SONIC BLOOM                                                                                                         - Peter Tompkins

  In 1975, in a sports arena in Arizona, Jean Dixon prophesied that a small black box would soon be discovered that would revolutionize agriculture allowing the United States to grow food for the whole planet on a third of its land, providing for health sustenance for those starving in the Third World.  When the world's population rises to almost three times its present overcrowded 5.5 billion -- sometime within the next half century -- we'll be feeding 14 billion people.  In the Third World, conditions are so appalling that an emaciated child dies every second of every day. 

  In the span of a half million years, we have greedily turned great forests into deserts, caused the extinction of countless plant species, and turned millions of acres of rich soil into unproductive wastelands larded with poisonous chemicals.  While farmers struggle in semi-arid regions to grow food on marginal soils, in northern climates others struggle with a short growing season.  Our soil is more and more tainted, eroded, and worthless, its trees hacked and uprooted. 

  The disaster is such that it may require many miracles to reverse the destruction.  One solution in particular is intriguing:  technology developed by a research scientist from Minnesota, Dan Carlson.  His novel system for growing abundant produce, patented as Sonic Bloom, nourishes plants through their leaves to the accompaniment of a special sound. 

  What motivates Carlson is a horrifying event he witnessed in the early 1960s.  In Korea, as an enlisted solider, he was obliged to watch a starving mother lay the legs of her small child beneath the rear wheel of an army truck, creating an authentic cripple and thereby entitling the family to a life-saving food subsidy. 

  Back home, using his GI Bill of Rights, Carlson spent many hours in the University of Minnesota library, studying plant physiology.  Stuck by the idea that certain sound frequencies might help a plant breathe better and absorb more nutrients, he experimented with various frequencies until, with the help of an audio engineer, he found one in the 3 to5,000 Khz range that was consonant with the early morning bird chirping that helps plants open wider their stomata, or mouth-like pores. 

  On every leaf there are thousands of such small openings.  Each stoma -- less than 1/1000th of an inch across -- allows oxygen and water to pass out of the leaf, or transpire, while other gases, notably carbon dioxide, move in to be transformed by photosynthesis into sugars.  During dry conditions, the stomata close to prevent a wilting plant from drying out completely. 

  Photomicrographs show plant stomata opening wider to Carlson's frequencies, while a Philips 505 scanning electron microscope shows substantially higher stomata density on a leaf treated with Sonic Bloom; additionally, the individual stomata are more developed and better defined. 

  The Work Begins

  As stomata normally imbibe the morning dew, sucking up nutrients in the form of free-flowing trace elements, why not, thought Carlson, develop a special organic spray to apply to the leaves along with the sound that induces stomata to open.  Even in poor soil, Carlson reasoned, plants could be well nourished with a foliar spray containing the right combination of elements.  To develop such an effective nutrient solution took Carlson 15 years of trial and error experimenting in labs throughout the country with the funding of a caring "angel." 

  Carlson needed to find not only what elements serve to make a plant flourish; he needed to find the proper balance of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus; but not the overdose recommended by the chemical companies which swamp the plant to the exclusion of trace elements vital to its health.  Too much of any one element can distort or even kill a plant.  Endless testing with radioactive isotopes and Geiger counters to trace the elements' translocation from leaves to stems, from peak to roots, was done.  Among the first natural substances used was Gibberilic acid, naturally derived from rice roots, needed by very living plant.  Eventually, Carlson included 64 trace elements derived from natural plant products and from seaweed.  He also added chelated amino acids and growth hormones, altering the surface tension of the water base to make it more easily absorbed.  The end result was Sonic Bloom. 

  As a result of his brainchild, Carlson induced a common household purple passion vine (Cynura sp.) -- which normally grows no longer than 18 inches -- to wind its way, room-to-room, throughout his Minnesota home, until it reached a length of 600 ft.  This phenomenal growth stimulated researchers from The Guinness Book of Records to verify the fact and include it in their 1976 edition.  But that was only the halfway mark; over the next few months, the vine grew another 600 ft. 

