Why grow organic?

Why grow organic?​

From the earliest forms of forrest farming tens of thousands of years ago right up to the turn of the 20th century, man has managed his crops employing various organic growing techniques, living harmoniously with the environment around him, without the use of chemical fertilisers or pesticides.


Throughout history ancient peoples have used organic farming systems to support advanced civilisations. The Akkadian farmers of Mesopotamia were composting in 5000 BC and legend has it that King Nebuchadnezzar organised the collection of vegetable waste to turn into compost to feed the hanging gardens of Babylon!


The Inca's collected guano from the coastal regions of Peru to enrich their soil and were able to support a population in the areas they inhabited far beyond that of today.



Chemical fertilisers and pesticdes are toxic and harmful
In the 1950's big oil companies discovered they could make a whole bunch of new chemical based petroleum products and sold everyone on the idea that we needed them.
Unfortunately they didn't tell us that the harmful and toxic chemicals they were selling us, that we spray on our produce, that we put into the ground, would have massive detrimental effects on the ecosystem and human health.


Chemical fertilisers and pesticides kill vital microorganisms in the soil and insect life and find their way into our water supply via sewers, lakes and streams. Ultimately they end up in the oceans poisoning the sea life. Studies show that many pesticides used not only on your fruit and veg but on clothing fibres and other materials can cause cancers, neurological disorders, weakening of the immune system, asthma, allergies, infertility, and the list goes on and on.


Thankfully the powerful interests that have pushed these products did not succeed in eradicating organic farming completely and since the mid 1990's it has seen a massive resurgence in popularity as more and more people have become aware of the adverse effects of using chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

Organic growers work in harmony with mother nature
Instead of destroying the environemnt around them, organic growers work with the ecosystem and are constantly aware of minimising disturbance to the Earth's natural balance. They use various techniques to achieve this, including:

• Building the soil by adding compost, manure, mulch and other organic fertilisers adds organic content to the soil and helps limit soil degradation and erosion.

• Crop rotation, where crops are rotated season after season including fallow periods and crops like clover or rapeseed being planted as they draw nitrogen from the atmosphere and put it back into the soil.

• Biological pest control. By developing nutrient-rich soil to grow strong, healthy crops and encourage wildlife to help control pests, animal welfare is at the heart of the system and a truly free-range life for farm animals is possible.

• The use of artificial chemical fertilisers, pesticides and genetically modified (GM) crops and ingredients are banned.

Organic produce is more nutritious and tastes better
The benefits of organic growing techniques are not only to our environment and health but also to the food that is produced! Organic fruit, vegetables and herbs have better taste and aroma, contain higher levels of vitamin C, B12 and other important nutrients, and stays fresh for longer!

Conclusion:
Organic growing is the only way to grow!

 

good post .... the big thing now is high brix farming/gardening .... it's a bit more complex that organic growing ... it involves things such as re-mineralizing the soil etc and the bottom line is that you feed the soil, and not the plants

 

I've never found organic growing viable on a smallish area.
How do you find enough stuff to compost?
How do you manage to get it rotted down fast enough?

I can see how it worked years ago when basically that was your only option, but these days there are other options.
A combination is how I think most people garden these days.

I have heard of run off from cattle farms causing pollution in rivers, so I wouldn't say organic is totally safe.

As for organic tasting better? well I've bought the occasional organic produce in supermarkets and apart from the price I've not noticed the difference.

 

you don't just need to use stuff like compost, although compost works wonders .... you can use things like volcanic rock dust which adds 70+ minerals to the soil ... people add Actively Aerated Compost Tea to their veg and plants etc

as for organic/high brix, have you ever wondered why Marks and Spencers tomatoes taste better than Tesco finest? ... or why M&S strawberries are sweeter than Tesco finest? .... the answer is that M&S buyers use refractometers to check the sugar content of the fruit and veg they buy and this makes a huge difference in taste and the nutritition value.... from what I have read, they also sponsor/assist some farmers and are busy sponsoring a farmer who will be growing High Brix asparagus for their stores

this is the Brix Chart that they use:
http://www.highbrixgardens.com/pdf/brix-chart.pdf

 

Just playing devil's advocate, because I like the idea of organic farming etc, but there's a couple of points that always seem to be missed when we talk about how we managed for millenia.

Population has boomed in recent years. I think in the last 50 years alone, world population has gone from 1 billion to 7 billion. That's a lot of extra mouths to feed.

People have grown to expect more for less. There was a time when a farmer and his entire family would work 7 days a week, for every hour of useful daylight, doing proper back breaking work, just make a meagre living. Everybody had to work extremely hard for long hours just to get by and food was expensive from the consumer's perspective, yet barely economically viable from the producer's perspective.

 

Well bearing in mind being organic is the "green" kind of gardening,
I cant see shipping volcanic rock dust all around the planet as particularly "green", its just using fertilisers from other countries, the fact that it's organic is neither here nor there.
Most of us just work with what we have, we use organic material but we have limits as to what we can produce.

