Organic or Non-Organic?

[Verinda]

Organic, I couldn't pour chemicals on my soil and plants. Its not easy being organic but I am happy with my choice.

[Edith]

I really feel that this has to be taken on a case by case basis, I don't think there are any easy or straightforward solutions. I think there are a lot of issues to consider and I do believe that non-organic solutions can be the most environmentally friendly given all the constraints.

So for example, if I was considering using non-organic pellets, I'd be trying to work out whether it made sense in environmental terms, and to some extent health terms. On my last plot, the slug problem was massive (heavy clay soils, shaded, north facing). Because we also had very serious problems with blight, to the extent that even growing Ferline or Legend had about a 20% success rate and no potatoes really coped, between the slugs and the blight there were a very very limited range of vegetables that would cope. It was in a frost pocket and a wind tunnel meaning that the growing season was short. The reality was that the only things that would grow, and nowhere near 100% reliably, were alliums..

Allotments often are in rubbish locations like this, that's the reality of for many of us. The question for me is whether the overall benefit to using chemicals is outweighed by the environmental damage. For potatoes, for example. I can buy sackloads of non-organic potatoes from the roadside which are grown fairly locally. But I can grow my potatoes with minimal chemicals, used reactively and appropriately. To me this seems like a better idea still than just buying the very non-organic roadside stuff. Or I can buy nice organic ones-but from halfway across the country, or even the world. Much as I would love to I cannot feed a family of 5 from the farmers market. Salad. For me to grow salad in any quantity I do need to put pellets down, as well as cloching/netting them. So I can have a salad which has involved probably three or four blue pellets going down for a whole season (a big issue is that pellets are overused) or I can buy salad grown overseas with only organically approved chemicals-probably, packed in Spain and flown to the UK. Honestly, I think the effects of those pellets on wildlife are a lot less than the overall effects of petrol, energy to package, etc.

I should say that I use pellets or sprays as an absolute last resort. My father was a professional organic gardener and I've grown up with this stuff. I've seen quite a few people give up growing completely though, because they have the mindset that they must garden organically or not at all. That's an issue for me, because I honestly think growing not 100% organically is still much better than buying even organic food from the shop.

[arpoet]

Organic. I wouldn't pour it down my throat so I'm not spraying with it either. Although my cheap beer for slugs is not organic. Does that count?

All my Slugs are organic...................................

[jacob]

Organic. Except maybe 6 bags of seed compost a year whose provenance I've not checked, but I doubt is perfect. I just can't germinate seeds in my own. So nearly organic, if that's an answer that makes sense.

I also use a bit of organic tomato feed, which I kind of feel is cheating, even if organic.

[Thelma Sanders]

It is a matter of choice, and I'd have to say I'm not organic - because i use a few slug pellets and have used weed killer on occasions.

I still feel that my veg is healthier than shop brought veg, though, because I do know that nothing else has been applied to it!

[mothhawk]

And the ants which seem to be taking over my world...

I'm afraid I'm seriously considering some ant killer for use in the polytunnel, because disturbing them doesn't seem to be a big enough hint...

If you have an idea where the nest is, put an upturned pot over it. This will be much warmer than the soil, and during the day the ants will move their eggs up into it after putting some fine soil there for them. After a few days, take off the pot, shovel up the above ground nest and drop in a large bucket of water. All the ant eggs will float to the top and can be scooped off and fed to the chickens.

[kathyd]

If you have an idea where the nest is, put an upturned pot over it. This will be much warmer than the soil, and during the day the ants will move their eggs up into it after putting some fine soil there for them. After a few days, take off the pot, shovel up the above ground nest and drop in a large bucket of water. All the ant eggs will float to the top and can be scooped off and fed to the chickens.

Ah um.. well I'll think about it, if I can find any of the nests! I'm not sure where they are at the moment... plus I have a bit of a phobia about ants, especially the red ones, so I'm not sure how close up and personal I want to get with them! Just out of interest, how come chickens only eat ants' eggs and not the ants themselves? Mine look at me like I'm daft if I offer them ants...

[annacruachan]

Ants can be dealt with by mixing borax with icing sugar in equal parts and laying trails in the areas they frequent. The icing sugar attracts them and the borax kills them. Boron is an organic element so there should not be any problem with this for organic gardeners.

I am mainly organic but, like others, do use bought seed compost and the occasional spray of Roundup in desperation. My own compost is always too damp to riddle in Feb and March when I'm itching to get going, and certainly not in Jan when all the tomatoes, peppers, cucs and chillies are sown.

I do use nematodes for slugs and vine weevil and in my fishboxes they are very effective and not heinously expensive. A big garden or a lottie would use much more.

[Glutton4...]

I'm as organic in the garden as I can be, but that is mainly down to education. Before I joined this Forum, I was as guilty as everyone else in just blindly buying what was advertised as being effective. Now, however, I consider myself 'enlightened.'

My container of R****up is still half full, and normally it would've been long gone. I now only use it on customers' problem areas, at their request, and then only after explaining how it works and the long-term effects. Some folk don't care, they just want 'tidy.'

It still riles me to see fields sprayed off with the stuff, then cultivated, and crops sown. Mental! I keep my horse on an arable farm, and they are sick of me preaching at them. Does it stop me? What do you think!

[mothhawk]

Ah um.. well I'll think about it, if I can find any of the nests! I'm not sure where they are at the moment... plus I have a bit of a phobia about ants, especially the red ones, so I'm not sure how close up and personal I want to get with them! Just out of interest, how come chickens only eat ants' eggs and not the ants themselves? Mine look at me like I'm daft if I offer them ants...

Probably formic acid doesn't taste very nice unless you are a pangolin....