Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 15:53:42 -0500 Reply-To: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group Sender: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group From: Hugh Lovel Subject: Re: Aphids In-Reply-To: <3A90F094.CF3D094@cytanet.com.cy> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Rachael Pettus in Cyprus writes: >Hello everyone, >I am turning to SANET as a last resort, having looked in many organic >gardening books, talked to people, and sprayed soap spray, chili spray, >and garlic. I have a problem with aphids on brassicas. It started with >a small infestation on brocolli, and I removed as best I could infested >plants and parts, but the aphids have spread to new plantings of cabbage >and kohlrabi and are now on almost every plant. The books I have >consulted say to use row cover to protect seedlings, but it is not >available where I am (Eastern Med island of Cyprus). >Is there any way of interrupting their life-cycle once they get >established? Do they live in soil and climb up plants or are they >fliers? I also use yellow colour traps which supposedly attract them, >but cannot report much success there. I have some ladybirds around, but >not as many as I would have thought with this banquet awaiting them. >Options such as mail order predators, etc are not open to me, given my >location. Has anyone some help or advice to offer? I appreciate all >information! >Thanks in advance, >Rachael. Sanjay Aggarwal in India writes: >Dear Rachel, > >Pl. see if you can use EM (Effective Microorganisms) technology developed in >Japan to suppress your problem. There are many success stories all over the >world on EM use for treating pests. Surf the net and search on key words >'Effective Microorganisms', you will find someone surely who will supply you >the same. > >Best of luck. > >Sanjay Aggarwal >India Dear Rachael, I believe Sanjay is on to something, although I don't think of eliminating aphids as a matter of suppressing them. Ideally a plant photosynthesizes well enough that when the sap ebbs sugars are exuded at the roots. This nourishes the soil food web surrounding the roots, which can thrive wonderfully as a result. The synergistic communities of microorganisms in such a product as EM will get this soil food web cooking if it is not. Once it is thriving and getting sugars from the plants on the ebb cycle of sap, it will return on the flow cycle nitrogen as amino acids (from azotobacters) and other nutrients elaborated from the soil, such as lime, phosphorus and potash, and these (hopefully) will be returned to the leaves and the growing tips where the amino acids are assembled into proteins. Two of the worst fertilizers for killing off the soil food web and effective microorganisms in the soil are nitrogen salt fertilizers (anhydrous is THE worst) and muriate of potash (K.Cl). The chlorine (muriate) is a soil sterilant which kills the soil microorganisms directly. But nitrogen salts suppress azotobacter activity and kill this off. Moreover they are far more soluble than amino acids and enter the sap much more readily--to the exclusion of the amino acids. Then they make the plant's protoplasm salty and watery, and the plant must expend considerable energy turning the salts into aminos before it can assemble its proteins, replicate its DNA and grow. Under such conditions it will never fulfill its genetic potential, and it is just such conditions that make brassicas attractive to aphids. As long as you are not using toxic sprays (including those from organic sources) there should be preditors of the aphids around. Get a pocket microscope, not too great magnification, and watch. The preditors may very well be going from aphid to aphid, sort of pinching each one like the wicked witch pinching Hansel's finger to see if they are ready to eat yet. If you have lots of aphids I believe you will find the preditors are mostly rejecting them because the aphids are eating such watered down fare they aren't very appetizing--not enough vitality in the aphids to make their predators feel up to reproducing and decimating the aphid population. You could also do a brix test with a refractometer. Or find a part of your brassica field where there are no aphids and taste the leaves there and compare that taste to where the aphids are going crazy. You'll see how much blander the taste is where the aphids are run amok. The problem is not the aphids. They are a symptom. What goes on is for healthy, pest and disease free crops three things must happen. 1.) The soil food web must be supplying an abundance of nutrients, especially nitrogen, in balanced and assimilable form. It helps tremendously if there are no nitrogen salts in this supply but instead are amino acids elaborated by the nitrobacteriacea family (which love lime) living in the soil in the near vicinity of the feeder roots. 2.) There must be good transport, both of nutrients upward in the sap and root exudates downward to the root environment, which is a function of clay and water in the soil. 3.) Photosynthesis needs to be functioning at a high enough level to keep energy levels high and the protoplasm of the plant must be dense enough to retain these energies so they do not leak away at night. This will occur when the plant gets its nitrogen as amino acids instead of nitrogen salts, as the aminos are assembled directly into proteins while the nitrogen salts render the protoplasm salty, watery and infirm. So there you have it. EM may help a lot, though it is a patch on the system and maybe won't fully address the causes of your problem. Hopefully my description of things will help you spot any other problems you may be having, resulting in the abundance of aphids. Ants, incidentally, herd aphids, milking them for their latex. When the nitrogen salt levels decline in the soils they take their aphid herding activities underground and go to work in the soil food web. There they aerate around plant roots, planting mycorhyzae, azotobacters, and many other microorganisms that work in symbiosis with plant roots. This improves plant nutrition so much that having aphids sucking on the roots is no hinderance to the plant. Then you will pull up the most robust specimen in your field and find it has both ants and aphids living in and on