Monoculture and the American Table

Monocultural farming techniques helped to create successful civilizations throughout history.  The beginnings of  single crop agriculture are associated with increased population and the ability to produce more food with fewer hours of labor allowing surplus for storage and to process large quantities of  baked goods, beer and wine.  However, monocultural farms do have serious disadvantages, and have many cautionary examples that show exactly how growing a single favored crop leaves a civilization vulnerable to compromised food supply.  Growing a singular genetic stock in a sight specific manner has lead to instances of crop loss due to blight, drought, flood, or infestation and our modern hubris derived from a much better scientific understanding of botany and genetics does not make us immune from the potential consequences of single crop agricultural practice.  I support science and do not have any health concerns over consuming genetically modified foods.  I do however have many concerns over patented genetic seed stock and the vulnerability of our food supply to the ever adapting food crop pests.  Evolution never sleeps.

My biggest concern is the limited dietary selection that will inevitably result from a focus on the shelf life, shippability, and consumer taste demands on the determination of which crops should be grown.  Although these considerations are all valid and important considerations to the agribusinessman there needs to be a way for the average person to grow and deliver varieties of produce the family table.  The most viable way to do this in my opinion is to adopt a philosophy of maximizing the productivity of ones own micro-agricultural spaces.

Biodiversify  your own space and protect yourself against the inevitable problems of large scale single crop farming.

Time to fertilize your fruit trees.

This weekend is the best time to fertilize stone fruit and apples to get them ready for the next season.  I would recommend a bloom boosting fertilizer like 0-10-X with a predominant phosphorus load or ask your local nursery what they would recommend for your area and soil conditions.  This early spring fertilizer will have a chance to break down and will get carried with the spring melt into the roots giving the tree what it needs when it breaks dormancy.

For those who do not have their fertilizer numbers memorized the first number represents Nitrogen content.  The zero in the first part of this number 0-10-X indicates that there is little to no traceable Nitrogen.  This is good in the spring as Nitrogen will boost tree growth and leafing.  You want blooms so the middle number (Phosphorus) is the number that you want to pay attention to for this application.  The final number is Potassium. Potassium is essential for the metabolic function of the tree regulating dozens of tree functions and so this number can be as high or even higher then the Phosphorus rating.

Wood ashes are a good spring fertilizer for trees containing mostly Phosphorus and Potassium but it will also alkalize the soil so excessive application can cause problems if used later than the las spring rain as rain tends to be a little acidic and will correct for the alkali of the wood ash.

If there is still snow on the ground this is actually a good thing as it will begin to dissolve the granules and any further freeze cycles will break apart minerals and aid in absorption.

Apply the fertilizer around the drip line and use about a half a pound of fertilizer for a small tree up to 3 pounds for a large tree.  In my estimation it is best to guess on the low side as you do not want to burn the roots.

ATTENTION: KEEP FERTILIZER AT LEAST A FOOT AWAY FROM THE TRUNK OF THE TREE TO KEEP THE TREE FROM BURNING.