  Further tests showed that even without the special sound, a plant leaf can absorb 300% more Sonic Bloom than any other foliar spray, but when accompanied by Carlson's special frequency, the absorption and translocation rate of nutrients rises to an amazing 700% -- far more than a plan could possibly absorb through its roots.  The result is early maturity, greater yields, improved taste, more nutrition, and longer shelf life.  (Sonic Bloom is considered a plant growth enhancer, not a fertilizer.)  For normal use, Carlson recommends fertilizing the soil as usual, using an organic rather than chemical fertilizer.  To check a plant's progress on a larger project, Carlson will analyze leaves and mix up a second formula containing any deficit elements. 

  How It's Done

  Ideally, the sound, which is similar to the frequency range of bird calls made by swallows, martins, and warblers, sounding altogether like a flock of barn swallows -- is played to plants beginning 30 minutes before spraying, during spraying, and another 30 minutes after.  The advantage of this mechanical sound is that it includes frequencies of birds long since disappeared.  Carlson's healthy spraying operation is so simple all one needs is a cassette player and nutrient sprayer.  The misting should be applied to both sides of the leaves until saturated.  For home gardeners, Carlson has developed an inexpensive kit containing a cassette tape, a sprayer, and a bottle of nutrients.  It sells for $60.  For indoor plants, the chirping sound is imbedded in a tape of classical, easy-to-listen-to music that is played once every morning; preferably between 5:30 and 9 a.m., when plants naturally absorb the dew.  Maximum results come from such daily sound stimulation that dramatically increases absorption of both nutrients and dew, providing drought protection as well as increased growth.  But impressive results can be achieved by using the Carlson system for as little as two hours weekly.  As a bonus, the sound appears to attract unusual quantities of birds who add their chorus to the manufactured medley; synchronously, butterflies swarm in greater numbers. 

  Treatment is basically the same for commercial operations, but use the special sound units that do not play music, only the basis high-pitched oscillating frequency.  These units can also be activated by a solar cell to turn them on at daylight and off at nightfall.  Powered by a 12-volt battery, units can be mounted on poles or trees in the growing area.  (Sonic Bloom comes in sizes for 5 to 60 acre spreads.)  Multiples of these can be used for larger acreage.  For still bigger farms, mobile frequency generators are mounted on tractors.  The sound does not worry animals, but the larger units should not be too near a house.  From a distance, the sound blends pleasantly with that of crickets. 

  Field crops are treated with the nutrient once every 10 days or 2 weeks.  One gallon of concentrated nutrient sells for $250; diluted one teaspoon to a quart of water, it provides 256 gallons of spray, enough for 5 treatments on 4-1/2 acres of crops; the sound units start at $250 for a single high-frequency ceramic speaker suitable for treating up to 5 acres; a larger model suitable for 40 acres costs $550, and for 60 acres is $650.  The system allows for much larger profits, costing per season about $60 per acre of row crops and $200 for tree crops.  An increase of yield from just 2% to 10% is all that is needed to cover the cost of the Sonic Bloom. 

  Both seeds and cuttings from plants benefit greatly from the treatment.  Carrot see soaked overnight in the nutrient solution - 1/2 oz. per gallon of water -- with the cassette tape left to play continuously, produced a far greater than normal carrot crop of 400 lbs. to each 40 ft. row.  Soaking ginseng seeds the night before planting resulted in 95% germination.  Sprouts, alfalfa in particular, soaked in Sonic Bloom and played to for 72 hours, developed an edible body with 1,200% increase in weight and double the shelf life.  Cuttings should be sprayed once a week with 500:1 solution until established, then sprayed once a week with a 250:1 solution.  Suckers cut from a tomato plant should be allowed to grow for 7 days or until 14 inches long, then placed in shade and sprayed once a day with 1/4 oz. per gallon solution.  In 10-14 days, the sucker should be fully rooted and start to grow 2 inches a day.  55 days later -- instead of the normal production time of 90 days -- plants should be 7-9 feet tall, producing 400-600 tomatoes, many with a double fruit hand.  500 cucumber seeds soaked in a 500:1 solution, serenaded for 8 hours, and planted in one greenhouse, matured from seed to harvest in 40 days, producing 7,600 lbs. of cucumbers, so many they had to be picked daily over a period of 36 days, lest they grow too long to fit in 20-inch packing boxes. 

