Horn manure (500) for plant vitality & resilience
The contribution, measured
Time horizon: Several seasons
How it contributes
By favouring rooting and a living soil, practitioners associate 500 with more balanced vines.
What to measure for this pairing
Why this goal matters
Biodynamics seeks balanced, resilient vines through the silica preparations, medicinal plants (horsetail, nettle) and calendar work. The aim is a vine that ripens well and better withstands stress and disease.
Resilience comes mostly from the system as a whole — living soil, vigour balance, biodiversity — complemented by the preparations. Documenting the programme lets you assess the effect over seasons.
Goal indicators
Market & certification: Plant resilience underpins the reduction in interventions that biodynamics values.
How to apply the practice
- 1Dynamise the preparation in warm water for an hour.
- 2Spray onto the soil at day’s end, in coarse droplets.
- 3Favour root days and the descending calendar phase.
- 4Log rate, plot and date for certification.
Frequently asked
When is 500 applied?
Typically in the late afternoon/evening, on root days and descending-sap phases, over moist soil — a few times a year.
Can I make 500 on my own farm?
Yes — many growers bury the horns and make the preparation, which reinforces the self-sufficiency Demeter values. Ready-made preparation can also be bought.
Same practice, other goals
Same goal, other practices — Plant
How GrapeFlow helps
The proof Demeter certification demands — logged by plot and date.
Biodynamic calendar
Root, leaf, flower and fruit days and the lunar phases in GrapeFlow, to plan preparation applications and work in step with the calendar.
Preparations & application log
Every application of 500, 501 and the other preparations logged by plot, date and rate — the history the Demeter audit asks for.
Electronic field notebook
All operations — compost, cover, animals, dynamisation — logged by plot, ready for certification.