A suggestion from a doctor WE should be focussing on improving our diet to improve the odds against succumbing to COVID 19. How about adding this to the COVID 19 messaging we are being bombarded on a daily basis?
Thanks Bentley.
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Bringing News and Opinions to the People
What the physician says has been known for some time about ultra-processed foods, The latter refer to foods that bear very little resemblance to the raw materials from which they were derived for example non-dairy creamer . The latter is made from soy Soy Protein Isolates or Soy Concentrate. The fat is removed from soy using hexane .The defatted soy is then treated either with ethanol or acid to precipitate the protein. Hexane is an organic compound made of carbon and hydrogen that is most commonly isolated as a byproduct of petroleum and crude oil refinement. There is always a residual level of it left in the soy protein. A better method of getting the protein is by the use of super critical carbon dioxide extraction of the fat followed by precipitation of soy protein using ethanol. In any event the protein is decolorized and odorized and undergoes size reduction. The powder protein is then mixed with vegetable oil to which stabilizers and emulsifiers are added to make the non-dairy creamer.
@Dr. Lucas
You agree with the doctor featured in the video?
Doing my little bit here. Planted my okras on March 20. 5 seeds per hole, 23 holes. 21 are doing well. It has been very dry so I have been giving them 2 gallons of water every evening. They started to flower on Tuesday, and so far I’ve seen 25 flowers, I will start harvesting and eating on May 5. I expect to pick about 20 okras every other day for the next six weeks or so. More that enough for my household, and some for extended family and neighbors.
I can’t remember exactly but the seeds cost about $3.
Dr. Lucas, now that you have explained it now I understand why I hate non dairy creamer so much. It is barely tolerable in coffee, and an absolute abomination if added to tea.
Give me real-real milk from a real-real cow or give me nothing.
@ Silly Woman April 30, 2020 3:06 PM and April 30, 2020 3:12 PM
I do not know if you are planting the old time okra and are using holes. If you are using the Clemson type, you can get better yields by planting at least six inches apart in the row and between the row. After a yield you won’t have worry much about weeds. You will get lots of okras..
I have always maintained that the fresh product is in about ninety percent of the time the better choice.
I have had a smoked chicken sandwich. My pork eating days are over( for the time being) since pork at the Pig farmers’ co-operative is now $ 7.00/lb.I am not paying that for pork. Goddard’s is still at $4.49/lb but the Boston butts are not available. I am not prepared to pay higher than the special price. Smoked chicken tastes like ham. I made it from the grade B chicken being sold locally.One must adapt one’s eating habits.
@ David April 30, 2020 11:17 AM
I agree with the obese part and also with the poor diet. I have alluded to the fact that black politicians in the US have not made any serious attempts to get blacks to change their eating habits. The part about cutting out starchy foods I have a problem with. The Indians eat a lot of rice. I have a problem with what is bad foods. No food is intrinsically bad. Any so-called bad food can perform according to the definition of food given below. The idea is consumption amounts that do not have any adverse effects. Any thing taken in excess is bad ,for example too much water can kill.
“Material, usually of plant or animal origin, that contains or consists of essential body nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals, and is ingested and assimilated by an organism to produce energy, stimulate growth, and maintain life.” Definition of Food by Merriam-Webster
@Silly Woman April 30, 2020 3:06 PM and April 30, 2020 3:12 PM
Correction: after a while you won’t have to worry about weeds.
These few I’ve planted at home. But in the other place [called the “plantation’ by my friend whitehill] I’ve been planting Clemson. We plant 4 beds each 100 feet long x about 4 feet wide Pretty good yields over the past five years. We plant 2 rows in each bed, and yes about 6 inches apart. Should we perhaps plant 3 rows instead of two, in each bed?
There is however an old time okra, the short fat ones, which shows up in the field ever year once the rain begins. We leave it alone and harvest and eat the okras. Should we perhaps be saving some of the seeds from this one. It produces fewer okras, but is very drought resistant and produces fertile seeds.
