In the early 1900s, William Gericke first had the idea of soilless gardening.
Today we call it Hydroponics. You can grow large amounts of crops without any soil at all! Very
often, ground up coconut shells are used. What you do need is a good ratio of nutrients. It may
be grown under many climatic conditions when it’s in a greenhouse atmosphere. You can grow
cucumbers, tomatoes etc.
Since it’s in an enclosed environment, no pesticides are needed.
The largest hydrop
onic farm is in Montreal! It’s on top of a building
One way to control insects is to use predatory insects, for example ladybugs.
Video 2
Agriculture is a battle constantly fighting against the 10 000 insect species, 8 000 or so fungi,
and the 2 000 weeds that compete our food supply.
But not all 10 000 species of insects are bad, because as mentioned earlier, some insects are
used as predatory insects to keep away other insects.
1.
Fungus
o
Apple scab:
Common problem that apple growers face. It’s a
fungus, b
ut it’s just a cosmetic problem.
Looks pretty shit so people don’t want to buy them even though there’s nothing really
wrong with them.
To avoid these problems, farmers resort to agrochemicals to eliminate the scab
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o
Botrytis Fruit Rot
Strawberries with th
e white and brown spots. People really don’t want to buy that.
o
Stem Rust:
Not only is it a cosmetic problem, but also destroys the crop.
o
Black Spot:
Roses, and other flowers, can sometimes be affected by the black spot fungus.
2.
Weeds:
In between the stocks of crop, these weeds pop up. They suck nutrients from the soil, which
means that there are fewer nutrients left for the crops that you want.
On top of all this BS, there are also all sorts of insects all over the crops
3.
Insects
o
Corn Borer:
Invades corn and chills in there
o
Rats and mice:
Hang out around the large piles of grain.
o
Nematodes:
Destroy the roots of apple orchards, for example
How can we control the insects?
Sulfur: One of the first chemicals used. Occurs in nature in its elemental form. Sulfur can be
mined so it was known to the ancients. When you burn sulfur, it produces Sulfur dioxide (SO
2
).
SO2 kills many insects and fungi.
The ancient romans were aware of this, and it was one of the first insecticides ever used. You
want to be careful about inhaling SO
2
: it has a very chocking odor but it’s possible to use it
under proper conditions
Tabaco plant: Produces nicotine
. The plant evolved to protect itself against predators and that’s
why there’s nicotine in there. Nicotine is a natural i
nsecticide. If you inhale nicotine in a
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combustible version that goes directly into the lungs, it’s really bad.
Chemist started combining all these insecticide compounds to create synthetic pesticides.
Synthetic Pesticides
Copper acetoarsenate :
-
Synthetic Pesticide; made in a laboratory.