  More interesting, in terms of the turn-of-the-century debate between Darwinians about inherited characteristics, plants can now be shown to pass on their cultural improvements to their offspring, even when the offspring are left untreated.  Any seed or cutting from a Sonic Bloom-treated plant is better than its parent.  Kidney beans, untreated, usually produced 3-4 beans per pod.  Treated with Sonic Bloom, the increase is up to 4-5.  Their offspring, untreated, will regularly produce 4-5.  If treated, they will produce 5-6.  A generational improvement may go on up to 8-9 per pod. 

  Sonic Bloom is now being marketed and used in 48 states and 35 foreign countries.  Acres Usa, the agricultural bulletin, reports that tests done with Carlson's tape-and-foliar spray produce impressive results with alfalfa and corn crops.  Landowner, the bulleting of Professional Farmers of America, reports that laboratory studies of a variety of plants show yields of vegetable and field crops increased by 20% to 100%; soy beans by 100%; tomatoes by 133%.  According to Landowner, greenhouse plants produce larger root mass, more blooms, and have faster maturity.  A Pennsylvania alfalfa grower using Sonic Bloom has won every contest for growth and nutrition in his county, with 29% protein, the most tons per acre, and 5 cuttings instead of 3. 

  Cauliflower grown with Sonic Bloom are so big that only 4 will fit in a box designed for 12.  Soybean plants treated in Wisconsin produced up to 300 pods per plant, 30-35 being the norm.  What's more, the beans contained 27% protein against a normal 15%.  Dill plants grow over 4 ft. tall, calla lilies over 6 ft. tall.  Bell peppers bear over 50 peppers per plant instead of the norm of 4-5 per plant.  In River Falls, Wisconsin, corn grows 16 ft. high and young evergreen trees grow 3-4 ft. annually.  In Florida, orange production has increased by 66%, with a whopping Vitamin C content of 121% above normal and fruit in all stages of growth on each tree, making for a perpetual harvest. 

  Bill Bostwick, a grower of high potency American ginseng in the Midwest, obtains 50,000 lbs. an acre, whereas the state average is a mere 13,000 lbs. per acre.  Bostwick grows plants to 5-year maturity while most others are obliged to harvest at 3-4 years.  Despite the propensity for molds and fungi to form on ginseng, his plants have minimum disease, his roots are the largest and of best quality.  From tests at St. John's University in Jamaica, New York, Bostwick's ginsenocide level -- the active ingredient in ginseng -- was 4 to 5 points above the average.  With Sonic Bloom, his seeds are much larger, enabling him to sell his seeds for $50 a lb. whereas non users get only $8-$10. 

  Cranberry growers using Sonic Bloom for the first time have achieved novel results.  Nathaniel Shurtleff, Jr., of Fox Island Corporation in South Carver, Massachusetts, a cranberry grower for 60 years, says he has never seen anything like the increase in quantity and quality; 209 barrels per acre instead of the average 125 barrels, an increase of 66%, with a sugar content of 8.92 -- much higher than normal.  All of which rewarded him with $80 a barrel, or $6,000 an acre. 

  Wilson Mills of Circle K Apple Orchard, using Carlson's foliar nutrient for the past 8 years, gets larger, healthier trees with increasing yields, higher fruit quality, less insect problems, increased sugar levels, earlier maturity, reduced fertilizer, and an improved shelf life (5 months instead of 30 days).  Whereas the state average is 290 bushels per acre, he exceeded 400 bushels.  Lab reports showed his fruit had a 400% increase in copper, 1,700% in zinc, 300% in chromium, and 126% in potassium.  Increased zinc gives pliability to boughs allowing trees to hold more fruit.  Lack of these four elements in man's diet leads to male impotence. 

  At Melody Farms in Arkansas, where the average crop of tomatoes from a 4,000 sq. ft. greenhouse was in the range of 9,000 to 10,000 lbs., Charles Dodge, its owners, now gets 19,000 lbs.  Once picked, his tomatoes have a shelflife of up to twice as long, many three times normal.  Their taste is considered superb and Dodge reports no problem with tomato disease. 