Got to be careful these days with foodstuffs made from traditional cereal crops like oats, wheat, barley etc. Farmers in North America and Europe (and probably other places as well) have been allowed to spray Monsanto/Bayer’s Roundup (and other brands of glyphosate based herbicides) not just onto fields of growing crops to hold down weeds, but also directly onto the crops just prior to harvesting. In this type of application the idea is not to kill weeds, but to kill the crops. When the glyphosate kills the crops, it causes the plants to dry out which makes it easier and quicker for farm machinery to reap the harvest than when reaping from live plants. However, because the crops are harvested not too long after the spraying occurs,the practice seems to have contributed to glyphosate residues turning up in more and more commercial food products found on grocery store shelves – especially concerning when it is found in foods like common breakfast cereals that are fed to infants and children. See: ewg(DOT)org/childrenshealth/glyphosateincereal/
Now that it has taken over Monsanto, i.e. the company which produced the first and most long lived glyphosate based herbicide, Roundup, it looks like Bayer might find it’s reaping Monsanto’s karma.
https://youtu.be/k2YS1SRdzLs
@ Silly Woman April 30, 2020 11:09 PM
You are not adequately utilizing the space you have .At four feet wide you can get eight plants across spaced at six inches apart. With a length of 100 feet with plants six inches apart you should be able to get 200 plants. So you can get 1600 plants per bed( eight across and and two-hundred length-way). You will have a problem with harvesting. I would not go for the 1600 hundred plants( initially you might have to apply some fertilizer depending on the soil type) but you can definitely increase yield. At present you are under utilizing the land you have available. As for the old-fashion okra keep it. It is hardier and less prone to pest and disease than the Clemson. It is also indeterminate. It branches and you have fruit(okra is a fruit in the scientific sense) at different stages of maturity on the plant at any given time. It also has a longer life-span than the Clemson.
COVID19 – The wagons are circling around the biological warfare community. That is probably why Trump’s claim is being publicly refuted by others.
They know very well that it was lab created, but if it is admitted, their own programmes will come under question.
The second thing of concern, ethnic Chinese are far less likely to be impacted seriously than Caucasians and far less than African people. Do you think that this is coincidence?
Be careful, the march to take over the world has begun in earnest.
https://www.westernjournal.com/doctor-discovered-hiv-confident-covid-19-created-lab/
There is no need for dietary supplements. Once a balanced diet is consumed the consumer gets all the required vitamins and nutrients .Dietary supplements are artificial replicas of the genuine commodities and they pose a problem of bio-availability by the body. In other words dietary supplements are not as easily taken up by the body as the natural products are. Actually, the rise of dietary supplements is one of the greatest market feat (also bottled water) of modern times.
@Dr. Lucas
Is it true that many of us do not eat a balance diet?
@RL
That bottled water gets to me, man. especially when i see Bajans drinking it. imagine growing up on bajan piped water and now we drinking cleaned up spring, well, river, and water from other questionable sources and think we have arrived.
it should not have been allowed into Bim in the first place. if anything we should have taken out the fluoride and or chlorine from ours and sell it bottled.
Bim baffles me at times, man.
BTW- another great post about the okras.
listen, some advice, i have a grass piece. rather large. what can i do with it in terms of agriculture, and fruit trees of which i have numerous of various varieties grafted- some by me and some from soil conservation
@ Greene
Quite often so-called bottle water is tapped water bottled. Remember Coca-Cola and it s scandal over so-called bottled water? It is also an old restaurant trick; when you order bottled still water they pretend they opened the bottle as they approach your table. In fact, it was an empty bottle they refilled from the tap.
When in restaurants and I want water I order sparkling water. More difficult to play tricks with.
