Pest or plant?
Posted: 12 Apr 2023, 15:12
Treat the Plant, Not the Pest!
The time is ripe for agrohomeopathy, from backyard gardens to commercial farms
Nothing is more exciting for a gardener than to see the rewards of their labor bring forth food to nourish them and their family; yet nothing is more disappointing than all their work succumbing to pests, diseases, or environmental catastrophes.
The spring of 2014 found me on our 60-plus acre organic farm, happily order- ing seeds, installing the PVC watering system, and planning my newly expanded 4,000-plus-square-foot garden down to the last square foot. But in June my hopes were dashed as seemingly overnight, grasshoppers had descended upon my blossoming garden, devouring everything in sight. One particular plant, a Costata Romanesco zucchini, had just flowered, but by the next day the grasshoppers had eaten everything on the plant, leaving only a short stem.
Lack of rainfall had afflicted Texas for several years, but summer 2014 was par- ticularly brutal. Drought or dry conditions are perfect for the egg pods of locusts and grasshoppers to explode, and gardeners, farmers, and ranchers have battled these plagues for ages. Swarms have been known to devour entire fields in a short amount of time. That summer, I was bombarded by grasshoppers every time I went outside....
The time is ripe for agrohomeopathy, from backyard gardens to commercial farms
Nothing is more exciting for a gardener than to see the rewards of their labor bring forth food to nourish them and their family; yet nothing is more disappointing than all their work succumbing to pests, diseases, or environmental catastrophes.
The spring of 2014 found me on our 60-plus acre organic farm, happily order- ing seeds, installing the PVC watering system, and planning my newly expanded 4,000-plus-square-foot garden down to the last square foot. But in June my hopes were dashed as seemingly overnight, grasshoppers had descended upon my blossoming garden, devouring everything in sight. One particular plant, a Costata Romanesco zucchini, had just flowered, but by the next day the grasshoppers had eaten everything on the plant, leaving only a short stem.
Lack of rainfall had afflicted Texas for several years, but summer 2014 was par- ticularly brutal. Drought or dry conditions are perfect for the egg pods of locusts and grasshoppers to explode, and gardeners, farmers, and ranchers have battled these plagues for ages. Swarms have been known to devour entire fields in a short amount of time. That summer, I was bombarded by grasshoppers every time I went outside....