Thursday, October 7, 2010

TROPICAL AGRICULTURE KNOWLEDGE STILL IN INFANCY IN BELIZE.

ORGANIC FARMING REQUIRES COMPANION PLANTS!

There are lots of information for temperate zone vegetables and plants, but little or nothing is known about our local tropical conditions for companion plants.

One method is corn, beans and squash. A few weeks after corn is growing, you can start beans around the base of the corn, around these, you can grow squash in a circle.

The reason for companion plants is to fight diseases and insects in particular. In ORGANIC GROWING, this is the only method you have to control the production. In temperate zones PEPPERS and TOMATOES are companion plants. Whether that will hold true in our lowland tropics is not yet known. Cucumbers and carrots go together well.

Marigolds are great for suppressing nematodes. The poultry industry can use marigold seeds for feed. If you do crop rotation, you need to be aware of these things.

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