@ David May 1, 2020 7:36 AM
Most it would appear in Barbados do not eat a balanced diet, For example there is macaroni and cheese pie, with mashed potatoes, and some gravy with some kind of meat. The vegetable portion may consist of some cold-slaw toss up. On examination: there is excess carbohydrates( macaroni and potatoes). Excess protein cheese and meat. Excess fats the cheese and the cold-slaw. Very little vegetables and fruits. if the latter are presented it is often as juice to which lots of water has been added and sugar. It is best to use the actual fruit itself to avoid adulteration. In the case illustrated above it is best to have either the macaroni-cheese by itself or the mashed potatoes with the meat gravy but not both
@ Greene May 1, 2020 7:46 AM
Always best to have a form of subsistence or mixed farming (S/MF). S/MF are useful means of reducing pest and disease since no one crop predominates. I do not know what kind of fruit trees you have but will assume you have mango ,citrus , avocado and Paw Paw. You should concentrate the fruit trees in one area of the land, using the spacing requirements for each. You can interplant the spaces between the fruit trees in the initial stages before their canopies cover the inter plant space with short-termed crops like bodhi beans(Bora), squash, cucumbers ,okras and so on. The rest of the space can be given over to things like sweet potatoes, yams. egg plants. Of course you will need a drone with infra-red photographic equipment to capture the crooks who will attempt to steal your crops. Should also be equipped with a laser beam to repel thieves..
Dr. Lucas,
My carrots will soon be ready for thinning, my sweet peppers and lettuce have germinated nicely. The chives are looking really good.
I am taking note of all your tips because I plan to expand after I get the hang of it. I hope you will be around to talk me through it.
@Crusoe May 1, 2020 3:15 AM “COVID19 – The wagons are circling around the biological warfare community. That is probably why Trump’s claim is being publicly refuted by others. They know very well that it was lab created, but if it is admitted, their own programmes will come under question.”
So answer me this question den.
Why has the lab in Wuhan received $5 USD in funding to go corona research?
If i was bad minded i would say that the research was being done in China because “ethically” it could not be done at home.
Do you think that Americans [or anybody] give away millions of dollars for neffen?
Joint project which went bad, very likely through carelessness.
Wake up peeps.
The Americans and the Chinese are not enemies. Both powerful countries, wrestling for ascendancy, and cooperating when it suits them.
The rest ‘o we?
Cannon fodder,
@Silly Woman, Imagine, you have a ” plantation” near me and did not solicit my help, I do believe I would have done you well in those four beds even if they consisted of okras. If you behave yourself I may let you see my orange and lemon trees I’m growing. Got the idea from a you tube instruction video oh how to. So behave, be nice to me and I may let you see my garden bed all decorated with cockles and muscles.
@David May 1, 2020 7:36 AM “Is it true that many of us do not eat a balanced diet?”
While that may be true. What’s stopping us from eating a balanced diet? We have the education. We have the time. We have the money. We have, still, the produce.
And yet we are making memes and crying for for the reopening f fast food restaurants? I say if we have $12.95 to buy a fast food special, we have enough to light the stove and put on pot for our families.
Our grandparents ever eat at Chefette, or KFC or McDonalds, etc?
Stupssseee!!!
When did we become so bewitched?
The point is we do not and we are now a NCD riddled people,
That bottled water gets to me, man. especially when i see Bajans drinking it. imagine growing up on bajan piped water and now we drinking cleaned up spring, well, river, and water from other questionable sources and think we have arrived.
The water quality in Bim is not what it used to be nor what it purports to be.
@Dullard
You are speculating or are you in possession of an official report addressing quality.
@Donna May 1, 2020 1:51 PM “My carrots will soon be ready for thinning, my sweet peppers and lettuce have germinated nicely. The chives are looking really good.”
Good for you Donna.
My okras are looking blooming good. Such pretty flowers. I will start harvesting on Tuesday.
Today I worked up a garden bed right behind my kitchen door, a few feet from garden to pot. Two hours of nice sunshine, exercise and sweat. I have planted bok choi, sweet peppers and tomatoes there before, so i will do something similar this year. Hoping to start before the end of the weekend.
If I can harvest okra, bok choi, spinach and tomatoes for a few months I feel more comfortable that waiting for somebody to put a “ready-do” snack box in front of me. Praying for rain. But praying for no hurricanes.
On April 18 I have an order of vegatables/ground provisions delivered to my door. $55 included the delivery fee. I have enjoyed many meals from that box, including just a few minutes ago a nice soup. Yam, sweet potato, carrots, butternut squash etc. A whole chicken cut in half with some peas or beans makes a very good soup for 4 people. Or serves 1 person 4 times.
