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Post by daylilydude on Sept 26, 2017 11:59:39 GMT -5
Sorry so late... had a emergency school bus problem to take care of... but anyway the question is... are you organic or non-organic or does it even make any difference?
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Post by spike on Sept 26, 2017 12:36:00 GMT -5
Well I plant my seeds in worm castings and my seedlings/plants in a bit of potting soil and worm casings. I use untreated seeds and water with collected rain water. A coffee can half full of water and a finger flick takes care of any bugs. I know there are s zillion fertilizers out there but I have no clue what I would use or if I should. So? Does that mean I am organic?
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Sept 26, 2017 12:58:11 GMT -5
You're pretty close, at least! I think most folks would consider you an organic gardener if your potting soil is certified organic.
I am not organic, but I use organic methods and materials where they make sense for me. I prefer to minimize the toxins in my food, but I will do what I have to in order to get a crop.
I stay away from pesticides (organic or synthetic) for the most part, preferring to let lizards and other predators handle pest problems. The "good guys" do a good job with most things. The more years that I practice limited spraying the better the predators seem to work as controls. And I reach for organic options first when things get bad and I do have to spray - Neem or Bt mostly. Various caterpillars (armyworms lately) and leaf-footed bugs are my worst pests. But I am not going to swear that I wouldn't use something synthetic if all else failed.
Leaf diseases are a big problem in my climate, and no amount of beneficial insects are going to help with that. I do use fungicides, but I use organic ones like copper, Neem, and Serenade. (Milk sprays, soap sprays, and baking soda sprays are just plain inadequate here. Copper has been giving me the best results for the past couple of years, but I know I need to rotate methods so I don't develop resistant disease strains.) I can't remember the last time I used a synthetic fungicide like Daconil, though there are times that I have been tempted!
However, I use conventional potting mix to fill my Earthboxes and most of the time I use synthetic fertilizers in them. In that enclosed environment, synthetic fertilizers just seem to nourish the plants better, for longer, at substantially less cost. (Yes, I've tried both.) I'm guessing that it's hard to develop a good soil ecology in an Earthbox. That may be partly a heat issue - I am sure the soil gets very hot in my boxes in the summer.
In my raised beds I prefer organic fertilizers and compost. I'm working on building the soil. It's an work in progress, because it takes a LOT of added organic matter in this hot, high rainfall climate.
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Post by september on Sept 26, 2017 15:55:32 GMT -5
When I first started gardening, I was gung-ho all organic, which worked because I had three horses and had access to all the manure I needed. I subscribed to the old little newsprint version of Organic Farming and Gardening magazine and learned a lot. I wish I had not thrown those 1970's era magazines away, it was a classic, nothing else has ever had such good practical info and ideas without frills. Funny how it went downhill so quickly when it went to glossy paper!
But about 5-6 years into my gardening career, I had two years in a row of losing my entire tomato crop to disease in the middle of the summer just as the fruit were starting to size up. I realized that I was not willing to gamble on investing my time and effort for no results, so I started using daconil as a preventative and have been happy with it. We normally don't have the heat and humidity of the far south, so I rarely need to spray more than 3 times, about 2 weeks apart. I stop spraying about the time the first of the larger varieties start to turn color. If I get disease at that point, it will likely progress at about the same downhill rate as the end of the season anyway.
I don't have horses anymore, so every few years I order a large dump truckload of rotted cow manure from a farmer which gets put in a pile next to the old horse stable. I wheelbarrow around what I need out of it to my raised beds. I know I should do more with compost, but I just don't have the desire to do a lot of leaf raking anymore, tough on my back. I have a leaf shredder, and try to put a couple inch layer of shredded autumn leaves on the raised beds for the winter, but I don't get to all of them. I don't mind using soluble generic cheap ferts like 10-10-10 to supplement if I think my soil is getting depleted during the season. It is about impossible to grow good sweet corn without supplemental fertilizer, it is such a heavy feeder. So, to sum up - I tried organic, and do as much as I can that way, but in the end I'm more interested in results than following any one practice.
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Post by paulf on Sept 26, 2017 17:20:43 GMT -5
My gardening is non-organic BUT I subscribe to the philosophy of Integrated Pest Management. I use chemicals but only as a last resort, especially insecticides. Chemical fertilizers get used most and there have been no problems. Soil tests are followed so there is no run off. The way my land lies there is not much chance of me contaminating anyone. I use caution and care in growing my vegetables.
So far as I am concerned, the organic food fad is a marketing scam much like the gluten-free fad which can be dangerous without a true need for being gluten-free. But that is another story.
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Post by paquebot on Sept 26, 2017 21:06:59 GMT -5
Serenade for fungal and bacterial disease prevention, Spinosad for bugs, horse manure and compost for fertilizer. Don't need anything else. Can't get any more organic.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by meandtk on Sept 26, 2017 21:28:42 GMT -5
Not organic. I use chemical fertilizers. I also use compost. I have a few hundred pounds of rabbit droppings that are available to me. I hope to use them in the spring.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 26, 2017 23:44:16 GMT -5
Much like Laura, I would not be considered organic, mostly due to the things that I use in my SIPs. But I do not use sprays for insects or fungus that are not organic, and the fertilizers that go into the ground part of the garden are all organic, including a lot of compost. Amazingly, when I got a soil test done on 3 sections of my garden last spring (Ca, Mg, N, P, K), everything was in in the optimum to excessive range, and the only addition recommended to 2 of them was a small amount of N. Yet, all I do is keep digging in compost - no inorganic fertilizers - which I why I figured that it must be short of something.
Early on I spray Actinovate to hold off fungal disease on tomatoes, and a few other plants. I combine this with Surround - kaolin clay powder - which keeps a lot of bugs off the plants, esp. flea beetles, which are a major problem for my eggplants. Later in the season I spray a prophylactic spray of potassium bicarbonate (adding some oil, if temps are under 90º, as this increases its effectiveness), which helps greatly with tomato diseases, mildew on squash, and rust on beans. If I see any develop anyway, I'll spray some copper, but I rarely have to use this.
For insects, I use that Surround for some things, which simply keeps them off, since they don't like the feel of it, BT for some things, and very occasionally some pyrethrins, for something like a severe aphid outbreak. And sluggo for slugs (didn't get it tested, but iron is probably high in my garden!). But, for the most part, nothing out there that would not be considered "organic", as far as the chemicals.
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