WEEK II - May 19 - 21

WEEK II

May 19

Ecological Integrated Pest Management

According to Masanobu Fukuoka, Japanese farmer and philosopher who wrote, among other books "The One Straw Revolution", in a healthy and diverse farm ecosystem, the crops grow vigorously and live natural lives, but that doesn't mean they are pest or insect free. The damage they cause must be allocated to provide food for the birds and insects and to thin out the weakest individuals (Masanobu Fukuoka, Sowing Seeds in the Desert).

Over the last decades, mankind has been obsessed with the idea of being able to "control" agricultural pest. The approach has been to treat pests as "enemies" who compete with humans for resources, and not as important components of the farm ecosystem. The problem with this linear approach is that by removing a pest from the ecosystem we are trying to manage,  either by spraying a pesticide or an herbicide, we are creating the niche for another pest species to move in. We also encouraging the development of "resistance to pesticides" in the pest population. A more ecological approach has been to incorporate the idea that pests populations cannot be controlled but "managed". Ecological Integrated Pest Management (EIPM) approach takes into consideration the complexities of pest population dynamics, the various causes of pest outbreaks, and the factors determining the abundance and distribution of pests, and tries to combine a number of biological control applications to keep pest populations at a level that it would not have a significant effect in crop production and yield.

Farm Management Practices

Richmond Terraces Field Notes

Late Blight in Potato Plants

We started observing Late Blight symptoms in the leaves of potato  plants growing in the west terrace (Fig. 1 to 3). The use of sprinkler irrigation might be contributing to the occurrence of this oomycete, which is extremely common in our area, by creating a moist environment where the organism could thrive. At this point, it is too late to try to apply any organic pesticide, most of the pesticides available in the market serve as a preventive measure and must be applied before planting the potatoes/tomatoes. There's a non-organic alternative that is widely used among potato growers,that involves spraying with a coper containing solution, but we overruled the option, since we are trying to keep the patch as organic as possible. 

Fig 1. Potato Leves displaying yellow lesion

Fig 2. Young Potato Leves displaying yellow lesion

Fig 3. Potato leaves displaying yellow and brown lesion

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Lady Bugs: a biological control approach to manage mite populations in broad beans

The broad beans on the west terraces developed a significant mite problem. Broad bean mites have a short generation time (5 days) and high fecundity, as a consequence, populations occur in a large numbers. The plant injury they produce is often confused with deceases and phytotoxicity, however studies show that some of the symptoms following mite attack are due to various diseases including plant viruses. In any case, broad mites reduce, market yield and injure plants by damaging their leaves, flowers and fruits. Plants under heavy attack stop growing and die. (Peña, J. E., & Bullock, R. C. (1994). Effects of feeding of broad mite (acari: Tarsonemidae) on vegetative plant growth. The Florida Entomologist, 77(1), 180-184.)

Fortunately, a healthy ladybug population could also be observed applying some sort of biological pressure over the mite population (Fig 4 to 7). We decided to monitor the plants and observe their progress before selecting a more invasive pest management approach.

Fig. 4 Ladybug in broad bean plant

Fig. 5 Ladybug pupae in broad bean plant

Fig. 6 Ladybug cluster of eggs  in broad bean plant

Fig. 7 Unknown brown cluster in broad bean leaf

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Sun Scald in Indoor Seedlings

Seedlings that are growing indoors are very susceptible to  developing white leaves when they are moved outside for the first time. 

Treatment: Move seedlings back into a part shade environment.Remove badly bleached leaves. Reintroduce to full sun in a couple days.

Fig. 8 White tips of sun scald in pepper seedlings

Fig. 9 White tips of sun scald in tomato seedlings

Building our Tunnel and Transplanting the Seedlings

We were successful in building our tunnel. It only needs a few adjustments.

Having the tunnel in place we were able to transplant the Tomatoes, Peepers, Squash, Zucchini, and Cucumber Seedlings we grew in the Lab during the Sring Semester. Some of the Tomatoes  Peppers and Zucchinis were placed in the tunnel.

May 21

Tractor in the Farm

A tractor is a useful piece of machinery if you have at least a few acres and a lot of task to complete: from moving things around, to compost, to mowing, tilling, pulling trees, etc. Essentially, a tractor would have an engine, most time a diesel, with it is very simple clutch system, gears, etc. It is very important to note what kind of engine you are working with because if you put gas in a diesel engine, it damages the whole system and it is costly to get it repaired. It is always a good idea to check the manual or the supplier in case of doubt. Also a good practice in the farm once you know what kind of engines you are working with is to label the containers of gas, diesel and other mixes. The tractors, just like a car, need oil, clean air filters, etc.
Tractors have a very simple clutch system. The primary controls have to do with either moving around, back forth. The other set of controllers have to do with the hydraulic fort loader.The last set of controls have to do with the hitch, either two point or three point hitch, at the back. Also at the back, there the Power Take Off (PTO), The PTO allows implements to draw energy from the engine to run large attachments such as mowers, tillers, etc. As a safety feature, most tractors have an automatic power shut off where the sit is weight trigger, if the driver gets up or falls down, it get totally shut off. Not all tractors have this safety feature, so it is always a good idea to be very cautious around the PTO. 
Although tractors are heavy, their centre of gravity can be quite high. Essentially, if you have all the components moving weight up and down in your machine, and although your base machine has big wheels, and it is very stable, you are constantly moving weight above you and you are changing your centre of gravity, and stating to become more top heavy, and that's when even a small undulation can tip the tractor.

Farm Management Practices

The Orchard Field Notes