Over many years of growing and attending hundreds of markets and supplying commercial growers and farmers we have been ask many questions related to growing and how best to deal with pests and disease as well as how best to prepare soil prior to planting to maxamise the harvest and quality of the finished produce.
The following is a list of the most commonly asked questions.
The rule of thumb for most varieties is 30cm in all directions this allows room for the plants to grow and also maxamises the airflow around the plant which helps to reduce disease.
Some varieties can be planted closer eg 15cm such as shallots lettuce but varieties such as cabbage and Broccoli are large and need quite a bit of room the same is true of Zucchini and cucumbers etc.
If your in any doubt as to distancing then I recommend the following link to learn more about companion planting etc.
https://www.thespruce.com/companion-planting-with-chart-5025124
There are quite a number of pests that can affect your plants and the following is a list of the most common:
Grasshoppers: To determine if you have a grasshopper problem look at the leaf if there is a chunk missing from the outside of the leaf to the centre that is a grasshopper and you use organic NEEM to treat it.
Neem is none toxic and when the insect eats it they become sterile and it has 26 feed inhibitors so they don’t feel like eating anymore.
Snails:
For snails we use salt around the base of the plant about 5cm out from the base or diatomaceous earth when the snail travels over these inputs they become dehydrated.
You can also you a beer trap you cut the bottom off a drink bottle and counter sink it into the soil and put a bit of beer in there once the snail goes after the beer they drown and you can add them to the garden and compost
Caterpillars:
For caterpillars we use dipel the organic variety when the caterpillar eats the treated leaf the die as it contains a bacteria that is harmless to humans and animals but fatal to them.
Aphids:
For aphids we use Effective Micro-organisms as the living bacteria dehydrate the aphids and they calcify.
Monolepta Beetles
These guys are seriously tough and they arrive in the millions like locust they can strip a garden in a night and they only effective methods is using Pyorganic which is an organic form if pyrethrum:
Note: Using this is a last resort as it will kill any insect such as bees and hover flies and we don’t want that so only use it after the sun has gone down and the bees and good guys have gone to bed.
Nematodes:
This is another nasty and we use NEEM to remove them also you need to apply this to the soil and it has the same effect as with the grasshoppers
The following is a sample of some of the videos of our clients and also to demonstrate the power of the technologies we developed.
