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The dangers of weed killers - Glyphostae aka Roundup, the hidden killer.
Robert Seago writes
On strawberries: And I manage to grow them without a hint of pesticides. I believe you, I doubt you are growing a 25ac field of them though. The dynamics of pest infestation are quite interesting. Typically, when a plant emerges, there are few pathogens about. Then a race develops. A few residual pathogenic spores (or insects) must find a susceptible plant before they expire (the spore/insect that is), and mount a successful attack on the plant. From observations at the field scale before effective pesticides were available the 'typical' success rate for these initial foci varied from under 1 to 10/Ha. So if you have a field in the 2-10 Ha range you are guaranteed to get infected. If you are a gardener with 10 sqm (1/1000th Ha) then you would be very unlucky to get hit. Typically the foci spread pretty rapidly, depending on the number of 'offspring' and the generation time. So in a few weeks one pest has become thousands (or millions) and the foci are a metre or two across (which is when you notice them). At this point the general infection level jumps up a gear if the pest can spread by air. Generally insects spread much more slowly than fungi. Even so, your garden plot may well miss the next infection cycle. This is particularly true for insects, because most can home in on the smell of host plants. They are MUCH more attracted to 25ac of crop than 10 sqm of garden plot (which they may well not even detect). For fungi, you are now getting quite likely to be attacked. The next infection cycle pretty well trashes the field if not controlled. The crop is a write off, and you just made a big loss. Your garden is probably still OK, and although eventually probably gets attacked, by then the season is over, or nearly so. Never confuse the rate of pest attack between field scale and garden scale. -- Oz This post is worth absolutely nothing and is probably fallacious. Note: soon (maybe already) only posts via despammed.com will be accepted. |
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