Having recently learnt about solarisation, a method being used to organically sterilise soil (i.e., ridding it of harmful pests), we checked with our Freedom Come Rain agronomist and farmer, Linton Neil, concerning a substitute for the micron polythene sheet that is used in the process. He said a sheet of plastic can work; even that old plastic shower curtain that you keep in your car in case you have to carry messy stuff on board can do the job.
To summarise, the process of solarising involves fortifying the soil with organic compost such as cow dung, neem cake, vermicompost, and seaweed granules. The area is then thoroughly saturated with water, covered with the polythene sheet, and left in temperatures of around 104 degrees for two weeks (warm and wet is how it should be). Once the plastic is removed, the soil is gently turned so as not to disturb too much the microbes that have developed.
[See: thebetterindia.com/farming/ganga-ram-sepat-organic-cucumber-farming-guide-naturally-expert-tips-11112308].
Mr. Neil also filled me in on some of his organic gardening strategies.
For leaf miners and aphids, especially on citrus, he was seeing excellent results from spraying on affected plants a bottle of beer, diluted with a litre of rainwater, and a tbsp. of baking soda added. Considered a broad-spectrum pesticide, it helps to prevent fungal and bacterial growth on plants and is also beneficial for powdery mildew that tends to affect pumpkins, cucumbers, melons, zucchini, etc. It’s best to keep this beer mixture in a dark bottle and store it in a cool, dark place.
In addition, he said he had been experimenting for quite a while with his rice-water fertiliser. Semi-cooked rice and raw oats are soaked for at least one day in a 5-gallon bucket of rainwater. Diluted 1 part rice water to (preferably) 20 parts rainwater; the mixture is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium and very beneficial to restoring droopy-looking plants and revitalising poor soil.
With over 55 years’ experience in farming (his dad gave him and his twin brother Glendon their first little plot at age 7), Mr. Neil is encouraging backyard gardeners to increase usage of organic fertilisers and pesticides as they help to improve and build the soil’s biological life and structure.
He admitted that while synthetic fertilisers supply plants with added nutrients, they do nothing for the structure of the soil and do not aid the growth of active organisms which are critical to good soil health.