I have a bit of experience with herbicide, pesticide, and chemical fertilizer on corn, soy, and hay. But that experience comes from a 100 acre farm. Much different than my own grow. On my tiny little farm, we are almost completely organic and in the ground. I age barn and pond scrapings and then till them into my soil. In fact, my property started with mostly clay. So I kind of needed to build the soil up before I could get much production out the land.
At the end of a season and then early spring, I sick goats and a sheep on the weeds to clean up the fields, moving them from one area to another. Anything left gets tilled under. For pest control, I thought we used only duck and chicken but recently learned that toads and box turtle are likely doing a job too. Yes, the poultry gets some of the lower fruit but it seems like an acceptable trade.
Without going into hydroponics, I am curious how folk who go the other route grow. Does anyone use a herbicide to clear their fields? How about pesticides? If you use a chemical fertilizer, what do you use? Most interesting to me is why go those routes?
At the end of a season and then early spring, I sick goats and a sheep on the weeds to clean up the fields, moving them from one area to another. Anything left gets tilled under. For pest control, I thought we used only duck and chicken but recently learned that toads and box turtle are likely doing a job too. Yes, the poultry gets some of the lower fruit but it seems like an acceptable trade.
Without going into hydroponics, I am curious how folk who go the other route grow. Does anyone use a herbicide to clear their fields? How about pesticides? If you use a chemical fertilizer, what do you use? Most interesting to me is why go those routes?
To poison the entire plant with a systemic, or regularly apply some toxic spray makes zero sense for me. I LIKE the bees and spiders and lacewings and other critters the plants attract.
