Re: Marijuana Pest And Disease Control: How To Protect Your Plants And Win Back Your Garden.epub
Mirthe Luria
As a component of organic agriculture, organic vegetable gardening promotes and enhances natural diversity and biological cycles on the farm. Rather than relying on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, organic gardening is based on making the garden self-sufficient and sustainable.
The National Organic Program (NOP), defines the organic standards. Growers must be certified in order to claim their products are grown organically. A conventional grower can become certified organic over a three-year transition period. During this period, organic practices need to be used but the produce cannot be claimed as organic. Organic growers or gardeners with less than $5,000 in sales per year do not need to be certified but their practice has to follow the NOP standard and is subject to audit.
Marijuana Pest And Disease Control: How To Protect Your Plants And Win Back Your Garden.epub
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Most home gardeners grow vegetables naturally and do not sell produce so they do not have to strictly follow the NOP standard if the word organic is not used for their produce. For a product to be called organic, it must contain at least 95 percent USDA-certified organic ingredients.
Producing vegetables organically is a long-term process carried out in stages rather than a single production practice adopted within one growing season. Adopting organic production techniques involves a transition from conventional to organic gardening. The first step in this transition is improving and maintaining soil fertility or quality. Healthy, fertile soils are the base of successful organic vegetable production.
The fertility of manures varies widely (Table 1). For example, poultry manure is typically higher in nitrogen and phosphorus relative to other manures. Both poultry and dairy manure have fewer weed seeds that could carryover in the garden. To interpret Table 1, note that each 100 pounds of fresh cattle manure contains 0.5 pound of available nitrogen and each 100 pounds of dried cattle manure contains about 2 pounds of available nitrogen.
Successful gardeners do not overapply manure. Similar to any fertilizer, manure can leach and pollute groundwater and streams. Also, too much nitrogen from overapplying manures can reduce the yield and quality of many vegetables.
If manure is not readily available, compost can be made from lawn clippings, leaves and other plant materials. Composting organic matter stabilizes nitrogen and kills pathogens and weed seeds, and enables the use of materials, such as raw manure and sawdust, that should not be applied directly to growing vegetables.
Adding compost to garden soils improves soil structure, increases the population of beneficial microbes, increases soil moisture retention, reduces nutrient loss, boosts pH and can suppress certain diseases. Most compost contains 1 to 3 percent nitrogen. Generally, compost is applied 4 to 8 tons per acre in field vegetable production, and 10 to 20 tons per acre (1 to 2 pounds per square foot) in gardens for soil development, with 0.5 to 1 pound per square foot applied for soil fertility maintenance. For detailed information on making compost, see MU Extension publication G6956, Making and Using Compost.
Cover crops and green manures help build soil quality. Cover crops add organic matter, reduce soil erosion, provide habitat for beneficial insects and spiders, provide nitrogen, suppress weeds and loosen the subsoil. Green manures are cover crops that are plowed into the soil to provide nitrogen to the succeeding vegetable crop.
Cover crops are usually established in the fall (September to October) in Missouri and allowed to grow during the winter and early spring before being plowed in. Cover crops can be interseeded with a fall vegetable crop toward the end of the growing season, which allows the cover crop to get established during the fall vegetable crop harvest. Popular winter cover crops include annual ryegrass, winter rye, winter pea, wheat, oats, triticale, clovers and hairy vetch. Fast-growing cover crops such as buckwheat, soybean, cowpeas and sorghum-sudangrass hybrid can be established during the summer (periods of one to two months between harvest of early planted spring crops and planting of fall crops) to suppress weeds and add organic matter to the soil.
Legume cover crops, such as hairy vetch and clovers, fix nitrogen from the air and transform it for use by vegetable crops. As much as 120 pounds per acre of actual nitrogen can be fixed by certain legume cover crops one to two weeks before planting vegetable crops. Mixed seeding of grass and legume cover crops is commonly done by using one-third the normal seeding rate for the grass cover crop and two-thirds of the normal seeding rate for the legume (Table 2). Most legumes should be seeded in early fall, whereas grass cover crops can be seeded up to mid-October in Missouri. The following spring, mow or roll the cover crops. Most cereals can be incorporated into the soil when they are 24 inches tall, before head formation. Legumes should be plowed or incorporated into the soil just before full flowering for maximal nitrogen content.
