Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Passive prevention is the application of good farming
practices: well-composted and appropriately amended healthy
soil, adequate sunshine, proper watering, crop rotation, and
sufficient airflow. In essence, this simply means to give plants
growing conditions that are as close to optimal as possible.
This will make them healthier and thus less susceptible to
diseases and less attractive to pests.
Active prevention uses active measures to prevent diseases or
repel insect pests. Examples include applying repellent garlic
or hot pepper sprays on plants to deter pests, installing
physical barriers, putting out traps, or spraying the plants
periodically with a fungus preventative. Sometimes, for
certain types of pests, poisons that are usually used as a
reactive measure may be required as active prevention.
Active reaction occurs when preventative measures fail and a
problem already exists. Active reaction will often employ the
same methods as active prevention, only with greater
intensity, but it will also include, in most cases, the
application of natural botanical or synthetic poisons or
fungicides.
Pest management needs to be viewed holistically, as part of a
bigger picture, to minimize crop damage while
simultaneously protecting the long-range viability of the
mini-farm. As part of this view, it is good to establish a
threshold for what constitutes an acceptable level of damage
before reactive, as opposed to preventative, measures need to
be taken. This threshold is established economically,
considering that the time, costs, and risks associated with
active pest control measures will diminish the net grocery
savings. So the threshold of acceptable damage for a given
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