@Dullard May 1, 2020 2:44 PM “The water quality in Bim is not what it used to be nor what it purports to be.”
I know 3 people, all women, lol!, who work in water quality management. Knew all 3 from childhood.
All 3 smart, ethical, well educated, black Bajan women.
Unless some ‘o wunna have a problem with smart, ethical, well educated, black, Bajan women.
I don’t.
@ Donna May 1, 2020 1:51 PM
No problem.
@robert lucas May 1, 2020 2:36 AM “Silly Woman You are not adequately utilizing the space you have .At four feet wide you can get eight plants across spaced at six inches apart. With a length of 100 feet with plants six inches apart you should be able to get 200 plants.”
Thanks very much Robert for your very expert advice. I will apply.
@whiteHill May 1, 2020 2:27 PM “I may let you see my orange and lemon trees I’m growing. Got the idea from a you tube instruction video oh how to. So behave, be nice to me and I may let you see my garden bed all decorated with cockles and muscles.”
May visit to see the oranges and lemons, not too sure about the cockles and muscles tho’
Them sound scary.
Lolll!!!
@ Silly Woman May 1, 2020 2:19 PM
“The Americans and the Chinese are not enemies. Both powerful countries, wrestling for ascendancy, and cooperating when it suits them.
The rest ‘o we?
Cannon fodder, “
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Well said!
Neither are the Americans and the Russians or the rich Muslim countries ‘enemies’ of Israel.
That’s why we can laugh at the likes of John and Dr. GP into believing that Trump is on some genuine crusade to bring jobs from China back to the rednecks in America.
The man is a dye-in-the-wool moneymaking capitalist and would ‘buy’ labour where it is cheapest to ensure profit targets are met.
Even India might be the American capitalists’ next harb(o)ur for cheap lab(u)or.
Since he cannot convincingly blame the black “shi**thole countries” for his Covid predicament let us see him bomb China instead of Iran or Venezuela for this catastrophic dislocation of global capitalism.
@ Silly Woman May 1, 2020 3:17 PM
Use the spacing that you can adequately handle when it comes to harvesting.
@Dullard You are speculating or are you in possession of an official report addressing quality.
Man what official report what!? It is 2020 man not 1920.
I test my water myself. Have to filter all my drinking water. Property is in Ch Ch.
How many of you test the water coming out of your taps ?
Thought so.
@Dullard
Please share your test results.
For all who are entering the agriculture sector the following are some tips on preventing wind-drift of pesticides if the latter are being used. The use of a shield is required. A shield can be readily made from a one gallon empty plastic ice-cream or any appropriate plastic container. The empty container is inverted so that the bottom is upper most. Remove the end part of the spray can nozzle . invert the removed nozzle cap so that it lies flush with the surface of the bottom of the plastic container. Bore a hole in the bottom of the plastic container equivalent to the diameter of the nozzle cap. you can use a screw-driver which has been heated in a flame to achieve this objective. Thread the spray lance with the nozzle cap removed through the hole in the bottom of the inverted container, until it sits flush with the surface of the bottom of the container. Up end the container and replace the nozzle cap onto the lance end. The shield is ready for use. It deflects the spray to the width of the plastic container and prevents wind drift of the pesticide and also precludes complaints from those who live near to your garden activities. Remember apply pesticides in the early morning and late evenings when wind speeds are at their lowest.
Silly Woman May 1, 2020 2:31 PM
“@David May 1, 2020 7:36 AM “Is it true that many of us do not eat a balanced diet?”
While that may be true. What’s stopping us from eating a balanced diet? We have the education. We have the time. We have the money. We have, still, the produce.
And yet we are making memes and crying for for the reopening f fast food restaurants? I say if we have $12.95 to buy a fast food special, we have enough to light the stove and put on pot for our families.
Our grandparents ever eat at Chefette, or KFC or McDonalds, etc?
Stupssseee!!!
When did we become so bewitched?”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
After such a stellar contribution the miller can only beg the king of whiteHill not allow his garden snake to hurt you. LOL!!
