infection in cabbage

Means of controlling pests and diseases have turned from chemical to organic. People today have been opting chemical-free measures to eradicate these harmful substances from infesting their crops, as much as they prevent their children from harboring such harmful substances. Likewise, this also promotes the cultivation of purely organic vegetables while also preventing allergies and other unwanted reactions out of synthetic substances. Thus, through an organic system (a  non toxic pest control system), you are sure that you are growing healthy produce.

Five Easy Ways to control pests ORGANICALLY.

1.Get Suitable varieties – Track down VFNT: To be able to prevent plants from acquiring diseases, you also have to select the varieties which are not likely to be infested with such diseases. You are indeed lucky, for throughout these years, a lot of varieties have been developed to become resistant from harboring harmful conditions.

Nevertheless, to determine which among these varieties are what you are looking for, note the labels on the packages – for usually, they include the letters V, F, N, and T to indicate the type of resistance the seeds had been introduced with.

For instance, for those with V and F in their packages, you will be apt to learn that they stand for Verticillium and Fusarium wilts – all related to the fungi that cause tomato to become yellow, to wilt, and then die. Meanwhile, N tells about Nematode resistance. These organisms, nematodes, are small parasitic worms that are forming knots on the stems as well as on the roots of the vegetables. Then, last, T, which stands for Tobacco Mosaic Virus, affects the foliage by causing it to curl and to turn yellow. This also results to severe root damage.

watering early plants

2.Watering Early On: Supposing that you are making use of a sprinkle overhead to irrigate your crops, it is best to do so at the Early Hours of the Day, to make way for drying before nighttime falls. As you see, once the foliage has been wet for long periods of time, you can expect leaf diseases to occur, as well as fungi to inhabit the leaves, flower buds, and tender stems. This also becomes triggered during the night, most especially, as fungi is more likely to spread during the moist and cool hours of the night. Because of this, you will also be observing that the plant becomes weaker, the flowers fall, then the fruit becomes soft and will have spots.

3.Rotate Your Crops: Every year, practice planting your crops in different locations. In this way, you are avoiding microorganisms to thrive on and to infest your produce. Design your plot in such a way that the different plant families shall be given different spots in a matter of a three-year rotation.

5. Use Wondrous Paper Collar: It is by no wonder that at one point, you will just be noticing that your vegetables died when the other day, they were just as healthy as ever. Well, try to think no further, for they may have been attacked by cutworms. These worms usually eat during the night and then hide at day, infesting your crops early on during the season and then cutting your transplants up to the ground level.

Now, to avoid these worms’ destructive measures, you can try to develop a tangible scheme – that to say, entails the use of a paper or a thin collar made of cardboard. In this regard, you are just protecting your cabbages, tomatoes, peppers, and others, as you transplant them into your garden. Just make sure that the collar is at a minimum of one inch below then one inch above the level of the soil. As time passes by, this collar will break off, but by that time, the cutworms’ damages have already passed off.

6.Use Your Magical Beer Can: Various garden plants oftentimes become destructed due to snails and slugs. These creatures, most especially during the rainy season, thrive onto the plants. Thus, if you are growing potatoes or lettuces, you should be careful, for the said insects just love going through these vegetables.

How to note if there are infestations? Just peek and see if there are irregular holes into the leaves. These usually occur during the night, by the way, since they are doing away from the scorching heat of the sun.

To get rid of these pests, one means is by removing their habitat. However, if you are making use of mulch in your garden and if they are given their most sought-after moisture, then they will still live on and destroy your crops. And even if you can find baits in stores to keep them away, you also have another option. Make use of shallow pans of beer and place them in your garden to lure the slugs and snails and at the same time, to drown them.

Insects have Goodness too

LadyBug- A Good Gargen Bug

If you think that all insects are nuisance to your garden, then think again. Most of the insects around you are just plain creatures living in your garden and will do no harm while some even benefit your garden and your crops – preventing pests from infesting your produce. As you see, ladybugs, praying mantises, and lacewing flies themselves eat those insects that destroy your plants. Thus, see to it that they are well-protected when you see them in your garden to be able to harness their capabilities to shield your vegetables. You can then observe them feeding themselves with aphids, caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, and many others.

Hence, these are just some measures to keep your crops away from destructive insects and other pests. It is up to you as to how you will be able to care for them more efficiently. Try them and see how alternatives work wonders to your garden.

Anand mallik

Yesterday my friend Ryan visited to my place for lunch. After lunch, I went to show him my garden where I grow my fruits and vegetables. Then he saw my glass box placed in a dark corner, were I grow my own Mushrooms. He was wondering, how my mushroom are growing so beautifully ? how its bulb is so clear and flourishing? Then he mentioned that, Several times he tried to grow them but, could not succeed. Every time his mushrooms died. All his labor went in vain. He invested hundreds of dollars in buying mushroom growing kits and but none of them bring any success to him.

He wanted to grow them, but feared, as there was no one who can help him doing so. I offered him to support and asked to go to his place and find what the problem is.

