Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>]

You're right, it does happen. Let me stress the beef is with certification, 
not with organic growing. I agree there are those who follow the rules, but 
how do we know which ones they are? Large or small there is just no 
guarantee of no chemicals used; the temptation is always there to take the 
easy way & spray for bugs or weeds to avoid losing part of a crop you've 
invested in. I'm one of those who really believe in organics & I use only 
natural inputs, no chemicals at any time. It means better taste & stronger 
plants. Customers don't have to believe me; I understand only too well. And 
I still get premium prices for higher quality produce without certification.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

You say the temptation is always there? Not at all, not for me anyway.
I sincerely believe that using chemicals starts a vicious circle with no end 
always. I just read an article about MRSA, a common, fairly manageable 
microbe that became a huge problem through the use of antibiotics. (19,000 
dead per year in the US). The only country in the world that has made 
serious progress against MRSA (Norway) did so by nearly doing away with 
antibiotics completely.

I have saw fly damage on my goose berry bushes every year and I think that 
is good because this is the only way to keep the wasp going that lays her 
eggs in the saw fly larvae. If I spray anything against the sawfly even Bt 
(which would be allowed under organic rules) I kill the wasp as well and 
that population is a lot more sensitive than the saw flies who will be back 
next year and forever anyway. I did nothing this year (normal) and a few 
weeks ago the bushes looked severely damaged with hardly a whole leaf left. 
Two weeks later there is not a sawfly larva in sight an the plants are 
making new leaves full speed. In another two weeks nobody will be able to 
see there ever was a problem.

Very often the best way to act is to do nothing.

john



Only a stupid person who does not understand ecology relies on chemicals