You have just made out an excellent case of a map for your MAM to find a readymade revenue stream to help finance the sinking fund for her pandemic bond issue.
Now that Bajans have proved beyond a shadow of doubt over the last 4 weeks that they can live without the convenience of fast food why not impose a “Fat Tax” on this demonstrated luxury activity?
The Covid dislocation is the ideal time to slip such a much needed imposition through the fiscal window.
It certainly can act as a fillip to the development of local agriculture and a much needed change in the unhealthy eating habits of Bajans.
Just look what has happened to the stupid black Americans with their love affair with nutritionally-deprived processed foods at their constant lazy convenience.
As the Bajan patron saint of Bajan grown food Carmet(t)a used to say:
“Food comes First” [in the lifelong race to good health].
Healthy eating and living is double key to tackling the massive NCD problems facing Barbados; not imported Big Pharma slow poisons.
@ robert lucas,
You could write a book so your ideas can be used by small farmers or urban gardeners.
Thank you, Silly Woman. Watching my plants grow is keeping the smile on my lips during these strange times. It is a powerful feeling in what can easily feel like a powerless time. I hear baking one’s own bread is doing it for other people. Still haven’t done that but I have baked many batches of cheese scones instead and my son baked a chocolate and vanilla cake. The bread will be tackled next week.
@robert lucas May 1, 2020 3:59 PM “@ Silly Woman Use the spacing that you can adequately handle when it comes to harvesting.”
i work with a planting and harvesting buddy, and sometimes a working friend helps out on weekends when there is no office work to be done, so we can handle the harvesting, and we have established a relationship with a retailer, because Bajans, especially those of us of a “certain” age still love our cou-cou, so selling the surplus has not been a problem so far.
@ Donna,
https://www.totallybarbados.com/articles/barbados-recipes/bajan-sweet-bread/#.XqzY5ahKi00
A healthy diet is always of vital importance in building strong immune systems, but in a medical emergency is there a simple (but non-patentable) aid to help the immune systems of even severely affected Covid19 patients successfully fight the disease? Some health scientists and MDs do believe this to be the case.
https://youtu.be/KuECyA64tqQ
If the above video gets taken down by the Youtube censor, you can see more documentation from credible scientific journals, scientists, MDs, mainstream media news reports etc regarding this (mostly ignored) treatment and the wide variety of illnesses against which it can be used here:
Vitamin C evidence for treating complications of COVID-19 and other viral infections
– For medical professionals, COVID-19 patients and their relatives/families and anyone willing to learn more about vitamin C. A bit of information on vitamin D3, zinc and melatonin is included, too.
Above article contains 152 references:
CAN YOU TELL US HOW VIT C VIT D AND ZINC WORKS
@RL,
thanks a lot for the advice. would i have to amend the soil that makes up a grass piece or could i just remove the sour grass and plant into that soil?
i had plan to do some terracing and install irrigation pipes. i have storage tanks which capture 99% of the water from my roof and have a grey water system that i will route to some fruit trees.
and yes i have an assortment of fruit trees some of which you have mentioned but i also have dragon fruit, lychee from seed, cherimoya from seed, mammy apple, guava, loquats from seed, cherries, various plum and others
There are a lot of interesting post on Agriculture all over BU, As a man who is planning to return to the islands and engage in agriculture, it will be difficult to find these little nuggets that are spread all over BU.
At the same time, I know it would be just as difficult to get bloggers to blog or to maintain interest and contributions on a post dedicated to agriculture (a single place).
@RL, Silly woman, Donna, Greene, Blogmaster
What is the solution to the above problem. Some blogs that do not draw comments may be of interest to the silent majority. We may want to look at them at some time in the near future.
@Theo,
i am sure admin could put them in one place or create a place for Robert Lucas to jot down all his thoughts and bloggers to ask his advice.
like u i am planning to return but i have down a lot of prep work and this advice i seek is just icing on the cake
@ Greene and Theo,
You could need dogs and a shotgun. Also solar powered lights.
@Hants
got those covered. solar and backup generator and 3 bull mastiffs lol
Maybe just as David has given a space to lawyers in the news and murder tracker he can give an agricultural/gardening/food space to those of us who like such things.