  Blueberry bushes grow towards the source of sound and are ready for picking 10 days or even 2 weeks earlier than usual, and they are exceptionally sweet.  Grown with no chemical commercial fertilizer, herbicide or pesticide, they can be sprayed with blackstrap molasses and hydrogen peroxide to deter the few pests which do occur. 

  The Lily Hill Company in Lawton, Michigan, has grown 14 acres of concord grapes which, having withstood several freezes down in the mid-twenties, reached an excellent sugar level 12 days earlier than any other grape crop in the area.  Vines that usually produce 80 to 90 buds per vine produced between 150-170 buds. 

  Used on ancient, open-pollinated seeds collected from Central and South America, Sonic Bloom produced impressive results with a 100% increase in peppers and melons.  In San Juan Pueblo, a Native American community not far from Sante Fe, the corn produced  17.5% more ears with 16% more height.  Amaranth weighed 2 lbs. per plant and quinoa grew 9-11 ft. tall with over 2-lb. heads.  Open-pollinated seeds reproduce forever and are considerably more nutritious. 

  Carlson claims his system substantially increases not only yields, but quality, all at a fraction of the cost of chemical fertilizers.  He says the common method of crop production, with its over-reliance on chemicals, is producing plants that are stressed out.  Remove the stress and the plants become more adaptable and pest and disease resistant.  Carlson's plants exposed to recorded sound units and foliar spray not only grow bigger and faster, but are better able to adapt to adverse soil and water conditions with increased ability to adjust to unstable climate; this makes them excellent for drought-stricken areas.  Tests in arid environments show a 50-60% reduction in watering needs since larger and deeper roots tap additional reserves of groundwater.  Fruits, grains, and vegetables, all with heavier sugar content, are not only disease-resistant, but the sugar levels adversely affect the digestive tracts of insects, keeping them at bay.  Balance growth of fruits and vegetables leads to early maturity -- often within 50 days -- followed by an extended shelf life, plus a dramatic improvement in taste. 

  Rose bushes yield up to 70 flowers per bush compared to a normal 8-10.  Chrysanthemums achieve double production while reducing their maturity time from 10 to 6 weeks.  The added shelf life for flowers greatly increases their sale value. The faster turnaround time in greenhouses provides for an extra crop per year. 

  Carlson has had many offers to sell, but he remains in control because of his prime concern for the world's hunger problem.  Sonic Bloom is now a potent force in  Australian agriculture.  Using the foliar spray, John Ferguson of Orange, New South Wales, obtained 160% increase in plums, 130% in nectarines, 100% in apples; all were larger, had increased sugar content, and a longer shelf life.  In Medowie, Now South Wales, Nick Falko obtained such gourmet prices for his gourmet-sized peaches and nectarines that on the profits he quit his job as a prison guard to help his wife beat cancer. 

  In the Philippines, Carlson has helped farmers renew land destroyed by toxic ash spewed from Mount Pinatubo's eruption.  In Israel, 450 endangered North African varieties of shrubs, fruits, and nut trees are being successfully treated with Carlson's formula to prevent them from becoming extinct. 

  Working with the Chinese government in the province of Sinhiang in Inner Mongolia, Carlson demonstrated how to grow plants in one of the worst areas of the world.  Dr. Hou Tian Zhe from Zinjiar Academy of Forestry reports a 30-90% increase in food crops such as melons and potatoes.  In Thailand, the product is being marketed by Dr. Don Nielson and in Malaysia by Tham See Lin of Senagor, with the result that the Malaysian hospices for the unwanted elderly now enjoy highly nutritious food from their own produce. 

  After addressing a bioresearch committee in Japan consisting of 8,000 organic farmers, Carlson received a special award from the Minister of Finance. 

  But the most sensational development has occurred in Mexico where Raul Mendez of Quimcasa in Huizquilucan grows and markets produce all over Central and South American.  Raul has developed a fungicide that causes crops to grow extremely well, obtaining increases of as much as 200%.  Combining his fungicide with Sonic Bloom, he now claims to get increases of up to 500%; 300 bushels of corn per acre and 137 bushes of soybeans per acre, whereas in the U.S. on some 50 million acres of soybeans, the average harvest is only between 40-45 bushels per acre.  Raul's soybeans respond to the spraying by lifting their leaf tips erect.

