Environmental Advocates Organic Gardening  and Lawn Care Seminar
Presented at the Unitarian Church by Patrick O¹Malley, Ph.D.
Ericka Dana


Patrick O'Malley is the Johnson County ISU Extension Commercial
Horticulturist and Field Specialist. Following a presentation on Native
Lawns by a representative from Wild Ones, a group which provides
educational materials on establishing Natives and Prairie plantings in home
settings (call (877) 394-9453 or see http://www.for-wild.org or
http://www.epa.gov/greenacres/wildones/wo12-14.htm for information),
Patrick gave an informative and entertaining presentation on organic
gardening and lawn care this past April 12th in Iowa City. He dealt with
solving some of the most common problems that new organic gardeners might
run into as they discontinue use of chemical applications in their lawns and
gardens.

Patrick recommended that a healthy organic garden starts with healthy plants
(varieties suited for your climatic conditions) and soils best suited for
your intended crop (perhaps well-drained, with high organic matter content,
adequate P and K and the proper pH). Planting at the right depth, at the
appropriate time of year, and mulching around the base of plants with straw
or leaves are all techniques which can help insure a good start in the
garden.

If problems develop, he suggests following these steps: identify the pest
and determine levels and damage, ie: does it merit control ? If the answer
to that question is yes, he recommends a number of pest control methods for
commonly grown garden vegetables and fruits.

Tomatoes often have problems with fungal blights (Septoria, Early Blight).
The symptoms are initially spots on leaves - as the disease progresses the
leaves yellow and then turn brown (flagging). The results are decreased
yields, sunburned fruit & dead plants. One solution is to use cultural
controls such as mulches - sheet plastic, which raises soil temperatures in
spring, reduces splashing of soil-borne spores - or organic mulches (straw,
newspaper, chopped leaves, etc.), which have the same effect as plastic,
except that organic mulches maintain soil temperatures, therefore, it's
appropriate to apply them in spring after the soil has warmed.

Always do your watering early in day so the plants can dry, avoid getting
leaves wet (bottom water if possible), and don't work on plants when they're
wet - touching wet leaves can spread disease. Give your tomato plants
adequate space and if necessary, support plants by caging or staking them.
Supporting and pruning tomato plants can open air flow and the spread of
disease is slowed by pruning off  affected leaves - which should be disposed
of (not in the compost pile, because affected plant debris harbors spores
for future infection). Crop rotation is also helpful in avoiding disease in
tomatoes. If possible, Patrick suggests going at least 3 years before
returning a garden area to tomatoes or related plants such as peppers,
potatoes or eggplant.

Vine crops such as cucmbers and  summer and winter squashes can have a
number of  insect problems. For cucumber beetles & squash bugs Patrick
suggests using floating row covers over the beds.For squash vine borers,
cardboard sleeve protectors around the base of the plant act as a deterrent
to the crawling insect and floating row covers are useful in keeping the
parent insect form  laying it¹s eggs on the stems - also timing can be
crucial - ie: zucchini can be grown when borers are not present ( and
reproducing).

When you are choosing to put in apple trees, select disease resistant
varieties if possible. A common problem with apple trees is the apple maggot
which can be controlled by using ³red sticky balls² which resemble apples
but catch the parent insects with a non-toxic ³glue² when the insects land
on them and attempt to lay their eggs. For other insects which prey on fruit
trees, trunk traps are effective.

Organic lawn care is fairly easy to accomplish. Recommended cultural
practices include early and frequent mowing with sharp blades (reel mowers
give a better cut than rotary mowers do), mowing the grass higher (at least
3.5 inches during warmer months), leaving grass clippings on the lawn as a
nitrogen source, good aeration (which can reduce white grub problem
slightly), and  irrigation when necessary. Choosing the proper grass species
for your  particular environmental conditions and useage is important, and
in the early spring, an effective, organic pre-emergent fertilization/weed
control is corn gluten meal, a by-product of corn processing.

When asked what he thought of the event, Patrick said,²I thought the
Environmental Advocates organization was very friendly and open to new
ideas. I enjoyed speaking to and interacting with them. I feel it is groups
such as this which have helped lead to the strong demand for organic food in
the Iowa City area.  Many areas of Iowa don't have any sources for organic
foods, while Iowa City has several.²

³I was flattered that the group asked me to speak, because like others in
ISU Extension, I am often called upon to give chemical recommendations. I do
feel that many horticultural crops can now be grown organically. As we
develop better understanding of the complex biological systems interacting
in nature, that we can look forward to having success growing more varieties
of crops organically.²

Sources for the above-mentioned pest-control materials and some excellent
weeding tools are the Garden's Alive catalogue at
http://www.gardensalive.com/ , Great Lakes IPM (especially for commercial
growers) at http://www.greatlakesipm.com/ and Peaceful Valley Farm Supply at
http://www.groworganic.com.

A helpful, comprehensive book for identifying and controlling insects and
diseases organically is the New York Times Best Gardeing Book, ³The Organic
Gardener¹s Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control,² edited by
Barbara W. Ellis and Fern Marshall Bradley, published in 1996 by Rodale
Press. Many excellent organic gardening books are available at
http://www.growingformarket.com.

For more gardening answers, Patrick O'Malley can be reached at the Johnson
County ISU Extension office - Phone: (319) 337-2145,  Fax: (319) 337-7864,
or e-mail: [log in to unmask]  The Environmental Advocates web site is at
http://www.jccn.iowa-city.ia.us/~envadvoc.

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