Truth About Organic Gardening, Overview, Tips, Advice

[SapphireDiamond19]

CONGRESS BILL TO MAKE ORGANIC AND BACKYARD GARDENING AND FARMING ILLEGAL! FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS!

[Darrell1019]

Please be careful of e-coli. 

[flubno]

Monsanto's GMO stuff isn't required to label thier crappy products . They thought it might freak people out and not want to buy it. They lobbied the government hard not to label thier products. They are right, i absolutely dont want to eat thier GMO crap.We need GMO labeling on food !

[Sonofthebeach009]

Fungicides just kill fungus. The pesticides are definitely harmful. Also I don't think you mentioned genetically modified organisms. Monsanto's products actually require their chemicals to grow. These chemicalls are extremely harmful to the environment and destroy the microbial life in the soil. This depletes the amount of nutrition that the plant provides. Of course nobody knows this because of the sheer number of Monsanto executives appointed to head the FDA, EPA, and USDA.

[Airemix]

One thing I've always wondered about organic food is, why is it so expensive? Maybe it's just in my area, but every time I've gone to an organic store, prices are up to 25% higher than "normal" grocery stores. Even at the farmer's market, many farmers who tout themselves as 'organic' charge more than farmers who don't. What it ends up looking like to me as a consumer is that they're charging more to /not/ put chemicals all over the food. Does anyone know if there's a reason for this?

[Sonofthebeach009]

Two reasons I can think of:

1. The government is actually subsidizing

Monsanto's genetically modified corn and other crops. This is driving down the farmer's cost and causing these foods to be cheaper. This system is not sustainable and requires large amounts of herbicides and pesticides to continue production.

2. Organic food stores like Whole Foods and Chamberlains have at least a 200% markup on their products.

[trinitycrystal]

I would say the reason for higher prices is because the people who care enough about the environment and their own health are willing to pay the extra amount.

They have such huge markups because they can.

That would be my best (if uninformed) guess.

[falci01]

The organic stuff is more expensive first of all because they are not subsidized, that means that non organic food is expensive too, you just don't see it at the supermarket shelf, but you fell it in your pocket without noticing it. That's the hole thing... Because taxes that are going into subsidies are paid from your pocket, while the organic farmer don't receive any subsidies... Was I clear?

[JDLikesThisSite]

I disagree with all of the Organic bashers. I eat totally Organic food, and yes, he is right. We should all do that. That is what is natural, and to be healthy, you can't mess with nature. Our ancestors always did all natural, and with that being the case, cancer was barely common once. In these decades and today, we would all be much healthier if it wasn't for all of the poisoned commercial stuff that exists out there.

[1Longshadow]

Wow, interesting how so many people are paranoid, feeling attacked and justifying eating non organic food. Consider this, eat gmo (Genetic modified orginism) foods = get GMO results. Ever consider what kind of results you can get from eating chicken raied in little cages there entire life? Thinking that you can possibly replace all the benefits of "Whole food" with a "one a day " pill? Wake up and smell your morning acid, i mean coffee. If you create an envirrnment for disease to live it will...

[JaydeeVonJ]

I don't think farming was done on a really large scale at that point. It may have been large at that point in time because the demand wasn't as high as it is today.

[alexkidd3d]

Are you intentionally misunderstanding what i say or something, I said plainly twice that a AM eating them, have eaten them for decades. Also yes we can know what is in them because they can be have been and are being tested in order to gauge just that. what is also tested is possible health risks etc. so far they far the same as organic produce.

[flamingaxe791]

Bring the sexy ladies and ill listen!

[alexkidd3d]

Once again, I have. Most people in the western world have been doing so for decades.

Asking me to eat them directly is silly. It's like me saying '1 micro gram of arsenic is not toxic' and you asking me to test that by eating a kilogram of it. Its a non sequitur. As for how they used to produce so much food before ww2? my answer is this ...with greater difficulty than they do today.

[alexkidd3d]

I have, most of us have, we've been eating heavily treated food for all our lives. we mostly do ok, life expectancy is up and up. I grow organically because in my small time garden there is no need for pesticides. If i have a failed crop i can go to tesco. On a grand scale pesticides are important. The science plainly shows that they are not that big a deal to eat... or more accurate to eat food that has been sprayed at some stage.

[JaydeeVonJ]

I agree. I'm kinda for organic, but realistically pesticides are needed on large scales.

