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Re: *organic* SFG?

At 10:35 AM 4/14/97 -0700, you wrote:
>okay, time to stir things up...

So you want to stir up the compost heap? Well, you know what they say about
opening a can of earthworms... :-)

>anyone else out there choose to garden their SFG's organically?  i'm not a
>screaming fanatic (and have been awfully tempted by the boxes of fertilizer
>when things start yellowing a bit)...

For pest control, i'm organic to the extent that the public mosquito
sprayers will allow me to be.

I made up my mind to use organic pest control before i even knew what
"organic" meant in the agricultural sense. I operate under the premise that
if it can kill a bug, it can probably kill *me*. I've since learned that
most bugs are my friends, anyway, so i am *very* judicious with poisons, and
use only those that break down quickly. I was pleasantly suprised at how
well the plants held up against pests without my intervention, although i
should have remembered that plants, like all successful living creatures, do
have a survival instinct.

For fertilizers, i don't see why i should be a screaming fanatic. It makes
sense to me to build a foundation rich in organic matter, but on top of
that, i'm not too particular. I use 5-10-5 (or thereabouts) dry fertilizer
without paying to much attention to whether it is "organic" or not; i also
use Miracle-Gro 15-30-15 to boost things a bit. (Extra nitrogen for the
lettuce, of course.) I have seen how organic matter reduces the need for
supplemental fertilizer; too much fertilizer is not good for the
environment. I am not convinced that i can go totally without fertilizer,
and i'm not committed to making the fertilizer all-organic.

Speaking of environment, in my experience, Miracle-Gro 15-30-15 does not
chase the earthworms away. However, i once read a sad anecdote about someone
who used a MG look-alike and ended up with a yard covered with dead
earthworms. So be careful!

+---------------------------+---------------------------------------+
|  Richard Callwood III     |  Center for Administrative Computing  |
|  E-mail: rcallwo@uvi.edu  |  University of the Virgin Islands     |
|  Phone: (809) 693-1470    |  2 John Brewers Bay                   |
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