Hello Barry

You could use Bitumen paint, I have regularly used it on pre-treated soft wood to good effect.

Barney

Hello Allan In this long rambling thread and whenever the term ‘organic’ as applied to food is brought up on the Forum, I believe your one sentence: ‘If only the rule had been, not organic, but a phrase such as “to Soil Association standards” then everyone would know what was meant’, sums it all up....

Hello Peter All my family and my wife’s are Somerset born and bred for generations and I have lived all my life in Somerset and started drinking cyder from about 10 years old. In fact this is the first year for many that we have not yet made our own Cyder due to work pressures. We make cyder in the ...

Hello Jenny You are correct that the organic/green lobby do not advocate putting more land under the plough, which is my point. They with good reasons, argue against taking forests under the plough, but as they wish non-organically farmed land to be converted to organic production, a drop in product...

Dear Steve

I totally agree with Oldherbaceous your site is excellent.

On spent runner bean haulms, I have always burnt them if they were attacked by blackfly. What do others do, have I been wasting my time, is this necessary?

Barney

Dear Jenny Well, I can not argue with much of your sentiments and I believe most people would prefer to grow food in the safest way possible. However, perhaps it should be accepted by the ‘organic/green’ lobby that when there are famines {due to the weather etc.) the sacks of food that are flown in ...

Dear Mr Potato Head At last you admit that conventional (the real world) farming with chemicals produce bigger yields. Unless you consider we do not need to feed everyone and I am sure you do not, we have to practise agriculture to produce enough food to prevent starvation. My point is we are privil...

Dear Jenny I do not think that you are a Luddite at all but you do not appreciate that your ‘organic’ methods may work for you but if practised world wide would result in famine. You have repeatedly asked for evidence to back up my theories, all I can say is they are not my theories but proven facts...

Dear Jenny I do take your point regarding ‘fatty acid insecticides’ and concede perhaps they are not poisonous. However you know, surely, it is blatantly obvious that the fact the ‘Western World’ enjoy an abundance of food is due to science. And the introduction of pesticides, artificial fertilizers...

Dear Mr Potato Head and Jenny Most Scientific Agriculturists conclude that the tremendous increase in crop production over the twentieth century is down to the development and use of insecticides. To argue that we do not need insecticides is like saying desease vaccination was never needed because w...

Dear Jenny

If your ‘fatty acid insecticide’ is not poisonous to anything, then I think you may have been wasting your time.

Yours Pedantically
Barney

Hello Mr Potato Head

Of course there is no need to use insecticides if you do not need them. However when you do have an infestation of insects threatening the health of your crop you may wish to control them. Insecticides allow you to control and prevent unwanted insects.

Barney

Dear All Pragmatic Gardeners I do not know for certain if Derris is to be banned by the EU or not. However the SA hypocrites may still come to our rescue. Remember when the EU wanted to prohibit the use of Copper Compounds from March 2002. The SA soon started bleating and based on ‘necessity’ the de...

Hello Mr Potato Head

Yes, I have also grown and harvested many things from my garden without the use of pesticides. SO! To then imply that there is no requirement for pesticides shows a complete lack of understanding.

Barney

I have used Derris Powder for years; it was always considered an ‘organic’ insecticide, presumably as it is derived from the roots of a Legume plant. I appreciate that it is toxic to fish, but used with care is quite suitable for horticulture. If this ban is to be imposed by the usual Fascists I wil...