[patzivota22]

Man made pesticides are the devil for anyone and anything out there. DDT is one of the worlds most poisonous man-made chemicals, DDT has thankfully been banned for agricultural use worldwide under the Stockholm Convention but is still manufactured and used in many areas, sometimes illegally.

It's used to kill mosquitos mostly now-a-days, & reduce malaria, which it does. But natural, way less-harmful mosquito killers work but some people like going down the hard-core, more dangerous route w/DDT.

[JaydeeVonJ]

Whose to say that organic farmers are 100% positive when it comes to whats sprayed on their crops? Organic farmers still use these chemical pesticides on their crops. They have to if they want to grow a decent amount. They may not use as much as conventional farmers, but it's still used.

[patzivota22]

DO you even watch this video? Most organic farmers, if some type of pest control is needed, use natural pest solutions. If they have to use synthetic pesticides - it's very, very little and very limited.

Organic is always better than non-organic.

[ChristineBriana]

One thing you need to take into consideration is that the more a pesticide is used, the more a pest will become resistant to it over time... then you need an even more potent pesticide

[waynebw]

I think ChristineBriana missed the point of ORGANIC

[ChristineBriana]

i wasnt talking about organic, i was responding to some other person in here somewhere that was saying that pesticides "realistically" need to be used on large scale farms, which I don't agree with.

I dont know why my post didnt appear under the persons that I tried responding to

[patzivota22]

but in organic farming - man-made pesticides are rarely used, and if they are, it's such a small amount that there's no, or very, very little risk of bugs and so forth developing immunity.

[dudeman1109]

Yeah OK. Maybe do a little research before you type on your keyboard. There are certain pesticides that have been linked to parkinsons disease. And just cause u been eating heavily treated food, dont mean its ok. When I was 1 year old I could have said that for most of my life I shit my pants on a regular basis but that didnt mean it was OK. If they were no big deal, you could spray them in the pure form in your mouth and swallow them.... Would You do that??

[alexkidd3d]

Do your research, you should consider that your opinion may be because of an ethical or ideological standpoint and not based on evidence. Lots of things are bad for you at HIGH doses. studies have shown that in the very low concentrations we find in our supermarkets there are, so far, zero health risks. Again ur saying that if a kilo of something is toxic then a microgram of it is. In reality this is not the case. Much of this is based on the wrong idea that our body somehow 'stores' bad stuff.

[Nebbyker]

Um you do your research...our bodies do indeed store bad stuff...low fluoride dosage in the water ends up in your bones and pineal gland, women's breasts can absorb underarm deodorant chems and develop tumors just to name 2 ways.  Sure 1 chem in low dosage may be safe to eat but there are no studies on what happens when you mix 100 of these chemicals together and how they can all react differently inside all of us. So many ppl with diff metabolism can react differently to the same chems.

[braedencowbrough]

@Nebbyker seriously? you're on about water fluoridation? Alright, you likely understand how fluoride in water prevents tooth decay and has improved third world health. The amount of fluoride actually present in water in crap all. If you brush your teeth you will be receiving a large dose of fluoride. The fluoridated water just provides a constant low dose of fluoride. The dose makes the poison which is one thing very few people seem to understand. EVERYTHING is safe at a certain dosage. Period.

[JaydeeVonJ]

This is something people tend to forget. Too much of anything is bad for you. Heck, too much water is bad for your body.

Much of organic eating is based on the "holier than thou" concept in my opinion. Many people who do eat raw and vegan and such always say "Well I'm not going to be like everyone else and destroy my body and the planet."

Look up Penn and Tellers Bullshit episode on organic foods. It's quite interesting.

[wizardangel]

So ,if your a Newbie to gardening just find a nearby gardener to learn from !! Most gardeners are delighted to show the student the best way to grow for their location the types best for soils and weather localy -TRICKS to help growth in plant types ..I grow organic most of my veggies and dehydrate the extra's for storage , I save seeds from year to year and use rabbits to aid with furtilizer and clean-up of scrub ,,they are handy little helpers if managed well !! Homegrown Taste Better !!

[alexkidd3d]

nice gardening video, however there is sparse and lacking data in regards the negative effect of pesticides on people...in fact studies comparing organic to mass produced vegetables show no health benefit whatsoever. I do grow organically myself and love the idea of more people growing their own food BUT the whole 'toxins' angle is redundant.

[miketonon]

alexkidd3d, me too. I question what is in these chemical fertalizers and pesticides but can't seem to find a clear and descriptive answer. So I continue to grow some vegitables using organic methods.

