All the Dirt on Gardening

The alarm bells have been ringing for several years about the decline of butterflies, bees and the other pollinators that provide food for the world. Without pollination there are few grains for animals, and no pollinated flowers for the production of fruits, herbs and vegetables. As spring gardens are getting started, the timing was perfect for Barry Fugatt, Director of Tulsa Garden Center, to bring Dr. Raymond Cloyd from Kansas State University to fill us in on the latest research. Cloyd is a professor of entomology who has spent decades studying the benefits, harm and uselessness of various products that are labeled organic pesticides.  Cloyd said there is lots of misinformation out there about organics since there is no such thing as an organic pesticide. There are selective pesticides made of materials found in nature but most of them either cause harm to beneficial insects, birds and fish or are a waste of your money. “The problem is that people want insect...

Patricia Rorabaugh, assistant professor of plant sciences at the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center at the University of Arizona uses no chemical treatments on her plants. Purdue Plant & Pest Diagnostic Lab Her remedy for powdery mildew on plants is   "We typically only have problems with two types of fungi: powdery mildew and botrytis. With powdery mildew, which almost always appears on the cucumbers, we use a combination of water (3 gallons), vegetable oil (87 milliliters) and baking soda (9 rounded teaspoons). This is a contact spray and should be sprayed directly onto the powdery mildew spots on a regular basis (once or twice a week). We also get powdery mildew on the peppers which, unlike the cucumber powdery mildew, goes into the underside of the leaf via the stomates and is then untouched by the contact spray. To get to the underside of leaves, a trans- laminar spray must be used that goes into the leaves and kills the powdery mildew from the inside."...