At Ryan’s place, I saw the site was prefect, the way he explained the steps he followed for the cultivation was also correct. He mentioned that, He read some book or instructional booklet and follow the steps written there. I requested for the booklet he was following. The booklet has all the instructions written was proper. The only thing it missing was, the list of precautions which can stop contaminating the crop. I Promised Ryan to give him easy instructional steps to minimize the contamination which was killing his mushrooms. Few of those points I have explained here in the post. If you would like to receive complete instructions in detail, please request for free booklet of “Mushroom contaminations and steps to control it” by sending email to anand@enukkad.com. Please subscribe my newsletter to receive tips on mushroom growing and related topics.

Pathway of Contaminations:

Contamination while cultivating mushroom mycelium can happen in many ways. I divided this in five categories.

1 By The grower itself.

2. By Air or other media.

3. By the Tools used.

4. By The inoculums.

5. By Other contamination Carriers.

Here I am going detail out the points by which the contamination travels.

1) Through Grower or Cultivators itself:

The human body teems with populations of micro-organisms. Diverse species of fungi (including yeast), bacteria and viruses call your body their home. When you are healthy, the populations of these microorganisms achieve equilibrium. When you are ill, one or more of these groups proliferate out of control. Hence, unhealthy people should not be in a sterile laboratory, lest their disease organisms escape and proliferate to dangerous proportions.

Most frequently, contaminants are spread via touch or breath. Also, the flaking of the skin is a direct cause. The best way to minimize the contamination is to wear gloves. Clean your hands with antibacterial soap in every 25-30 minutes.

2) The Air and Culture medium:

Air can be described as a sea of microorganisms, hosting invisible contaminants that directly contaminate sterilized media once exposed. Many particulates remain suspended. When a person walks into the sterile laboratory, he not only brings in contaminants that will become airborne, but his movement disturbs the contaminant-laden floor, re-releasing contaminants into the lab’s atmosphere.

Small cultivators, please disinfect the place where you do the inoculation. Make use of aerosol sprays—either commercial disinfectants to remove contaminants floating in air.

Commercial cultivator who maintains spawn rooms, proper ventilation is required. Without the exchange of fresh air, carbon dioxide levels will naturally rise from out-gassing by the mushroom mycelium. As carbon dioxide levels elevate, contaminants are triggered into growth. Unless the air is exchanged, the lab becomes stifling and contamination-prone. Since the only way to exchange air without introducing contaminants is by filtering, the combination of fans and micron filters is the only recourse.

Often the medium upon which a culture is grown becomes the source of contamination. Insufficient sterilization is usually the cause. Standard sterilization time for most liquid media is only 15-20 minutes at

15 psi or 250° F. (1210 C.). I recommend at least 60 minutes at 15 psi of sterilization will be enough to remove contamination due to medium.

3) Tools used:

Insufficient sterilization of tools can be direct reason for contaminations. If the scalpel, syringes, Pressure cooker etc. are not steralized properly, can uses serious contaminations to your cultivation.

Do Flame-sterilizing scalpels or syringes. It is the most effective and proffered method to remove contamination.

4) The inoculums:

The inoculum is the tissue that is being transferred, whether this tissue is a part of a living mushroom, mycelium from another Petri dish, or spores. Bacteria and molds can infect the mushroom tissue and be carried with it every time a transfer is made. Isolation of the inoculums from the

Mushroom mycelium can be frustrating, for many of these contaminant organisms grow faster than the newly emerging mushroom mycelium. There are several techniques can purify contaminated mycelium but the best method which I prefer is to use new Petridis or a spore which is not infected from bacteria or moulds.

5) Other contamination Carriers. Other contamination carriers are the organisms that carry and spread contaminants. Examples: Ants, Flies, Mites etc. These living micro-organisms act as vehicles spreading contaminants from one site to another.

Mites are the most difficult of these to control. Their minute size, their preference for fungi (both molds and mushroom mycelium) as food, and their penchant for travel, make them a spawn manager’s worst nightmare come true.

Once mite contamination levels exceed 10%, the demise of the laboratory is only one generation away. All cultures must be removed, including Petri dishes, spawn jars, etc. The laboratory should then be thoroughly cleansed several times.

All of these vectors are universally affected by one other variable: Time of Exposure. The longer the exposure of any of the aforementioned vectors of contamination, the more significant their impact. Controlling the time of exposure can have a drastic impact on the quality of cultivation.

Attached Below is the overview of techniques of growing mushrooms.

Image Source: GROWING GOURMET AND MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS by Paul Stamets

You can visit http://www.shroomery.org/5294/Contamination to watch Photos of  the contaminations your mushroom might have.

Anand mallik.

The word “organic” is used in gardening and framing means simply using only fertilizer and insecticides that come from plants or animals. Whether you grow fruits or vegetables, whether you got only 3 three square feet or 3 acre. Here I am going to explain about how to prepare and improve your soil to get the best results for your plants.

Strong, healthy plants requires fertile, healthy soil. Chemical fertilizers destroy the microorganisms and worms that are required to make your top soil rich and fertile.