I will say that this small farm in my hometown grows everything organic and their prices arn't too bad. Their chicken eggs are very good compared to the generic chicken eggs from the store.

[FacelessOnlooker]

Isn't organic food backwards?

[bakeee]

organic is cheaper?

[catfishmudflap]

I am having some pears from my garden that are organic. I tried to grow apples but the deer eat them and sometimes even the tree. They don't seem to like the pears as long as I keep planting apple trees for them to eat.

[TerraRyzer]

looks like you need to buy a shotgun and start reading up on deer recipes XD

[skeletonmom]

Most herbs, veggies and fruits need full sunlight when planted. Compost your soil. Study & research herb/flowers that you can grow with your food plants-some are natural pesticides and keeps the critters from eating your garden-plus chickenwire fence in your garden for that reason. Research when to plant. Buy heirloom seed, so you can save what you grown and plant next year-without buying seed again. Read, read, read...and experiment. You will learn more each year and improve.

[swordsman1600]

There are some pesticides which are relatively safe compared to others - unfortunately those are the ones that seem to be getting phased out. There are many facets of organic gardening I like - which is why my family does it. However, I think where the big difference between organic food and non is in the processed foods w/ additives and preservatives, and of course, current GM foods of any kind.

[XXTheRealMcCoyXX]

there's a market for these "pesticides" and I'm welling to bet they'll say anything is safe just to keep their business going... Just look at the case with aspartame and fluoride... same thing with pesticides and commercial farming!

[gwed0]

@ subfightr....It doesnt take a scientist to figure out that spraying pesticides, insecticides, and other "ides" on food just insn't beneficial to your health. Im sure you dont walk into your kitchen, take an apple and spay it with RAID before you eat it. And please provide links to these unbiased sites to back up your claims.

[gene15644a]

Do you drink tapwater? Did you know what it was like BEFORE water was chlorinated? Ever heard of cholera or typhoid fever? It's a matter of balancing risks versus gains.

You're being facetious about Raid. Raid is meant to quickly kill insect pests. It's a neurotoxin, and a pretty persistent one.

Many pesticides today are slow acting, of low toxicity to people and are of natural sources. Neem oil derivatives are one fine example.

[gwed0]

I drink double filtered tapwater, filtered through black carbon to remove heavy metals, volatized chemicals, chlorine etc. and the other filter takes out fluoride, because as you know fluoride is a neurotoxin. And interestingly enough it was 1942 Germany to experiment with fluoridated water. But I digress, if you think chlorine makes your tap water safe to drink then that's laughable. Chlorine breaks down organic matter in decades old piping to form what's called DBP's. (re: next post)

[gwed0]

These disinfection byproducts are 100's of times more toxic than chlorine, and example of a DBP would be trihalomethanes. (THM's) are classified by the EPA as a carcinogen. Not only that, but a typical American ingests 300 times the amount of chlorine of what the EPA consideres safe. RAID was just what came to mind at the time.

Pesticides block nutrient absorption, and food today is not as nutrient dense due to harsh farming practices, soil depletion, early picking, as say 25 years ago

[MazdamusPrime]

fifth...

[gar949]

organic (that you grow) is better!

[insightnew]

fourth, keep it going!!

[Subfightr]

This is not true, it has been proven that organic foods are not more beneficial than non organic foods. Please do not take my word for it. Search for organic produce on NON BIASED scientific websites, see the studies done, see the results.

I'm not at all saying don't go organic, I am just saying the promoted facts are not correct.

[ArgosSmith2009]

If you are suggesting that we should be eating genetically modified food, then I'd have to say that your freakin crazy :)

[XXTheRealMcCoyXX]

There's nothing new about organic Gardening, it's been done for centuries and we didn't see the kind of health problems back then as we are seeing today, one thing is obvious, anyone who knows how commercial products are farmed would be better inclined to grow their own fruit and veg just on the very principles that there's no chemical junk in the food.

[gene15644a]

Not to be difficult, but an occasional occurrence of organic gardening was famine.... there was a reason that fertilizers and insecticides were considered Godsends.

Many of the health problems we see today are probably caused more by over eating then what we eat, especially meat and refined sugar. We are more sedentary today, more isolated and less able to cope with stress. Atop of our crappy diets.

I grow organic, by the way, but do not solely depend upon it for food.

[homie258]

third

[drLa1992]

vagina

[TheWiretap]

second

[acrca]

FIRST!!!