Since our youth, we have been farmers in the beautiful region of eastern Idaho near the Yellowstone and Teton National Parks. Growing up surrounded by scenic mountains, streams, and farms instilled in us an enduring fascination with soil, plants, and the inner workings of nature. This fascination led us to begin closely observing our craft. We have never stopped observing.

Early on, our work in agronomy was deeply engrained in traditional ag science and large scale industrial practices. Then one day, more than 20 years ago, our product engineer was running a routine lab test to gauge the available fertilizer nutrient levels in a soil sample; the measure of available nutrients was far too high to be right. After checking his procedure, he realized that he had accidentally added too much acid to the sample. While something had been very wrong with the findings, something was also very right about his discovery.

The acid he used was carbon-based, similar to those made by plants. His findings reminded him of what he already knew about how plant roots exude carbon-based, acidic nectars that free nutrients in the soil. These nutrients, comprised of lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates — include optimal chelation agents like citric and amino acids. He repeated the experiment in different ways over and over for a number of years. He saw exciting results — something that actually had the potential to greatly improve the way we farm.  Though it took him a few years to convince himself — and even longer to get through to the rest of us— he began to amass evidence that astonished us all.

Our observations continued. We studied how plants have an unsurpassed capacity to heal soil and improve their environment; how they create and transfer the life-sustaining nutrients in their acidic nectars — through their root tips and root hairs — to promote symbiotic microbial life in the soil. We learned how healthier plants share more nectar with the soil, and consequently had thousands of times more beneficial organisms to help protect their root zone.

We have observed how depriving a plant’s roots of these beneficial organisms is as detrimental to the plant as depriving its flowers of pollinator bees. Farmers sometimes add commercially available microbes to their soil in an attempt to replicate nature’s microbial abundance, but such strategies are destined to fail because those microbes will die out without a sufficient amount of the vital plant nectars necessary to sustain them. To make matters worse, these root-supporting organisms are also diminished when traditional ag chemical and salt-based acids are applied in excess. This microbial loss, which is especially harmful to stressed or weaker plants, often leads to an imbalance in pathogen populations that requires perpetual re-applications. 

Knowing that plants prefer rain water to irrigation water— and having observed significant variations in irrigation water quality on our own farms and those we consulted for— we looked deeper into the actual composition of irrigation water. Each year, thousands of pounds of accumulating salt are applied to soil from fertilizers, chemicals, soil additives, and irrigation water sources. We studied why these excessive salt loads actually increase the amount of water needed to grow the crop.

We measured variations in the hardness of irrigation water and learned how total salt loads affect soils and root development— as well as plant production, quality, and shelf life. We observed how salts evaporate water, increase oxygen demand in the soil, and dehydrate and suppress both roots and their partner microbes. In salt-laden soils, there is a risk of mineral and biofilm buildup that can block the circulatory system of the plant, inhibiting its productivity and flow of nutrients. Without enough water to function, plants regress by consuming their own reserves, which leads to wilting. Plants and soils prefer rain water due to three key characteristics: it’s salt-free, has a low pH, and a higher degree of dissolved oxygen. We learned that the more irrigation water could be treated to mimic these qualities, the better the plants would do.

Through better understanding of salts and water, we learned how and why a stressed plant suffers perpetually— and even dies prematurely when it can’t produce enough extra nutrients to share with the beneficial soil microbes. We found that there are infinite variations in the amount of nutrients that plant roots are able to share with the surrounding soil. Simply adding microbes to the soil won’t solve any problems without the presence of sufficient nutrients to sustain them.

In studying ways to increase carbon content in soil, we learned how plant residue that has been tilled into the soil enables disease-causing pathogens to thrive. We also realized how a plant’s root exudates not only protect against such pathogens — they are also the key to remedying salt toxicity— as well as solving oxygen, moisture, and biological balance issues. Our understanding of this fundamental principle in Nature is the basis for all of Necternal’s plant nectars. It’s also the key to understanding why our technology stands alone amid all the ag inputs that are not engineered to address this essential fact.

Although many farmers depend on the use of mineral-based fertilizers, we demonstrated through extensive testing that plants store virtually no minerals inside their seeds. In fact, the tiny amount of minerals within a plant are mostly found in the outer protective skins of the plant and its seeds, which offer bactericidal protection but play no role in plant growth. The far more significant nutrients, which comprise 96% of the total plant — and 98% of each seed— are the carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and vitamins that plants produce using water, CO2, and sunlight.

While the rise in popularity of composted waste is a step in the right direction, it cannot compare with the active, soluble, energized form of carbon found in acidic plant nectars. Not all forms of carbon-based organic matter are created equal. They range from highly active to passive to inactive and detrimental:

• The more transparent the organic matter, the more active it is

• The more soluble the organic matter, the more bioavailable it is

• The darker the organic matter, the more spent it is

• The more insoluble the organic matter, the more inactive it is

Consider the deterioration that occurs before your eyes when the flesh of a cut apple transforms quickly from white to dark brown. The process of rotting consumes the energy of the active, carbon-based material and turns it dark: Compost is loaded with already spent carbons like these.

Unlike spent carbons, nature’s own highly-energized, soluble plant nectars do more for the soil, and ultimately the plants, than all other forms of organic matter combined. These same nectars can even be reabsorbed and reused by the plant. Unfortunately, they are also the form of soluble organic matter most likely to be depleted in heavily-tilled industrial agriculture.

Some of our most significant advances thus far include enhancing plant nectars by attaching oxygen molecules to them and determining the best application method when treating deficient soil — so as to boost symbiotic microbe life and create healthy productive topsoil. 

Farmers know too well that there’s a vicious cycle that comes along with industrial ag inputs and practices: For example, the more salt we use, the harder our soil — and the more we have to till it to break it up. Yet we till — despite knowing that it worsens problems like crusting and compaction which, in the worst cases, can lead to crop loss.

Many traditional ag solutions fall short. For example, if soil sterilization using chemical fumigants was the answer to long term soil-borne disease reduction, those pathogens would have been eliminated in those soils long ago. These chemicals are also strong salts that can kill in very small concentrations and create harmful run-off, as with organophosphate insecticides and phosphite fungicides— which are salts of phosphoric acid; and so the cycle perpetuates. 

Our goal at Necternal is to create actual solutions for the root causes of these persistent problems in farming. From our experience— with over 20 years of research, development and use— we are confident that you will come to appreciate our products as the most innovative and effective ways to treat water and soil with the cleanest oxygenated soluble carbon additives ever produced. Our nectars work quickly and consistently to help you attain your highest yield and quality ever— even in large scale industrial ag production.

Our direct-to-farmer business model means you don’t have to pay a third party to treat and manage your soil, crops, or even your waste lagoons. We deliver our products directly to you— along with easily understood information that makes you the expert on how and why to use them in your water and your soils to increase your productivity. It’s so easy and safe to do, we could teach your kids how to use them. We will provide you with any ongoing support you might find helpful, either through our call center or through our soon-to-launch Farmer Education Resource Center online.

Many of our customers are surprised at how much easier our products and programs are to use than traditional ag inputs, without the need of a scientist to validate small changes. Time and again, our customers have seen a new level of production and quality that is only possible when they switch from using salt-based inputs and spent organic acids — to using our highly active and soluble plant-derived acidic nectars. That’s how we are earning our reputation as the most advanced irrigation, soil, and organic matter experts around!