Food for thought

I spend every weekend at the local markets with my mobile display and their would not be a day go by that someone will bring up the subject of organic gardening and believe me there are some interesting interpretations out there which bring me to an interesting article I came across which I will share with you.

AUSTRALIA

Australia: Organic Label Outdated? 
 A recent article in Practical Hydroponics & Greenhouses magazine has called into question the value of the soil grown-only ‘organic’ label, noting that soil growing is far less efficient than hydroponics and far more likely to lead to pollution of groundwater through the runoff of plant nutrients.

Dr. Mike Nichols, a retired university teacher from Massey University, believes that the whole concept of an ‘organic’ rating for food crops is outdated and of little practical value, stating that “much of the ‘organic philosophy’ appears to be based on the UK Soil Association and the writings of Rudolph Steiner. Both organizations [had] their origins well before anyone considered growing crops commercially using hydroponic systems, and so hydroponics did not get considered.”

I am sure there will be a few that will challenge this view but it opens up a very interesting topic.

I would like to thing I am personally practising what I feel is a form of organic growing by using a pure organic soil as my medium and supporting that with a Nutrient supplement that is derived from good quality products. My medium acts as a buffer to the plant which in turn draws exactly what it wants for maximum growth. another important factor is due to the fact the plants are strong and healthy they are less susceptible to insect attack there for no need for any form of spray.

I would like to think the Autopot System gives me the best of both worlds.

THE TASTE TEST.

I am currently feasting on Fresh salads using the Darwin lettuce that I have been testing, also grown in an organic medium so this is what I think of it.

Grows like the acorn leaf varieties but more flat, lovely light green with excellent flavor but is inclined to be a very soft lettuce so you need to pick and use. It is supposed to be a slow to bolt variety but in all fairness probable similar to the  butter head.

Will I grow it again YES.

Darwin Lettuce

SHELF LIFE

This is a very important subject and a lot of research goes on all the time trying to improve it, especially where you have long distances to market or multiple handlers of your product before the end user.
I was just reading a very interesting article from a very well known publication on hydroponics I will past it below and then add my thoughts to it:

The article was discussing the problems of wilting at harvest.

Wilting

Some plants are prone to wilting in high heat but the wilting they were talking about was at harvest. The owners had grown a large crop of Basil and blamed Aquaponics as the culprit. The plants after all had it too easy. The Basil plants were full of water with their roots submersed in the stuff all the time. It was a DWC floating raft system with heavily oxygenated water so the plants were very happy indeed – until harvest day. Then the plants flopped over and wilted when picked. They had lost a whole crop to wilting.

Harvest

A little closer investigation revealed that the owners had decided to let their Basil grow nice and big and then when they decided to harvest the plants out,  they also removed the roots and cut up the stems into marketable sizes and wrapped the whole thing in plastic and threw it into the truck to take to market the next day. They didn’t have a cold room so shelf storage of the product became a big problem. They had also tried adding a slurp of water into the parcels to give the plants a “drink” but that method didn’t work either!  All they had was a pile of wilted plants that no one would buy.

                     They had failed to understand the way a plant works.

                "now I think this is a critical statement they had made here"

 To me this is a very good example of the difference between the conventional hydroponic growing systems and the Autopot plant driven System. plant roots in the Autopot System are not submerged in water they just receive the amount they need to grow strong and healthy by capillary action very similar as if they had grown in a conventional garden except they had not endured the  fluctuation in food and water supply plus soil deficiencies. With the Autopot System I use a lot of pure organic soil as my medium which is then supported by a well balanced nutrient, this medium acts as a buffer to my plants which reduces the need to be constantly monitoring, the plants virtually look after them self and they grow with the strength to  withstand travel and storage.

This simply applies to all things grown in the Autopot System.

Box wood Basil

While we are on the subject of Growing Basil let me introduce you to a wonderful variety called BOX WOOD BASIL

Grows into a lovely bush, has great basil smell and so far has not shown signs of bolting. You only have to brush past it and you will get a whiff of aroma.

Summer Salads

Well the mad season is almost gone just the kids back to school is next then we can all get back to normal.
With the extra space in the new "Grow House" things are racing. I am extremely impressed with the DARWIN lettuce variety the taste test will be the final thing to call on. I have just sown the other variety I want to try and that is Salad Bowl Green. Had to pick my first Black Russian Tomatoes they where starting to burst, due to the fact that they don't show up as bright red like normal tomatoes I left them to long so the lesson is as soon as they show colour pick them. I have saved a couple that had burst as a seed source which are undergoing the cleaning process at the moment.

Black Russian

This is virtually from one branch weight 2.5 kg and there will be as much still to come so lets say around 5 kg from 2 plants.

3 lettuce variety's plus cocktail tomatoes and fresh herbs

 This is what I love about the Autopot System I walk out to the garden and bring in fresh lettuce and put it on the bench. now I can choose to pick of a few leaves and return it to the System or I can cut it fresh there and then and replant knowing that i will have another ready in 4 weeks. Sorry "Woollies" you cant beat that. In this Photo you will note the lovely Cocktail Tomatoes as well as fresh bush basil, Italian parsley and curly parsley along with Currie Herb. By the time I add cucumber, radish and red onion, carrot and cheese along with avocado I have a wonderful super fresh salad that my grand kids line up for
Take a look at this lettuce beautiful colour flat growing very soft in the leaf and will stand being picked leaf at a time slow to bolt so ideal for Queensland summer growing.

Darwin Lettuce

Oak Leaf Lettuce

This is another good lettuce to grow, stands a little more heat than the butter head and is a good picking lettuce if you prefer to go that way.

Beetroot doing well

Red and Brown onions

These Hybrid Cucumber will hit the roof in the next few days.

Remember Sunny the sunflower that I showed you in an earlier blog well I have just done some stats on it and here they are. Taken at 47 days Height 1210 ml.  less 210 for pot leaves 1000 ml that's an average of 23 ml per day growth from day one. I think that's pretty impressive.

Sunny the sunflower