its roots--another sign that aphids are not the problem and that something else is going on. Best, Hugh Lovel Union Agricultural Institute Blairsville, Georgia WISCONSIN WORKSHOPS! For more about Horn Clay and how to grow corn as a soil improvement crop without nitrogen fertilizers and get high yields of the finest quality HUGH LOVEL will be giving two workshops in Random Lake, Wisconsin--BASIC BIODYNAMICS, February 23rd and 24th, and ADVANCED BIODYNAMICS March 2nd and 3rd. $125 per person per workshop, meals included, couples $200. For more information contact Hugh Lovel, 706 745 6056 or Bob Klavetter, 414 265 5683. -- Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 21:49:36 -0500 Reply-To: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group Sender: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group From: Hugh Lovel Subject: Changes in German Agriculture Comments: To: sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu, bdnow@envirolink.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Klaus Wiegand's post was long but well worth reading. In closing he writes: >i also strongly doubt, that "we-know-better-what's-good-for-you" >marketing strategies will be convincing any more and PR slogans >like "the taste of the new generation" or "come to xxx-land" or >"better than ever" will make any more sense. europeans will >demand less processed food of higher quality, but with higher >prices and a more conscient attitude against cheap food. >PSE-meat or cheap separator meat each day will be history for >half of the population (for the rest: no idea. it is known, that >about 50% of the consumers will or can not pay more). yet today >organic meat is almost sold out in germany and as most the >readers here have an agricultural background, they also know, >that it needs another year to raise a cow and another 2 to raise >a calf to slaugther weight. the year 2001 will become a >huge experiment for producers, marketers and consumers.... > >organic agriculture will definitely increase, but because of the >transition phase of 3? years i strongly doubt, that it will >reach >5% in 2005 > > >sigh, the mail has become too long... > >klaus Dear Klaus, As best as I can tell you were right on the money about a lot of things. But I do not see it as true that the transition to organic or beyond organic to wholistic methods such as biodynamic requires 3 years. Transition CAN take as little as one year, or even less. Many farms could go cold turkey on all their inputs and maintain yields even in the first year of conversion if they only knew with surety what to do. The big, big stumbling block is educating farmers in HOW to convert. This commonly takes more than three years. Here in the states I've found out how to grow corn as a soil improvement crop without any fertilizer and get high yields of the finest quality. Now I can say this straightforwardly enough, but how is it received? Like I must be crazy? I myself have to admit that until I've done this in hundreds of different locations time and time again without more than a few scattered failures I'm skeptical myself of how true a statement like " growing corn as a soil improvement crop without any fertilizer" is. Maybe it is not as true as I think it is. Or maybe it is just as true as I think it is or truer. But it will take time to achieve the level of proof a thing like this requires before any significant numbers of farmers take it seriously. Of course, once ten or fifteen percent get a grasp of it, it will sweep the entire farm industry. My greatest concern is if the fertilizer industry takes me seriously BEFORE enough farmers get a handle on how this works. Then my life expectancy won't be worth much. I've already had some attempts made to discredit me, so maybe some folks with something to lose ARE taking me seriously. Who knows? Changing the status quo is tricky business. Once, more than a quarter century ago, I was involved in something that threatened the institutional arrangements of some very wealthy people. My house was shot up with live ammunition, but fortunately I escaped without being physically injured. Once burned, twice shy? Maybe. But what is at stake is the survival of humanity, so maybe the risk is worth it? After all, I don't see agricultural sustainability as viable if all we do is hang on to the cliff face by our finger and toe nails. We have to get to where we are restoring the ravages of soil erosion, watershed degredation and the devastation of ecologies as fast or faster than these can occur. Right now the Sahara is showing signs of jumping the Mediterranean. Think what it will mean if Southern Europe becomes part of the Sahara? In short, at this point we need a fast airlift out of hell. And the problem is not so much the technology of doing this but how to get this information on how to do it into the hands of the people who currently are making the problem so they can implement the solutions instead. Pray, keep an open mind, Hugh Lovel <><><> Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 13:40:24 -0500 Reply-To: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group Sender: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group From: Hugh Lovel Subject: Re: Changes in German Agriculture Comments: To: sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear David, All, You've got it. The lies abound from the mouths of those in the most trusted positions of authority. The masses are hypnotized by the media. If one wants to get unplugged start selling the television set--or throw a brick through the picture tube so you have no choice and can't go back into the trance in some weak moment. I grew up without a TV and don't have one today. I really believe this has been key to my progress in life. I remember my father saying in the fifties when everyone was getting a TV "It'll rot your brain." and we were the only household that didn't get one. Funny but I don't find I've been deprived by the lack of a set. Well, anyway I'm more than happy to teach agriculture to those who have open minds. Miracles are possible when one understands how they work. Get me to teach workshops to farmers in YOUR areas, everyone. My rates as a consultant are $100/hour or $500/day travel and expenses paid. Pay me and I'll be there. It's really not