I know that it is extra work David.
But please, pretty please…
@Silly Woman
Cameta’s Corner added, you may provided feedback the verbiage you want updated, image etc.
See link:
https://barbadosunderground.net/carmeta-corner/
@ Greene May 2, 2020 9:30 AM
Unless you live in St. Andrew or St. Joseph, were the soil types are mainly oceanic in nature, the prevalent soil types in Barbados are soil type 30 and soil type 60. Soil type 30 are black in color whereas, soil type 60 comprised the red-brown soils which are found in parts of St. John and St. Joseph. Soil type 30 has more clay and when wet it gets cloggy and adheres to one’s shoes. It not great in its potash content so an application of potash won’t hurt. There is no need to apply phosphates to these soils since there exist what is known in soil science as a labile pool of phosphate which is released over time. You may have noticed that in the sugar cane areas, the fertilizer 20-0-20 is used(20 parts of nitrogen, zero parts of phosphate and 20 parts of potash). Note the type of fertilizer is always written in the format NPK(with the nitrogen recorded first). Soil type 60 is easier to work with. It has a better soil aeration capacity and better drainage. From time to time you will find on soil type 30,that the leaves of the plants become yellow. Although yellowing can be caused by many factors, in this part of the world due to the calcareous nature of the soils ( derived from limestone-Calcium carbonate) this is associated lime induced chlorosis. In this instance, soluble iron is prevented from being taken up by the plants. Can affect yield ,but unless you have high-end products its best to ignore it. If you are a purist you can apply iron chelate either to the soil or as a foliar feed to solve this problem. Normal fertilizer practices can be used with the land you have, especially it it has been fallowed for some time.
I noticed you have some exotic fruit trees(dragon fruit, lychee from seed, cherimoya from seed, mammy apple, guava, loquats from seed, cherries, various plum and others). The names mentioned bring back memories of the book Evergreen Orchards by William Henry Chandler, from which the late Professor of horticulture Egbert Thai( he was the first West Indian to get a master’s in pomology from the University of California) taught my class about orchard crops in 1971. The prof. was always talking about the cherimoya. A class would not pass without him mentioning the cherimoya. In the book, the fruit trees you have were classified under lesser known tropical fruits. A lot of people do not know about the fruits you have listed.
The following article from the “Daily Mail’, UK is topical and some readers may find it interesting.
Some foods CAN be eaten after Best Before day by up to three years later, including Heinz Beanz, according to new government guidance released in bid to reduce waste
Tinned goods can be eaten up to three years after their Best Before, says WRAP
Some vegetable and bread can also last for one week, according to guidance
But it is advised bakery goods are checked for mould and packaging for quality
It comes as increased food waste is expected amid the coronavirus pandemic
Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
By KATIE WESTON FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 11:10 BST, 2 May 2020 | UPDATED: 13:34 BST, 2 May 2020
Some foods can be consumed after their Best Before day by up to three years later, including Heinz Beanz, according to new government guidance released in a bid to reduce waste.
WRAP, which advises the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), says tinned goods such as Heinz Beanz and soup, alongside pasta, jars of jam and meat, can be eaten up to three years after their expiration date.
It comes as increased food waste is expected from the £1.9billion worth of groceries stockpiled by panic-buyers at the start of the coronavirus crisis.
The guidance also says packaged cake can be eaten three months after its Best Before day and crisps, provided they are not stale, can be eaten a month after the date.
Some fruit and vegetables and packaged bread can be eaten a week after the date, if mould is not present.
It is advised that bakery goods and packaging be checked for quality.
Peter Maddox, Director of WRAP, said: ‘Food businesses are doing an incredible job ensuring that food which cannot be sold at this time moves around the supply chain to feed people, and isn’t wasted.
‘Our guide will help by giving clear advice on how best to redistribute food that’s exceeded the Best Before date.
‘The law states that all food with a Best Before date can be sold, redistributed and consumed after that date, as long as it’s still good quality, but we appreciate that isn’t understood by all, or universally implemented.
