31.3.20
Установиха кои дървета пречистват най-добре въздуха от замърсяване
https://it.dir.bg/nauka/ustanoviha-koi-darveta-prechistvat-nay-dobre-vazduha-ot-zamarsyavane
От значение е повърхността на листата
От значение е повърхността на листата
posted from Bloggeroid
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10.3.20
Oyster mushrooms grown in straw are a great source of selenium
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157890541358830&id=524173829&sfnsn=mo
"I posted about selenium the other day and it's significant anti-viral properties.....and where might you find a great source of selenium? Yes you got it. oyster mushrooms! Particularly those grown in straw. Not only selenium but a whole bunch of other minerals and vitamins and also specific antiviral and immune balancing compounds like polysaccharides, lectins and proteins. Grow them yourself and see how delicious mushrooms can be 🌼🍄😊✨"
"I posted about selenium the other day and it's significant anti-viral properties.....and where might you find a great source of selenium? Yes you got it. oyster mushrooms! Particularly those grown in straw. Not only selenium but a whole bunch of other minerals and vitamins and also specific antiviral and immune balancing compounds like polysaccharides, lectins and proteins. Grow them yourself and see how delicious mushrooms can be 🌼🍄😊✨"
FB Permaculture: Do we need livestock for fertility?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/permacultureglobal/permalink/2921003991284299/?sfnsn=mo
"Do we need livestock for fertility?
Some people get the idea from some new Permie and Regenerative Ag sources that livestock magically generate fertility. So they think “I have to have livestock to do Permaculture, otherwise I have to import fertilizer.”
It’s a fact that livestock significantly REDUCE the net fertility produced by any system.
Don’t believe me? Here’s some numbers.
According to the U of I a mature Holstein will require an acre of grazing under ideal pasture, but probably still need some imported feed.
It will produce 210 lbs of total Nitrogen before leaching and losses. (I’ll focus on N since it’s the major limiting factor.)
Maintaining the pasture production will require 100-150lbs of N annually.
If you’re grazing, there will be about 50% loss of N during the “cooling off” or storing phase, and probably another 20-40% loss after application to the garden.
Now, we have to fudge, because some of that “loss” goes to fertilize the pasture, and you had to import some feed, and the cow won’t always be mature.... So let’s say best case scenario you get 60lbs/year of N out of an acre of cow pasture.
So, to pick a heavy feeder and assume continuous cropping (so we have a steady annual comparison) let‘s use corn, which will require 200-240lbs+ lbs of added N for high average yields. (See link 2.)
So, let’s just say our acre of cow pasture produces the fertilizer for 1/4 acre of corn, which is probably about right for good garden productivity.
Plus it will yield about 1 million calories of meat.
———-—
There are a few ways we can do non-livestock comparisons.
One is to use Grow-Biointensive numbers, where by using carbon cropping on 60% of the garden area, a garden can reliably generate its own fertility without fallowing or cover cropping, if crop residues are returned in the form of compost. (Note that chop and drop would be even more efficient. 3
So, one acre of diverse Biointensive garden will actually grow its own fertility, PLUS the fertility for nearly another whole acre. Systems using this will necessarily increase in soil carbon over time without animals.
And with carbon cropping on 60% of the land acre (such as with corn) we’re likely to get at least 5 million calories out of that same acre, and get more net protein, too, and a far more diverse variety of nutrients. 4
——-—
Another way to do the comparison is raw N comparison.
For example an acre of soy grown for fertility will have 240lbs of above ground harvestable N. 5. Plus fixation of about 100 lbs of below ground N, and it can be followed by a veg or calorie crop in the same season. Of course, there are technicalities as with manure as far as how much of that can be captured for a crop, but in any case it’s going to be far better than the 1/4 acre of fertility produced by the cow.
And for Permaculture, we have not even scratched the surface of ecosystem sources of fertility, such as wetland, forest, hedgerows, floodplain, slashmulch, Swidden, etc. which can provide fertility without livestock. Mollison emphasized all of these, such as with the hierarchy of soil creation, mountain top forest systems, etc.
So, for an area of intensive production, any land set aside for a cow will produce 1/4 of the calories and fertility.
If you have too much land to manage without livestock, then by all means add livestock. Or, if the land is no good for plant crops, by all means add livestock.
But otherwise setting aside land for livestock reduces the net food production and reduces fertility.
1: http://livestocktrail.illinois.edu/dairynet/paperDisplay.cfm?ContentID=274
2: https://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/soilfertility/historical-recommendations.html
(Continuing thoughts on animals and land use from my last post)
3. http://www.growbiointensive.org/Self_Teaching_6.html
4. http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Calories_per_acre_for_various_foods/
5. http://bulletin.ipm.illinois.edu/?p=4773
(Picture: Alan Chadwick’s famous vegetable garden was extremely productive and grew its own fertility.)"
"Do we need livestock for fertility?
Some people get the idea from some new Permie and Regenerative Ag sources that livestock magically generate fertility. So they think “I have to have livestock to do Permaculture, otherwise I have to import fertilizer.”
It’s a fact that livestock significantly REDUCE the net fertility produced by any system.
Don’t believe me? Here’s some numbers.
According to the U of I a mature Holstein will require an acre of grazing under ideal pasture, but probably still need some imported feed.
It will produce 210 lbs of total Nitrogen before leaching and losses. (I’ll focus on N since it’s the major limiting factor.)
Maintaining the pasture production will require 100-150lbs of N annually.
If you’re grazing, there will be about 50% loss of N during the “cooling off” or storing phase, and probably another 20-40% loss after application to the garden.
Now, we have to fudge, because some of that “loss” goes to fertilize the pasture, and you had to import some feed, and the cow won’t always be mature.... So let’s say best case scenario you get 60lbs/year of N out of an acre of cow pasture.
So, to pick a heavy feeder and assume continuous cropping (so we have a steady annual comparison) let‘s use corn, which will require 200-240lbs+ lbs of added N for high average yields. (See link 2.)
So, let’s just say our acre of cow pasture produces the fertilizer for 1/4 acre of corn, which is probably about right for good garden productivity.
Plus it will yield about 1 million calories of meat.
———-—
There are a few ways we can do non-livestock comparisons.
One is to use Grow-Biointensive numbers, where by using carbon cropping on 60% of the garden area, a garden can reliably generate its own fertility without fallowing or cover cropping, if crop residues are returned in the form of compost. (Note that chop and drop would be even more efficient. 3
So, one acre of diverse Biointensive garden will actually grow its own fertility, PLUS the fertility for nearly another whole acre. Systems using this will necessarily increase in soil carbon over time without animals.
And with carbon cropping on 60% of the land acre (such as with corn) we’re likely to get at least 5 million calories out of that same acre, and get more net protein, too, and a far more diverse variety of nutrients. 4
——-—
Another way to do the comparison is raw N comparison.
For example an acre of soy grown for fertility will have 240lbs of above ground harvestable N. 5. Plus fixation of about 100 lbs of below ground N, and it can be followed by a veg or calorie crop in the same season. Of course, there are technicalities as with manure as far as how much of that can be captured for a crop, but in any case it’s going to be far better than the 1/4 acre of fertility produced by the cow.
And for Permaculture, we have not even scratched the surface of ecosystem sources of fertility, such as wetland, forest, hedgerows, floodplain, slashmulch, Swidden, etc. which can provide fertility without livestock. Mollison emphasized all of these, such as with the hierarchy of soil creation, mountain top forest systems, etc.
So, for an area of intensive production, any land set aside for a cow will produce 1/4 of the calories and fertility.
If you have too much land to manage without livestock, then by all means add livestock. Or, if the land is no good for plant crops, by all means add livestock.
But otherwise setting aside land for livestock reduces the net food production and reduces fertility.
1: http://livestocktrail.illinois.edu/dairynet/paperDisplay.cfm?ContentID=274
2: https://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/soilfertility/historical-recommendations.html
(Continuing thoughts on animals and land use from my last post)
3. http://www.growbiointensive.org/Self_Teaching_6.html
4. http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Calories_per_acre_for_various_foods/
5. http://bulletin.ipm.illinois.edu/?p=4773
(Picture: Alan Chadwick’s famous vegetable garden was extremely productive and grew its own fertility.)"
5.3.20
How to attract beneficial bugs
https://modernfarmer.com/2015/06/how-to-attract-beneficial-bugs/
"The bug eating bugs are the ones you want in your garden.

