The Advantage of Organically Grown Bedding Plants
By Al Krautter
Most greenhouse operations have been taught to use peat-lite mixes shipped to them in bags to grow their plants. This is followed with recommendations of steady applications of chemical fertilizers to keep the plant robust and green and a program of weekly spray applications to prevent potential insects that might attack specific crops. This is the way I was taught in college and the way most greenhouse growers were taught. I found out the hard way that this was the wrong way.
For most of my life I suited up and sprayed toxic chemicals on all of my greenhouse crops every Friday night but I never achieved complete insect control. If you control 98% of the pests the 2 % that survive build up resistance to the spray. They multiply and you build up a resistant strain of aggressive pests. To counter this you need to come up with another more deadly product to control them. By spraying you never win the battle. I ended up with prostate cancer which my physician attributed to my exposure to these toxic sprays. This is the way Agricultural Universities taught us and we were brainwashed into following their programs. They never taught us the organic way.
My nursery is in Westchester NY. Just north of NYC. In the hay days of Sprainbrook Nursery we were also growing plants on my son’s farm in Upstate New York to satisfy the demand for bedding plants. In those days Garden Centers and local greenhouse operations were thriving as everyone bought their plants form nursery outlets.
My son Tor ran three 100’ x 28’ plastic greenhouses to help us meet the demand for high quality plant material. We started the seedlings at Sprainbrook Nursery where we planted them into 4 ½’ pots in January and February and shipped them upstate in March. Tor and his grower would space them out and finish them off. They shipped them back to Sprainbrook Nursery with weekly deliveries during late April to mid June.
I wrote out a spray program for them to follow but in the spring of 2005 they said they refused to spray with toxic chemicals. I said you can’t send me back plants infected with insects and diseases they won’t sell. They replied you will have to find yourself another set of growers for we are not going to spray toxic chemicals.
Up here we believe in growing plants organically. At the time I read about several growers using a break through methods using beneficial insects to control damaging insects and diseases. I told them I was willing to follow this route as a trial. They would have to research where to buy beneficial insects and how to apply and release them. They agreed to follow this approach.
In the spring o0f 2005 we were battling an epidemic whitefly problem at Sprainbrook as were most other northern growers. The industry had progressed to specialized plug tray growers to supply the industry with a wide diversity of plant material to plant into larger containers for spring sales. This left the general public with a huge selection from which to choose. I often felt along with these plug trays potential problems were introduced into our environment. They all were required to follow a strict spray program but you are never able to get a problem insect completely under control through chemical sprays.
As the plants arrived from upstate they were whistle clean. And our Whitefly population started to decrease. I asked the greenhouse salesmen when he came in what was happening to the whitefly population. Why was it decreasing? He said oh no it is worse than ever but I have a new product that is really working. I said you don’t understand the whiteflies are disappearing. I than realized what was happening. The beneficial insects had piggybacked a ride down to Sprainbrook Nursery and they cleaned up my whitefly population. That was the first time that I realized I was following the wrong approach in growing my plants. The organic way as many were starting to claim was the right way. Beneficial insects could do what chemicals could not do.
I went to schools teaching organic solutions and took courses on the subject. I became a fervent reader on the subject and I changed my growing to an organic approach. I have never sprayed my greenhouses from that time on and I have never had an insect or disease problem that I have had to cope with. Sprainbrook has always grown its plants in an organic soil so this didn’t change but now I was feeding them with Nature’s Source an organic fertilizer instead of Peter’s Special a chemical fertilizer. The change was dramatic. The flower size and the plant vigor were truly amazing. My organic vegetable seedlings were the most nutritious seedlings you could buy. I realized my plants had built up a great food web. The rizo-sphere was teaming with life. My plants had become resistant to insect and diseases. It was amazing to see and it changed my whole outlook on life. Once you team with Mother Nature you see things in a much different way.
I became an organic nut and the more I learned the more amazed I became. I wrote my book “12 Steps To Natural Gardening” where I wrote out formulas for homeowners to convert every section of their garden to an organic one. I developed a Garden Calendar showing everyone what to do each month to build up the food web in their garden.
My customers constantly tell me my plants hold up better in their garden. The reason is very simple an organically grown plant is filled with a healthy rizo-sphere teaming with life and will help develop the food web in your soil. A chemically grown plant creates a dead soil filled with chemical fertilizer that are spiking blooms but have killed off all the microbes in the soil. There is very little doubt which plant will survive and thrive better in your garden. Once I learned what I should have learned in college I have employed a strict organic approach and have recommended the same for all of my customers. I hope you will take the time to read the many other articles I have written on this subject. I hope you will take the time to view my invention Krautter’s Year Round Organic Vegetable Garden. Check out my promotional video and see this incredible structure that I invented which holds secrets and answers to global warming. It’s an amazing structure and should be built as a hands-on learning classroom at every school. Global warming is real and this structure is fueled by compost energy, solar energy and thermal energy.
These are energy sources that do not pollute our air and need to be developed as energy of the future. The structure shows how we can recycle water during a drought situation. There are grants that schools can apply for projects like this. Let your school and school science teachers know about this video and see if you can persuade the children of your school to build one. It will be an invaluable experience that will help develop their appreciation for nature for the rest of their lives.
