Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Catherine Fenner" <c1fenner@comcast.net>]

I've been annoyed with Baker for decades. His programs used to be used on
our public television pledge drives and people would get so excited about
his tonics. The weekend after his shows were aired the master gardener
phones would ring off the hook hoping for more information about his
philosophies.

As university volunteers we could only respond with university research so
it didn't help much. But I would try to bring IPM techniques into the
picture and one of those principals that also exists in organic growing
techniques is that you only treat when it's absolutely needed, only when
damage has occurred at the right level and at the right time for the disease
or bug cycle.

Baker's basic flaw, to me then, is that he does this general, all-purpose
spray now, spray tomorrow superficial and non-symptomatic approach.

Catherine

> Organic gardeners know that just because a substance comes 
> from the kitchen pantry or bathroom medicine chest doesn't 
> mean it's "organic" or even safe.
> Several whom I know from another list recently began 
> protesting to their public TV stations about Jerry's 
> half-Baked ideas, pointing out that re-using pesticide 
> containers and modifying the label instructions are, at the 
> very least, violations of federal regulations.  The husband 
> of one of them works for their local PBS station; whether 
> this "campaign" will get JB off the air remains to be seen.