Dear All,
Qur local new community garden in Ashburton (inner Melbourne) had decided to not use chemicals. Now, there are some bugs on the citrus and things like that do happen. While at home I just wait for preditors to develop, some gardeners of our group are not as patient and want some quicker help.
My husband knows about chemicals and found us two lists, one from the BFA which is nicely alphabetical but only of members products and the other list is from NASAA and is only of chemical ingredients rather than products.
Do you use any list of organic products for organic food production that you could recommend for a community garden?
green greetings, Petra.
permacultureworks[at]gmail.com
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Steve Hart writes…
Hi Petra…what is the exact address of the garden…I’d like to drop
by and have a closer look….
Steve Hart
stevehart[at]raglan.co.nz
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Dour writes…
What sort of bugs do you have Petra?
doug[at]one2one.com.au
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Matthew writes…
G’day Petra,
Have they decided to not use chemicals or not?? Sounds like they have decided not to use chemicals as long as no bugs appear which isn’t really a proper decision!
Are they winged, wingless or laval stage insects? Now is a good time to make biodynamic wingless insect peppers out of the insects themselves. Crush them up and put them in a bucket, then place the bucket on the fire and use the ash left over to spread around the infected area or to make a homeopathic potentised spray out of water and the ash which will last longer (and there will be more of it whereas there is hardly any ash.)
Sick plants attract bugs and sick plants are due to sick soil. They need to spray some biodynamic 500 to make healthy soil and then they will need patience! It will most likely take years to develop the soil, but if they start spraying chemicals, they will have to spray every year and then they will be stuck in a vicious cycle. If people want to have a relationship with the earth, they need to be in it for better or for worse and that means patience, loving and nurturing. Spraying chemicals is not nurturing the earth (or even us!) I think your first step is to drive home this point because you can talk about results all you want, but where are people’s priorities? Cash crops or respect for the earth and for people’s health??
All the best,
Matthew.
Good luck!
mjbond[at]gmail.com
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Steve Hart writes…
Agreed…sick plants comes by in large from sick soil…spraying is
the absolute last defence.
All your other systems need to be in place to assist you not having to
revert to sprays.
If you need to search a little more about biodynamic applications go
to http://www.bdmax.co.nz
This is the site of BD scientist Glen Atkinson a Kozzie…Australian
who emigrated to NZ ..rare I know its usually the other way around.
He has a range of products available on the market in Australia
now…check it out and get back to me for more assistance.
…Steve Hart
Michael Neville
I fully agree on soil health comments… As your citrus trees mature they can cope with most bug attacks pretty well anyway…encourage predators..
Hand removal works well for me with stink bugs and caterpillers…a little slow but worth it.
Michael
Jane Mowbray
Maybe you have stink bugs (Bronze Orange Bugs) that smell revolting when they squirt at you. They come in several sizes including big aggro bronze ones, medium bright orange ones and small pale green juveniles.
You can pull them off the trees using long tongs and drop them into a bucket containing about 2 litres of water and 4 drops of detergent. Stir the water to kill them faster. I did once watch with delight as a stick insect pounced on an adult stink bug!
People at Glover’s Garden (Sydney) have caught stink bugs using a tin attached to a long stick, then squashed them.
If you have caterpillars that look a bit like bird droppings don’t kill them as they are the larvae of the large citrus butterfly and do no damage.
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Thank You, Russ and Matthew,
I agree about the health of the soil and will forward the answer if Matthew agrees.
Where is the best place to get preps from?
cheers, Petra.
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Matthew says…
Hi Petra,
The best place to get preps is through the BD Gardeners Association
Inc. Call 9842 8137 for more info.
regards,
Matthew.