  With this joint venture, Carlson hopes to bring the northern and southern parts of this hemisphere closer together in peace and growth, both materially and spiritually, using Sonic Bloom to replace the culture of noxious drugs. 

  Preserving Endangered Trees

  One of Carlson's more positive ventures with his foliar nutrient is the protection of trees, especially endangered species, which can now be salvaged and perpetuated by use of Sonic Bloom, leading to the prospect of preserving such national treasures as the Black Forest in Flaners and the centennial redwoods in California. 

  Noting that a row of pine trees closer to the source of his chirping boxes were much more developed than others planted at the same time, but out of range of the sound, Carlson decided to devote a major effort to the improvement of the many species of nut trees he raises on his Wisconsin farm -- endangered American chestnuts, horse chestnuts, butternuts, beechnuts, heartnuts, hickories, hazels, and filberts -- growing them to maturity much faster with his nutrient spray, producing walnuts twice the normal size and endangered butternuts with 13 nuts per cluster.  A great source of food, if spread around the country, healthy nut trees that are larger and faster growing could go a long way toward feeding the hungry and they are an ongoing self-perpetuating investment:  butternut trees live 125 years, black walnuts 175 years, and the American Chestnut -- which can grow 250 ft. tall and 18 ft. through -- can live up to 600 years. 

  As hardwoods treated with Sonic Bloom grow at the same rate as soft woods, the average yearly girth increase is 1-1/2 inches.  Minnesotan chiropractor Bryan Zins, using Sonic Bloom for 10 years on his 3,000 black walnut tree farm, obtained a yearly increase in size up to 400%.  A black walnut seedling bought for $15 is worth more when matured to a tree of 14 inches in diameter, all of $1,500.  18 inches across, it can be worth as much as $20,000.  Simple multiplication shows that instead of having to wait 50 years for his profit, Dr. Zins' 32 acres of black walnut trees should be worth $60 million in 15 years.  Hard to beat as a retirement investment!  Plant tees as your children are born and you can send them to Harvard when they are 18.  And if you plan to return to this planet in some future life, cleaning up and replanting its forests may be one of the most salutary endeavors you can perform. 

  Poets, musicians, occultists, and now even scientists, realize that the many frequencies to which we are being exposed can dramatically affect our spiritual and physical well-begin.  Rudolf Steiner, perhaps the most impressive clairvoyant philosopher of the century, whose brilliantly shamanic biodynamic system of agriculture produces increasingly healthy soil, describes the intimate effect that birdsong and even the sound of birdwings has on the development of plants, all part of the magical interconnection between the planet's physical and spiritual beings.  And if, as Steiner maintains, inferior food tends to trap human beings in their bodies, delaying their necessary development of clairvoyance, Sonic Bloom may be as spiritually liberating as it is physically invigorating. 

  What propelled me to write this article was an apple tree, probably not more than 30 years old, viewed from the kitchen window of my 18^th century farm in West Virginia.  Every fall since I bought the place some 20 years ago, I have looked at that tree, wondering what the devil could be done about its ugly misshapen inedible fruit the size of golf balls.  Last year, I sprayed the darn thing three times with Sonic Bloom to the accompaniment of Carlson's chirping soundbox, then sat back.  That's all; no fertilizer, no rock dust, no special care.  By September, I had a tree totally covered with orange-sized apples, beautifully colored, delicious to eat.  Such palpable proof led to review what has been happening to Sonic Bloom since I reported on its apparent marvels in Secrets of the Soil almost 10 years ago.  Now, as a result of what I have learned, I plan to travel to Mexico with Carlson to see with my own eyes if his Sonic Bloom combined with the Raul Mendez' organic fungicide, really can, as claimed, produce a 500% improvement in yields, a potential abundance that is staggering, opening the limitless abilities of nature to support all existing life on the planet, healing the wounds inflicted on it by greed and folly in the past. 

  If true, Carlson may be on his way to solving malnutrition on this planet, a way that can provide healthy abundant produce for every man, woman, and child in God's own Garden of Eden, where so far, we have done little but sin.

  Could Jean Dixon, with her clairvoyant vision, have foreseen Carlson's small black sonic box? 

-- Llewellyn's Moon Sign Book 2001