Its myth that organically grown fruits and vegetables are smaller or have more insect or diseases. The truth is the healthy plant grown in healthy soil will ward of diseases’ and insects with very little help from us.

Organic gardeners feed their soil instead of their plants. Well-fed and cared for soil is full of tiny living organisms that feed your plants so you don’t have to. Plants growing in well-fed soil are also naturally problem resistant.

Guidelines for building healthy soil

1. Establish permanent walkways and don’t walk on planting areas.
2. Test and adjust the soil’s pH.
3. Add abundant amount of organic matter.
4. Add specific nutrients if soil test indicates
5. Till only when needed.
6. Don’t use Synthetic fertilizers of herbicides.

Adding organic Matter

Organic matter is anything that was once alive. In nature, plant and animal waste (organic matter) falls to the ground and breaks down slowly, providing nutrients for new plants and animals. Organic gardeners manage their gardens to mimic this natural nutrient recycling.

Spreading straw or shredded leaf milch around your plant is a good way to add some organic matter and slowly release nutrients to the soil. Growing a “green manure” or “cover crop” in the off season also adds organic matter and protects soil from corrosion. Winter cereal rye and buckwheat are two common choices.

But most gardeners count on compost and/or blended organic fertilizer for most of their organic matter. Compost is crumbly, sweet-smelling, perfect pre-planting fertilizer for vegetables.

To Add organic matter and nutrients, spread one of the following each spring before planting:

• 100 to 100 pounds of compost per 100 sq feet.
• 50 pounds of alfalfa, soybean or fish meal; plus 4 pounds of rock phosphate; plus 1 pound of kelp mean per 100 sq feet.

Adding specific nutrients.

If your soil is low in one particular nutrient, sprinkle a few hand full of one of the organic source below over each 100 square feet of soil.

Phosphorous. Granite meal (4% phosphorous) or rock Phosphate (30% phosphorous).

Potassium. Greensand (7 % potassium) or sul-po-Mag (22% magnesium).

Calcium: Bonemeal ( 24%calcium), Gypsum (22% calcium) limestone ( 50-80% calcium). Oystershell lime (96%calcium) or wood ashes (35 % calcium).

Magnesium. Epsom salts ( 10 % magnesium), limestone( 3-40% magnesium) or sul-po-mag (10% magnesium).

Working with soil

Soil should have a sponge like texture, with plenty of small air spaces. Frequent tilling or tilling when the soil is very wet or very dry, will harm the sponge. Squeeze a handful of soil in your hand before you start. If you can squeeze water out of it. The sol is too wet to till. Wait a few days and feel again. If you can’t feel any moisture, dot till. Give the area a good soaking, and feel it again the next day. A spreading fork is good for small gardens and permanent garden beds, Turn over the top 4 to 6 inches, break up the clods into ½ inch pieces , and remove any large rock. Loosen the lower soil by inserting the form as deeply as you can and rocking it back the forth every few inches. A power tiller is easier for large areas, at least for the first season.

Growing Organic stuffs is easy.

Growing tasty, chemical-free vegetables isn’t hard. New vegetable gardeners and veteran gardeners, who want to reduce their use of toxic synthetic chemicals, will be delighted with their success if they follow steps discussed in posts available at this website.

I will elaborate each of such steps in several posts available on this blog. The first step required for growing organic fruits and vegetables is to choose a good garden site. If you already have some space in mind which you can use for gardening, take advantage of it. But, to decide the suitability of the space for farming, please consider the points I am going to put below. Here, I will explain the factors which is required to decide the quality of the good site.

why we need a good site?

So, first question is why we need a good site?  The answer is simple, farming on poor site will reduce your yield and cause headaches no matter how well you choose and care for plants. Good soil is nice, but almost all soils can be made into productive garden by adding lots of organic matter. Location is more important. Don’t hide your garden away; a garden you walk by every day will be better cared for, more attractive, and more productive then one at the far end of the yard where no one ever goes.

Which Location to choose ?

Choose a location which has
(1)  Full or nearly full exposure to sun and,
(2)  Has easy access to water.

So, you must be thinking what qualities (I mean the “bad one”) make a site poor.  They are following:
(1) Low areas where water puddles after rain.
(2) Area with steep slopes, where water doesn’t stay for a while.
(3) Shaded areas or area where tree roots will complete with your vegetables.
(4) Areas where wind blow very fast.
(5) And the most important, Site next to streets where fumes and runoff can cause problems.
Now, if you are in a situation where you have a site with any of above mentioned poor quality present or you are thinking that you don’t have an ideal site, then my advice is just don’t bother. We humans have quality to deal with most problems, just think of something to make such poor site to good site.

Few of my suggestions to make a poor site good are:
(1) Prune trees to increase sun exposure.
(2) Use raised beds to improve poor drainage or full them with purchased top  soil if your soil is contaminated.
(3) Build terraces to make steep slopes usable.
(4) Strong fances can deter corner-cutting kids, and hedges or vine-covered fences blocks strong winds and road pollution.
(5) You can even plant vegetables in planters on decks or paved areas if they are your only sunny space.

Anand Mallik.