Well, Native Americans buried he fertilizer when they planted. What else is a fish in the hole where you plant your squash? One of the issues, as I understand it, about fertilizer and fields is that it takes 3 to 5 years or more to rehab a field that has been subject to commercial fertilizer. After that a farmer can get just about as much production without commercial fertilizer, but it is really hard to get over the initial hump. Anyway that is what I read from farmers who have successfully converted fields. From personal experience, starting several gardens from a base of zero, it takes about 4 years to get a working insect population in a garden. In the early stages my gardens get infestations of aphids, white fly and all kinds of other problem insects that last for months. In or about year four there will be pest insects for a few days and then they will vanish. Having gotten the pests under control now I need to be using more cover crops to help soil fertility and composition. What I've done so far is to import horse manure mixed with garden waste which is cheating.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: Oct. 26th, 2024 03:41 am (UTC)One of the issues, as I understand it, about fertilizer and fields is that it takes 3 to 5 years or more to rehab a field that has been subject to commercial fertilizer. After that a farmer can get just about as much production without commercial fertilizer, but it is really hard to get over the initial hump. Anyway that is what I read from farmers who have successfully converted fields.
From personal experience, starting several gardens from a base of zero, it takes about 4 years to get a working insect population in a garden. In the early stages my gardens get infestations of aphids, white fly and all kinds of other problem insects that last for months. In or about year four there will be pest insects for a few days and then they will vanish. Having gotten the pests under control now I need to be using more cover crops to help soil fertility and composition. What I've done so far is to import horse manure mixed with garden waste which is cheating.