Gerald Dunst

THE SUBSTRATE IS THE BASIS FOR SUCCESS: THE CORNERSTONE FOR HEALTHY ORGANIC GARDENING IN POTS

Gerald Dunst is a humus pio­neer, owner and mana­ging direc­tor of Son­nen­er­de in Ried­lings­dorf (Bur­gen­land, Aus­tria), which was foun­ded by Gerald in 1998. After years of working as a com­post con­sul­tant, Gerald wan­ted to show that com­pos­ting is much more than just was­te dis­po­sal. The com­pa­ny deve­lo­ped out of frus­tra­ti­on with the poor qua­li­ty of con­ven­tio­nal com­posts and beca­me a pio­neer in the pro­duc­tion of high-qua­li­ty com­post-based sub­stra­tes and biochar. A sta­te-of-the-art biochar pro­duc­tion plant was ope­ned in 2012. Gerald wro­te the books „Humus­auf­bau“ and „Kom­pos­tie­rung und Erden­her­stel­lung“. Tog­e­ther with his wife, they run the You­Tube chan­nel „Erd­ge­flüs­ter“.

Con­tents:

Gerald Dunst explains why the right sub­stra­te in a pot makes all the dif­fe­rence: Com­mer­ci­al­ly available soils are usual­ly based on peat, which rots in the air and lite­ral­ly beco­mes less and less — a fatal mista­ke for per­ma­nent plan­ting. The secret of good pot­ting soil lies in the right mix­tu­re of com­post, biochar and mine­ral struc­tu­ral mate­ri­als such as brick chip­pings, which pro­vi­de sta­bi­li­ty, water reten­ti­on and aer­a­ti­on. Living micro­bio­lo­gy in the soil is not only cru­cial for plant growth, but also for our health: The latest rese­arch shows that the micro­bio­me of the soil pas­ses direct­ly into the fruit and from the­re into our intesti­nal bio­me. Anyo­ne who gar­dens in the right living sub­stra­te on their bal­c­o­ny is the­r­e­fo­re not only har­ve­s­t­ing lush plants, but also inves­t­ing direct­ly in their own health.