturn (see Chapter 7). This lunar window occurs for only one day a month, but not every month – so while it may be unsuitable for the entirety of the biggest vineyard holdings it can certainly be used for the youngest vines which typically make up less than 5 per cent of the total of any wine operation at any given time.

––––––––––––––––––––Other notes | One of the nine preparations used in Biodynamics. It is a spray preparation, made from ground silica stirred in water. This is applied directly to the land, or more precisely to the atmosphere above. Only two of the other nine Biodynamic preparations are applied to the land as field sprays: Horn manure 500 and Equisetum arvense 508. Horn silica 501 is also referred to as Horn quartz 501 or Horn silicum 501.

Silica | Silica is a naturally occuring oxide of silica (silicon dioxide SiO₂), also known as quartz, silicic acid, and silicic acid anhydride. Silica occurs naturally as quartz, and can be found in certain living organisms. Silica is a key ingredient of microchips, hence the term ‘Silicon Valley’ for the location of the USA’s technology industry. In the USA the highest quality source of silicon is the Appalachian Mountains (The Economist: 1st Dec 2018).

Von Wistinghausen et al (2000, p.24-25) describe silica thus: ‘the most beautiful form of [silica] is rock crystal, the main constituent of the earth’s crust (47%). In its pure form it is wholly translucent, hard, and water-insoluble. In spite of this silica is taken up into plants (grasses, horsetails) and the bodies of animals and humans (skin, eyes, nerves). It structures the soil (sand grains) and is found in aluminium silicate and in colloidal form in clay. Plants are able to take it up in colloid form. The atmosphere also contains finely dispersed silica. The fact that silica is found in sense organs, above all in the skin and in the eyes, makes us aware of its relationship to light. Industrial uses of quartz are in glass, optical instruments and for information technology. Very finely ground quartz has a large light-reflecting surface area. This is put into cow horns, which are then buried in the soil to expose the silica to the light and warmth of summer. When stirred in water for one hour and sprayed on to plants, this preparation conveys light qualities that have been transformed by the summer processes in the soil. This light energy promotes and organizes plant metabolism.’

Why used: Horn silica 501 is the yin to Horn manure 500’s yang. While horn manure 500 influences the lower part of the vine and its roots, horn silica 501 influences the upper part of the vine, namely its shoots, leaves and the wine grapes. Whereas Horn manure 500 is sprayed when the afternoon sun is sinking, in thick drops and directly on the dark, tangibly heavily earth to pull the vine roots down into the bowels of the Earth, Horn silica 501 is sprayed at sunrise and upwards and into the bright intangible atmosphere to pull the vine shoots skywards. Steiner (1993, p.74) said that horn silica 501 complements and supports the influence coming from the soil as a result of the horn manure 500. Horn silica represents a concentration of the forces within sunlight (Thorton Smith: 2015, p.12).

Whereas Horn manure 500 mobilizes matter in the crop plants (eg. vines) it is the Horn silica 501 which forms and sculpts this matter (Joly: 2007, p.87), working on the internal structure of plants, favouring their uprightness or verticality (more visibly erect vine shoots) and strengthening the outer cell walls (epidermis) of vine leaves and grapes (Pierre Masson: 2014, p.45). Whereas Horn manure 500 drives a sense of place or ‘terroir’ into the wine, it is Horn silica 501 which ensures this sense of place tastes ripe.

Also known as: French: La silice de corne or la 501. | German: Das Hornkiesel-Präparat. | Italian: il cornosilice or il preparato 501 or Il 501. | Portuguese: chífre silica. | Spanish: preparación de sílice en cuerno or preparado 501.

Horn silica 501 Biodynamic atmosphere spray in brief

Made from Silica, Quartz
Promotes and organises plant metabolism (photosynthesis)
Strengthens resistance to pests
promotes harmonious growth and ripening processes
Ensures uniform ripening quality
strengthens the aroma and improves storage capacity

Bibliography

The Economist., ‘The chips are down’, December 1st 2018, p.20-22.

Christian von Wistinghausen,. Scheibe, Wolfgang., von Wistinghausen, Eckard., and König, Uli., The biodynamic spray and compost preparations production methods Booklet 1 (Biodynamic Agricultural Association UK, 2000), p.24-25.

Monty Waldin., Biodynamic Gardening (Dorling Kindersley, 2015).

Monty Waldin., Biodynamic Wine (Infinite Ideas, 2016).

Nicolas Joly., What is Biodynamic Wine (Clairview, 2007) trans. by M. Barton, p.87.

Pierre Masson,. A Biodynamic Manual (2nd edition 2014, Floris), p.45

Richard Thornton Smith., ‘Soil and light as a focus for biodynamics’, Star & Furrow 123/2015, p.12.

Rudolf Steiner., Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture (Bio-Dynamic Farming & Gardening Association, Inc. USA, 1993) trans. by C. Creeger and M. Gardner, p.74