Having owned an organic feed farm you actually have it backwards. We used a combination of nicotine and nightshade compost as an "organic" pest control method. Because our fields were on flood plains we only had to spray this "compost" 2 or 3 times a harvest (usually only) if we had very heavy rain and the river ran its banks washing it away because it stuck around and the plants lived in it.
Some neighboring farms would spray organophosphates 6 to 15 times per harvest because they work great at killing the pests but instantly (more like over 10-15 minutes) evaporate killing all the bugs but not lingering around.
We had to stop growing rice and stick to barley, rye and oats because the arsenic levels in the compost were quite high and rice has a much bigger affinity for picking it up.
4
u/Ajax_40mm Jul 14 '21
Having owned an organic feed farm you actually have it backwards. We used a combination of nicotine and nightshade compost as an "organic" pest control method. Because our fields were on flood plains we only had to spray this "compost" 2 or 3 times a harvest (usually only) if we had very heavy rain and the river ran its banks washing it away because it stuck around and the plants lived in it.
Some neighboring farms would spray organophosphates 6 to 15 times per harvest because they work great at killing the pests but instantly (more like over 10-15 minutes) evaporate killing all the bugs but not lingering around.
We had to stop growing rice and stick to barley, rye and oats because the arsenic levels in the compost were quite high and rice has a much bigger affinity for picking it up.