Brassica and mustard cover crops are known for their rapid fall growth, great biomass production and nutrient scavenging ability. They also have potential in pest management as most Brassica species release chemical compounds that may be toxic to soil-borne pathogens and pests. Although research results are still inconsistent, these cover crops may be worth trying on a small plot for organic pest management.
The amount of fertilizer applied to any vegetable crop depends on soil type and characteristics (pH, organic matter and cation exchange capacity), previous cropping history and nutrient uptake by the vegetable. For example, heavy-feeding vegetables like tomatoes can remove as much as 120 pounds of nitrogen per acre each year. Soil should be tested every two years to determine total nutrients within the soil.
Plant diseases may seriously stunt or kill vegetable plants. Diseases often appear as leaf spots, wilts, stunts, rusts or lesions. The causal agents may be fungi, bacteria, viruses or mycoplasms, or a stressful environment. For example, many vegetable plants will wilt not only from too little water but also from excessive water in the root zone. The key to successful organic disease management is prevention. The following strategies can be used to prevent diseases on vegetable crops.
Whenever possible, choose disease-resistant vegetable varieties. Disease resistance means that although a plant may occasionally contract the disease, it will not be seriously affected. Tolerance to a disease means that the plant usually contracts the disease when present but is able to survive despite the infection. The seed package usually lists disease resistance information of the variety, especially for hybrid (F1) varieties.
Many vegetables can be established as transplants. Carefully inspect transplants for any spots or lesions on the stems or leaves. Remove a few transplants from the planting container and inspect their root systems. Healthy roots are white or light in color, and show no signs of decay or excessive wrapping of the fibrous roots around the root ball. Avoid buying plants that have already set fruit.
Always choose a well-drained soil for growing vegetables. Root rots and other soil-borne diseases thrive in wet soils. Low spots in the field also are pockets of high humidity in the plant canopy, creating a favorable environment for diseases. Avoid planting close to trees or buildings that may reduce air circulation or the intensity or duration of sunlight. Use raised beds to promote soil aeration and drainage whenever possible
Crop rotation is a long-established, successful agricultural practice. Continuous cropping of plants in the same botanical family allows for buildup of disease organisms. Vegetables that are in the same botanical family should not be grown in the same area for at least three years. For example, watermelon, cucumber, squash, cantaloupe and pumpkins are in the Cucurbitaceae family and often are attacked by the same disease organisms. Rotating curcurbits with vegetables in the Solanaceae family such as peppers, tomatoes, eggplants or potatoes can potentially lower the incidence of diseases.
Dense plantings can often increase susceptibility to diseases. By increasing the spacing between plants, air circulation and light intensity are enhanced, creating a less favorable environment for disease development. Always stake or cage tomato plants to keep the plants and fruit from touching the soil. Remove suckers (lateral buds) up to the node below the first fruit cluster on a tomato plant to increase air circulation and light exposure and thus reduce disease incidence.
Organic mulches such as straw, hay, compost, newspaper or wood shavings will aid in disease prevention by reducing direct contact between soil and the plant. Mulch thickness should be 4 to 6 inches. Many soil-borne diseases infect the plant from rain-splashed soil on the lower leaves. Organic mulches usually lower soil temperatures. Thus, warm-season vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers should be mulched only after the soil has warmed. Plastic mulches also can be used by organic growers. Plastic mulches are available in a variety of colors and are particularly effective in warming the soil. Black plastic is the most commonly used plastic mulch for spring and early summer vegetables in Missouri. Infrared-transmitting (IRT) plastic mulch allows certain wavelengths to penetrate the plastic, increasing the soil temperature significantly more than black plastic mulch. Growers wishing to plant later in the summer can use white plastic to keep the soil cooler. When plastic mulch is used, water must be supplied by a drip tube or soaker hose under the plastic.
To prevent carryover of plant diseases from one growing season to the next, clean all planting trays and growing supplies such as wooden tomato stakes, planting trays and harvest containers. Most materials can be soaked in a hydrogen peroxide solution or steam sterilized. Plant residues in a garden should be cleaned and removed. Do not compost diseased plant residue. Eliminate weeds around the perimeter of the garden because these can serve as hosts for plant diseases.
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