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Originally Posted by oakshadows
... It's a known fact that healthy plants with as high brix will ward off most bugs and diseases. ...
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It depends what you mean by high brix. The traditional meaning is concentration of certain carbohydrates and glutens present in plant material.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oakshadows
Correctly feeding and irrigatiing will make for a good harvest and a more tasteful one.
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I agree with that
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Originally Posted by oakshadows
Organics isn't for everyone but many would benifit by using it. In the long run it is less expensive also.
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When comparing equal weights of nutrients present in fertilizers, "organic" is by far the most expensive way to feed plants. For example, compare the wholesale prices of $1 per pound for a 5-1-1 plant meal vs. $1 per pound 20-5-5 inorganic mineral mix. The net cost of the plant meal is $20 / lb of nitrogen, whereas the inorganic mineral mix is $5 / lb of nitrogen. Also, the inorganic mix has a balanced selection of major, secondary, and micronutrients but the plant meal alone does not.
If you want to garden "organically" at home, great! I'm slowly writing a thread on balanced nutrition for tomatoes via organic methods here:
Towards an optimal Tomato food
Several studies from Cornell, UMW, etc. over the last 3 decades have shown that given the population of the world, feeding agricultural crops with organic material derived from plants is not sustainable. The crop land that would be used to generate that material is needed for human food. Further, crop by-products such as cottonseed and alfalfa will find their way into foods instead of being used as feed. These studies also point out that for the same reason, grain-fed livestock is unsustainable.