a lot of money, though as I get too busy I'll have to charge more no doubt. Compare that to double or tripple costs this year for nitrogen fertilizers and the expense of planting just 100 acres of corn. Find out how to do without so much (harmful) input and get a big increase in quality while building soil--lordy, I'm likely to be the cheapest investment a farmer ever made. How I get this message into the mainstream beats me, but if anyone has any ideas get working on them. I'm expecting David to help organize a couple workshops for me in California in October, but there's still a lot of open dates on my calendar. Best, Hugh Lovel David Isaacs writes: >Why is there no creative movement to move out that middleman? Promote >co-ops. Demonstrate financial and cultivation success. Thats even more >mysterious than homeopathic flowforms interpenetrating the egoic sphere. >Just show one clear example of SUCCESS. Document it with more than "taste >my beets", market UP, not to improve the marginal producer but to boost the >crops for a successful farmer in the traditional mode. Get out there and >dare to lower costs. Dare to increase yield. Show profit without >pesticides. Cure plant maladies without interventions. And above all, give >up on all those folks who sing the litany of it can't be done. JUST ONCE MY >BROTHER. There's nothing to lose. Make them need you. Don't give it away. >BE Prosperous. Be Positive. Accept God's daily bounty and the gifts of >perception that you have earned and invest them where they can be seen. >GO,GO, GO, fer it. >All the Best, David. <><><> Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 21:06:26 -0500 Reply-To: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group Sender: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group From: Hugh Lovel Subject: Re: Changes in German Agriculture In-Reply-To: <004c01c0959c$e2b31d80$ae6e60cb@neil> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Hi Hugh, >I am very curious how you grow corn as a soil improvement crop and have a >good yield. >We have grown corn this year in 6 ft. beds - 2 rows in each bed and once the >corn was established we planted watermelons in between the rows of corn and >it has worked very well. >By the way, I always wonderd where the idea of three years came from, who >thought that up, why not two or five years? > >Linda Kerr >Woody Hollow Organic Gardens, Nuhaka, New Zealand > >> >>Here in the states I've found out how to grow corn as a soil improvement >crop without any fertilizer and get high yields of the finest quality. Linda, I was IN New Zealand last August and gave a workshop there in Otaki. Basically I have found out how to do this trick with corn by using the biodynamic preparations, especially the "missing" prep, horn clay. It takes a bit of explaining, but with the horn silica I improve photosynthesis, with the horn manure I improve the soil food web and with the horn clay I improve the ebb and flow of sap within the plant so it sends its sugars to the roots and feeds the soil food web which in turn gives back the nutrients the plant needs to soak up to grow robustly. Azotobacters in the soil are particularly important as they need sugars to fix nitrogen. When they get these they return amino acids to the plant instead of nitrogen salts, which allows the plant to assemble its proteins without any interference or loss of energy having to convert nitrogen salts into usable amino acids. Thus the plant fulfills its genetic potential and highest quality is assured. So is maximum growth. Best wishes, Hugh Lovel <><><> Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 21:40:06 -0500 Reply-To: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group Sender: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group From: Hugh Lovel Subject: Re: stirring Comments: To: bdnow@envirolink.org, sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu In-Reply-To: <200102111533.f1BFXp128392@portal.txcyber.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Martha, You know, I have often enjoyed your excellent posts for their practical qualities. This post exemplifies your excellence as you draw from your experience and reward us with so much that we might draw from from our own experiences--if we only would--and and if we cared. I'm cross posting this to Sanet, I hope you don't mind. I'm sure your are a gold mine of observation. Best wishes, Hugh Lovel >many years ago I worked in a chem refinery (don't laugh, don't >point, I did it then, I don't do it now.) >My job was the bug ponds! They had huge pits (the size of football >fields) dug in the ground and up to 5 massive weirs floating in each >pit. These were their chemical treatment facilities, they'd wash the >'bugs' through these ponds and microbes would break down their >chemicals, (ethylene, butylene, other nasties) enough so they were >safe for the effluent water to be returned to the bayou. >In my lab I kept an aquarium as a safety check on the water >quality. It was usually cleaner than the bayou water it was entering. > >The temperature in the ponds had to be somewhere just under >100*F, the weirs had to be maintained so the fan blades churned >the water, pumping oxygen in at just the right speed level. They >were half in and half out of the water so they were constantly >'folding' oxygen into the water, at about the same rate of speed as >slow on a hand mixer would run. (Imagine a mixer the size of a 1/2 >ton truck.) >Goodyear bought our 'bugs', but they couldn't keep them alive until >a group (myself included) went to work with them and show them >speed and temperature. The scientist that invented this process >went on to form his own company & patent for 'bugs' that clean oil >spills. > >If have a stock pond 'going anaerobic' the simple act of churning >the top of the water will usually get enough oxygen in it to revive it. >Cattle moving in still water will do the same thing, so it's rare to >see an anaerobic pond in a grazing pasture. >I could see how BD stirring would oxygenate compost tea, as long >as the temperature wasn't too far out of range. >Martha, (Texas) >http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Fields/5505/index.html >See TexCat Web page: >http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Fields/5505/Texcat_home.html