You can purchase and release beneficial insects in your garden, but why go through the trouble and expense when they will show up on their own? All you need is the right habitat. If you lack habitat, any insects that are introduced artificially are unlikely to stick around anyway.
You can attract beneficial insects primarily by planting flowers. Even though predation is the goal, most predatory insects also need nectar and pollen as a source of food. That’s because they are often predatory in just one stage of their life cycle (most insects go through four stages in their life cycle – egg, larvae, pupae and adult), but need these plant-based food sources in other stages. During their flower-feeding stage, they act as pollinators in your garden.
What to Plant
Here are some guidelines for choosing which species to plant in your garden insectary. Select species that bloom throughout the growing season so there is a continual food source for the beneficial bugs. The majority of garden plants bloom in spring and early summer, so go out of your way to include a few that bloom in late summer and fall. Also, focus on the flowers that are nectar-rich and easy for beneficial bugs to access. Most beneficial insects are tiny flying insects during their vegetarian stage and aren’t very interested in big flowers with lots of petals (like roses and camellias) because they can’t easily access the nectar. Instead, they prefer tiny flowers with short petals.
There are scores of species that make effective insectary plantings. Aromatic herbs are among the best, and native wildflowers are always a good choice. In general, avoid the showiest ornamental varieties, often referred to as ‘improved hybrid cultivars’ – they are usually bred for larger, more colorful petals, but often have less nectar than wild species.
Spring-Flowering Beneficial Attracting Plants
Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officianalis)
Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)
Crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum)
Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans)
Early/Mid Summer-Flowering Plants
Lavender (Lavandula spp.)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Mint (Mentha spp.)
Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota)
Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile)
Late Summer/Fall-Flowering Plants
Bee Balm (Monarda didmya)
Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)
Goldenrod (Solidago spp.)
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
Aster (Aster chilensis)
Cultivating an Insectary
Once you’ve selected species to plant, think carefully about how your plants are interspersed in the landscape. The goal is to create beneficial insect habitat as close as possible to the crops that need protection. For small vegetable plots, it’s possible to plant an insectary as a border around the entire garden. In larger, market-scale gardens and commercial farms, plant an insectary row every 100 feet among the crops. For orchards, sew a seed mixture of insectary plants underneath the trees.
Let Nature Happen
The best insectary species are generally tough and adaptable plants that require minimal care. It’s a matter of not getting in the way of them doing their job of attracting beneficial insects. Above all, do not use chemical insecticides – they will kill the good bugs along with the pests. With the predators gone, pest insects may immigrate to the garden and have a free-for-all. Instead, the goal is to have a natural balance between predators and prey. You don’t want to eliminate every last aphid, for example, because the ladybugs will have nothing to eat.
Beneficial Insects and the Pests They Prey On