Jamie Crummie, co-founder of Too Good To Go UK, added: ‘Date labelling has, and continues to be, a confusing issue for both businesses and consumers. This uncertainty could lead to food waste on a large scale across society.
‘For example, last year we found that 720 million eggs are wasted by Brits each year because of confusions around “Best Before” date labelling.
‘”Best Before” is simply a measure of quality rather than safety and we welcome the latest guidance from WRAP for food business and redistribution organisations on the issue.’
A full list of how long goods can last beyond their Best Before day
Bread and bakery goods: One week
Crisps: One month
Biscuits and cereals: Six months
Canned goods: One year
Pasta sauces: One year
Confectionery: One year
Dried pasta: Three years
Jams: Three to five years
@RL,
thanks v much for the information, mate. in depth knowledge.
i am located or rather hope to be in the CH CH area in Providence. the land is a large track of grass piece which is rocky with a slither of top soil in most areas.
what i am asking, is, should i buy or arrange for soil to augment what is there in order to plant the fruit trees and or to indulge in my other agricultural pursuit. i want to do something along the permaculture lines as popularised by Geoff Lawton. or would what is there suffice?
@ Greene May 2, 2020 5:16 PM
If the soil is thin there is no harm in adding some top soil. You do not have to add top soil to the entire area. You can use a blend of permaculture and orchard. West Indian lime ought to do pretty well on the thin soils. A short cut would be to excavate each plant site and add some top soil to each of the excavated holes in the limestone and then plant the tree. In any event if you plant fruit trees, you will need to establish a wind break. You could try Barbados Cherry. kill two birds with one stone.
@RL
thanks again. i was going to use moringa as wind breaks but i will consider the Barbados cherry. the land is sloped so would excavating plant holes be affected by this and would plant holes in hardish limestone not lead to curling of roots if they cant penetrate the limestone?
Greene May 3, 2020 9:06 AM
The least of your worries is the pressure with which roots penetrate sub-surface rocks. Roots readily go into and out of rocks. It is a case of finding a weak area in the rock and exploiting it. The growing root tip exerts great pressure. I figured that the land was on an incline. In such a case plant along the contour. You get less soil erosion and you can harness excess rain water by means of channels or pipes to the lower contour levels.
Most subsurface limestone is friable and roots can readily penetrate .For the hard limestone, .the roots will by-pass the area .
@RL
thanks once again.
one last note- what plant, shrub, tree, would make a good natural defensive fence/border?
Greene May 4, 2020 8:32 AM
A hedge of sweet line. A saw such a hedge when on my walks in Salter’s Tenantry Road. it surrounded about five acres. I witnessed from the initial stages until it was mature.. Height of about five feet and about three feet wide. There were no spaces where one could infiltrate. Plus the sweet lime is full of thorns. Sweet lime used to be very popular for this reason when I was young. if you pass through Belle Gulley you can see examples of sweet lime hedges.
@RL,
Again thank you. was thinking about bougainvillea for its thorns and beautiful flowers but may go with your recommendation
https://youtu.be/qVXPNPpRGz4
@ Greene
I am not a horticulturalist, but in criminology there is the idea of planning out burglaries. By this is meant planting brambles around the border so that thieves will find it difficult getting in, and certainly escaping with your property. Worth a thought.
My father in law has a big breadfruit tree in his garden and some young people just walk in and pick the breadfruits, not one or two, but enough to sell on. A wire fence cannot keep them out and CCTV is useful after the event.
Exposure to chemical in Roundup increases risk for cancer, study findsDate:University of Washington
CNN)Glyphosate, an herbicide that remains the world’s most ubiquitous weed killer, raises the cancer risk of those exposed to it by 41%, a new analysis says.
Researchers from the University of Washington evaluated existing studies into the chemical — found in weed killers including Monsanto’s popular Roundup — and concluded that it significantly increases the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), a cancer of the immune system.
“All of the meta-analyses conducted to date, including our own, consistently report the same key finding: exposure to GBHs (glyphosate-based herbicides) are associated with an increased risk of NHL,” the authors wrote in a study published in the journal Mutation Research.
Continue to post food related issues here:
https://wp.me/P43Aa-hcu