Beautiful To Contemplate, Healthful To Consummate!

Question: Above, more than the flowers, what makes the scene beautiful? 
Answer: The clean, good-looking cabbage heads.

That is from a Facebook sharing of William Dar, PH Secretary of Agriculture. Get it?

That method of planting is what farmers and gardeners call interplanting, planting in-between rows. I’m an Agriculturist, but I’m not familiar with the flowers, so I cannot tell you the name – but I can tell you that the flowering plant is grown for a double purpose: one, for the passersby to admire; two, for the insects to appreciate, approach and eat! Cabbage heads safe.

That Facebook sharing is itself a Facebook sharing of Asuncion Soriano-Garcia titled, ““Pesticide-Free, No Cabbage Worms.”

Question: Why don’t we see perfect cabbage heads all the time?!
Answer: Our cabbage growers’ heads are not perfect!

They do not apply the science that is already there: Intercropping and/or Multiple Cropping. Instead of just one farm produce, two or more. And not only do you get more food from the same piece of land – you get healthier foods, and you get healthier incomes, because the people who know about pesticide residues will patronize your cabbage – your price!

In 1979, or 41 years ago, Lucio B Victor of UP Los Baños studied intercropping and succession cropping at UP Los Baños campus in Laguna, and at the Mountain State Agricultural College, MSAC in Benguet in both dry and wet seasons[1](Scinet.dost.gov.ph); it was his thesis. The thesis, “Multiple Cropping Compatibility Of Cabbage, Tomato, Bush Bean And Green Onion Grown In Two Locations And Seasons,” was conducted on combinations of the following crops grown in the same field: bush bean, cabbage, green onion, and tomato; and in both dry and wet seasons. The results of the research showed that the best combination was tomato plus cabbage, which yielded more than the other crop combinations, with peso values significant at 0.01 level of probability compared to either cabbage plus bush bean or cabbage plus green onion. Actually, you are already a winner if you don’t use any pesticide to defeat the worms!

In another and much later study[2], conducted in Ghana in 2007, E Asare-Bediako, AA Addo-Quaye & A Mohammed found that the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) of cabbage can be controlled, without pesticides, by intercropping with onion, pepper, and tomato. No spraying with chlorpyrifos!

The planting technique is also referred to as “trap cropping” whereby another crop is planted with the main crop to “protect” it from a certain pest or several pests (ANN, undated, “Trap Cropping[3],” Pan Germany, Oisat.org).

There are 2 types of trap cropping according to ANN: perimeter trap cropping (planted completely around the main crop), and row intercropping (the one you see above). If you are not yet convinced of the wisdom, remember the advantages of trap cropping include (a) preserving natural enemies of pests, (b) improving quality of produce, and (c) helping conserve soil and environment.

Did you notice: The trap crop is the one that actually fools the worms? Lesson in life: Some attractions may be traps in disguise!@517

 


[1]http://scinet.dost.gov.ph/union/ShowSearchResult.php?s=2&f=&p=&x=&page=&sid=1&id=Multiple+cropping+compatibility+of+cabbage%2C+tomato%2C+bush+bean+and+green+onion+grown+in+two+locations+and+seasons.&Mtype=THESES

[2]https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=ajft.2010.269.274

[3]http://www.oisat.org/control_methods/cultural__practices/trap_cropping.html

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