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How many of you are organic growers?
- Thread starter Proud Marine Dad
- Start date
I am 99.9% organic in everything I grow. That extra .1% of non-organic is spraying Sevin at the base of my zucchini plants to stave off squash borer worms. This year, I'm thinking of buying some nematodes to see if I can prevent the adults from emerging from the ground. That would make me 100%.
Have you tried Safer caterpillar spray with BT in it?compmodder26 said:
Far better than nasty crap like Sevin. Neem may help as well if it is good quality neem from India.
Proud Marine Dad said:Have you tried Safer caterpillar spray with BT in it?
Far better than nasty crap like Sevin. Neem may help as well if it is good quality neem from India.
I've looked past BT as I always thought it was a topical application, and since the borers enter the stem of the plants, I didn't think it would help me much for prevention. But I just now looked and saw that I'm supposedly able to inject it at the base of the stem every 7-10 days after it starts flowering. So I think I'll give that a shot this year.
compmodder26 said:
Last summer I injected my squash vines with spinosad. They got really wilty and yellow afterwards and never recovered. Then the squash vine borers and squash bugs moved in and finished them off. Needless to say, I was not impressed with the results of my little trial.
I don't know if it was the spinosad or the damage caused by injection that hurt my plants… My advice would be to only inject a few of your plants until you know for sure that it won't hurt them.
Good luck in your fight with the little bastiges. I hate them more than aphids, whiteflies and fungus gnats combined.
I count myself among the people who are 90%+ organic. My plants usually only recieve synthetic ferts maybe 4 times in their entire lives. (and only quarter strength dilution at that)
Worm castings in the soil, worm castings as top dressing, raw worm tea, pasteurized worm tea, anaerobic worm tea, and super-aerated worm tea... is where my plants get probably more like 97%+ of their nutrients.
Worm castings in the soil, worm castings as top dressing, raw worm tea, pasteurized worm tea, anaerobic worm tea, and super-aerated worm tea... is where my plants get probably more like 97%+ of their nutrients.
Is 90% organic like saying that you are kind of pregnant?
I use all organic fertilizers. Fish emulsion and kelp liquid ferts. I also use organic granular fertilizers inground and in my containers. For my lawn I don't use organic fertilizers. In the fall I mulch leaves from the trees in my yard and turn them into my beds.That makes me not organic.
I use all organic fertilizers. Fish emulsion and kelp liquid ferts. I also use organic granular fertilizers inground and in my containers. For my lawn I don't use organic fertilizers. In the fall I mulch leaves from the trees in my yard and turn them into my beds.That makes me not organic.
filmost said:
When I feed my plants it is almost always worm tea... but when I water them with plain water... they are also being fed by the castings in the top dressing and in the soil.
Pr0digal_son said:
It sounds like you are all organic as far as your garden is concerned. Also... its ambiguous from what you said whether you think mulching leaves is inorganic or the fact that you use inorganic ferts on your lawn makes you inorganic.
Meaning the trees have obviously taken up the fertilizer I put down. The leaves I mulched and turned into my beds have it in them also.I should have been more clear. I definitely do not eat my grass.Noah Yates said:
The fertilizers I use have been chosen for their ratios,micro/macro and trace. It was not a conscious effort to save the planet or anything like that.
The first part of my comment was probably smarmy but I feel you are or you aren't organic. If I bought produce that said 90% organic,I would wonder what the other 10% was. Something that will make my teeth fall out of my head? If that 10% is lethal,what does the 90% matter?
I have seen organic growers here that pull out the big guns when the shit hits the fans. Does that squash their organic status? Is a truely organic grower willing to put their indoor/outdoor crop in peril to fight pests/diseases organically? I think if their families nourishment/finances depended on it they wouldn't.
IMO, 90% organic works if you're normally organic, but seeing as the only treatment for BLS is an inorganic chemical and not everyone wants to throw out 4 month old plants, there you have it. I use inorganic ferts once in a while, such as twice in winter because I grow all indoors and my plants don't hibernate, so I run low on worm castings and such.
millworkman
eXtreme
There are other remedies to BLS than chemicals.
I grow 100% organic once outdoors. I use a lot of leaves and composted grass clippings in my containers and beds but never use chemicals on the lawn. They don't get any synthetic ferts or amendments past April or so, if at all.
I grow 100% organic once outdoors. I use a lot of leaves and composted grass clippings in my containers and beds but never use chemicals on the lawn. They don't get any synthetic ferts or amendments past April or so, if at all.
@ Prodigal son- Now I see what you were saying. Still... that mulch is itself an organic amendment.. even if the plant matter was fed synthetics... I grow organically using my worm castings, but I will feed the worms scraps from commercial produce that were probably fed synthetics...
And MWM... that is the same policy I try to abide by. The only exception being a late season dose of epsom salts.
And MWM... that is the same policy I try to abide by. The only exception being a late season dose of epsom salts.