Assassin Bugs
caterpillars, aphids

Damsel Flies
aphids, mites, caterpillars

Hoverflies
aphids, scale

Lady Bugs
aphids, mites

Lacewings
scale, aphids, mites

Pirate Bugs
aphids, mites, scales, thrips, whiteflies

Praying Mantis
all types of insects

Spiders
all types of insects

Stink Bugs
caterpillars
_
"The bug eating bugs are the ones you want in your garden.

You can purchase and release beneficial insects in your garden, but why go through the trouble and expense when they will show up on their own? All you need is the right habitat. If you lack habitat, any insects that are introduced artificially are unlikely to stick around anyway.
You can attract beneficial insects primarily by planting flowers. Even though predation is the goal, most predatory insects also need nectar and pollen as a source of food. That’s because they are often predatory in just one stage of their life cycle (most insects go through four stages in their life cycle – egg, larvae, pupae and adult), but need these plant-based food sources in other stages. During their flower-feeding stage, they act as pollinators in your garden.
What to Plant
Here are some guidelines for choosing which species to plant in your garden insectary. Select species that bloom throughout the growing season so there is a continual food source for the beneficial bugs. The majority of garden plants bloom in spring and early summer, so go out of your way to include a few that bloom in late summer and fall. Also, focus on the flowers that are nectar-rich and easy for beneficial bugs to access. Most beneficial insects are tiny flying insects during their vegetarian stage and aren’t very interested in big flowers with lots of petals (like roses and camellias) because they can’t easily access the nectar. Instead, they prefer tiny flowers with short petals.
There are scores of species that make effective insectary plantings. Aromatic herbs are among the best, and native wildflowers are always a good choice. In general, avoid the showiest ornamental varieties, often referred to as ‘improved hybrid cultivars’ – they are usually bred for larger, more colorful petals, but often have less nectar than wild species.
Spring-Flowering Beneficial Attracting Plants
Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officianalis)
Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)
Crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum)
Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans)
Early/Mid Summer-Flowering Plants
Lavender (Lavandula spp.)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Mint (Mentha spp.)
Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota)
Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile)
Late Summer/Fall-Flowering Plants
Bee Balm (Monarda didmya)
Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)
Goldenrod (Solidago spp.)
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
Aster (Aster chilensis)
Cultivating an Insectary
Once you’ve selected species to plant, think carefully about how your plants are interspersed in the landscape. The goal is to create beneficial insect habitat as close as possible to the crops that need protection. For small vegetable plots, it’s possible to plant an insectary as a border around the entire garden. In larger, market-scale gardens and commercial farms, plant an insectary row every 100 feet among the crops. For orchards, sew a seed mixture of insectary plants underneath the trees.
Let Nature Happen
The best insectary species are generally tough and adaptable plants that require minimal care. It’s a matter of not getting in the way of them doing their job of attracting beneficial insects. Above all, do not use chemical insecticides – they will kill the good bugs along with the pests. With the predators gone, pest insects may immigrate to the garden and have a free-for-all. Instead, the goal is to have a natural balance between predators and prey. You don’t want to eliminate every last aphid, for example, because the ladybugs will have nothing to eat.
Beneficial Insects and the Pests They Prey On

Assassin Bugs
caterpillars, aphids

Damsel Flies
aphids, mites, caterpillars

Hoverflies
aphids, scale

Lady Bugs
aphids, mites

Lacewings
scale, aphids, mites

Pirate Bugs
aphids, mites, scales, thrips, whiteflies

Praying Mantis
all types of insects

Spiders
all types of insects

Stink Bugs
caterpillars
_
4.3.20
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