Re: [CH] Aphids
Steve (snearman@erols.com)
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 15:18:40 -0500
Byron,
I understand your frustration! I have been there and done that myself. We
moved to Virginia in '79 from Maryland. The country home was beautiful! But
nothing would grow well; the insects and/or rodents eat or killed over 2/3
of any crop we planted. The part of the crops we did save were of poor
quality and small size. The rebuilding of soil ecology takes TIME (years).
The problem did not come in one season and can not be fixed in one season.
Most parts of the east coast have been farmed to death for 200 years. It
has now become almost impossible to produce any crop with out adding
nutriments. The soil is simply depleted.
The point in all this is to encourage you, or anybody else, not to give up
on good grading practices just because there are major problems in your
garden. It will take many years to "fix" what you describe. Continue to add
more to the soil then you take out with compost and green manure crops each
and every year. Spray when you must for large infestations with the least
harmful chemicals available to you. Rotate crops so the bugs don't come
back year after year for the same feast you have prepared for them. Change
to a different crop if the bugs have a great taste for it.
Also remember that what you or I see in our back yards may not be typical
for many other folks. Telling others they will need gallons of spray to
control pest there garden in not accurate.
Steve
>Put yourself in my shoes for 1 minute, look at a 20 by 80 ft garden
>that you can not pick or pull 1 single veggie out of that garden to eat.
>because of bugs. All you see is dead and dying plants
>Thats a lot of work for nothing.
>
>What would you do ???
>
>When you have "Been there and Done that" let me know
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