>>2221297It's a kind of complex web of things, but the main ones are:
Fungal : bacterial ratio significantly affects how much fruit plants grow (as well as total biomass, drought tolerance, and aromatic/taste qualities from phytonutrients). It's a very important metric for the health of soils.
Higher F:B and better soil mineral cycling is what generates pest and disease resistance (that's what the phytos / secondary plant metabolites do, they stop the plant getting eaten). The relationship between phytos and human health is reasonably well established, and growing daily.
Kempf's work is the next level after your soil is working well, such as foilar sprays.
https://youtu.be/Q15UqNSZ4TwSoil mineral availability is mediated by microbial life, from a purely chemical presence perspective almost all soils have enough of all the necessary shit to grow (this ignores one of the biggest benefits of agroforestry, which is raking dust and fog etc for even more minerals)
This whole soil food web relationship to soil mineral cycling is more Elaine Ingham's thing
https://youtu.be/ErMHR6Mc4BkFungicide, herbicide, pesticide negatively affect the ability of the soil to grow life that cycles minerals, which is why when you start spraying them, you run into negative trophic cascades of shit dying.
>>2221351https://youtu.be/Dexx9kKVWeo>>2221344Grow them all, and grow them right next to each other in polycultures
http://amazingcarbon.com/ touches on the idea of quorum sensing, but polyculture planting offers a ton of other benefits. Mix and match pairings, triplets, and chaotic garden beds if you have the space, and find what combinations work well for you. A good started polyculture is the 3 sisters. Every few crop plants, add some flowers like zinnia, nasturtium, and marigolds, to enjoy emergent benefits from predatory insects (keep bug numbers down), bees for pollination, and a nicer looking garden.