I buy chicken pellets, but I often wonder what hell the chickens go through in order to produce those pellets, and I'm guessing they are considered organic.

So I'm not totally convinced organic is the way to go, if it was possible, or necessary.

 

yea .... you still think 'old school' .... but unless you try high brix gardening and see the difference, (and taste the difference if you grow veg) you will never be convinced .... This is new to me and I can say that I see huge differences in the gardens where I apply these methods

but thats what makes life interesting .... we have choices .... you can buy milk from Tesco where the cows have been drugged with antibiotics and medicine to make them produce a few more litres of milk per day ..... or for 20p more, you can buy organic milk

same for eggs ...

I've stopped using synthetic fertilizers (except for lawns) and even brew my own compost tea now

 

I dont hold with animal cruelty, which is why I'm uneasy buying the organic chicken pellets.
We could all buy organic milk, but would there be enough to go round?
As clueless points out, you're living in cuckoo land if you think its possible to go back 50yrs.

But the issues are different, farming as against gardening, one is a buisness, the other is supposed to be leisure, although I know it is a buisness for you *dim*.

Nice to see you also use a mix of organic and inorganic*dim*.
I 'm thinking what you are saying, brewing tea etc. are not new, we have been doing that for years, nettles and so on, but its not possible to have enough.
So we use some inorganic to help out.

 

funnily, I don't get paid extra to grow organically/high brix in my client's gardens .... the nutrients I buy come out of my own pocket, as I'm really keen to see how this works as opposed to synthetic fertilizers and am experementing using my own cash

as for the synthetics I use on lawns, as soon as I find an organic fert that can do the same, I will switch .... I will be trying liquid biobizz fish mix soon and compare that to Scotts

I even supply 20 litres of AACT to a mate twice a month, who owns an allotment and he will be comparing conventional growing using miracle grow etc to high brix growing

as for compost tea, I think you have the wrong end of the stick ....

I brew Actively Aerated compost tea which is totally different to your water infused tea with comfrey etc (mine is comprised of stuff such as worm humus, molasses, volcanic rock dust, bat guano, seaweed, humic acids, kelp etc etc and an aquarium heater is used, aswell as a large aquarium piston air pump) .... and funnily, it only costs approx £3-£4 to brew 20 litres

lots of info on the internet and youtube

 

It is all very well spouting on about soil conditions, staying completely organic is just too hit and miss and very very pointless. I want to grow from seed that I know will germinate and grow on to be viable and strong. Without even going into the expensive cost of buying organic seed, what is the point of chancing that one organic seed in 20 will germinate and grow properly.

I'd rather see results, and after wasting far too much money on crap organic seed, the only organic seed product that I now buy is Cosmos potatoes from Garden Organic. http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/

 

Its very funny *dim*, I always seem to get the wrong end of the stick

When you work out how to turn lead into gold let me know, at that point I might just get interested.

 

No Probs Pete .... when you eventually want to learn more about High Brix, just ask .... I am no expert, and this is new to me, but I will pass you what I have learned

I don't have my own garden as I rent, but am experementing in a few gardens that I landscaped from scratch to my own design, and where I still add interesting plants (from my own pocket).... and so far, I can say that everything is looking lush since I started using fertilizers such as seaweed and organic nutrients

My mom felt the same as you a few years ago .... she was anti-microwave ovens and said that she would never own one ..... she uses hers daily now

 

Had a microwave since 1987. But I cant see what difference that makes.
I'm not anti organic.

Just not gullible.
I have no doubt you concoctions are full of feed for garden plants, and I admire you for the effort, I just think over hyped.
There has been many "wonder" plant foods over the years that have probably made some people very rich.
You might end up being one of them.

 

Hmmmm .... you got me thinking now ..... maybe I can sell my compost tea and get rich?

Damn .... it has to be used within 2hrs of switching off the airpump

so, no .... I won't get rich growing organically and it's actually costing me out of my own pocket .... but if I had my own garden, I would grow organically

and if guys like John evans are getting amazing results .... I want to know what they are using and how they do it .... if I don't, gardening would be very boring to me

and if he and others (there are many) are growing stuff like this youtube video, using organic fertilizers and 'teas'..... don't you also want to know how it's done?

 

The people in this thread who are saying organic growing is "pointless" obviously did not read this part of my post...

"Chemical fertilisers and pesticides kill vital microorganisms in the soil and insect life and find their way into our water supply via sewers, lakes and streams. Ultimately they end up in the oceans poisoning the sea life. Studies show that many pesticides used not only on your fruit and veg but on clothing fibres and other materials can cause cancers, neurological disorders, weakening of the immune system, asthma, allergies, infertility, and the list goes on and on."


I'd say not killing yourself and the planet we live on is rather pointed.