MAX FACTS
growing tips, news and trivia
Vertical Vermiponics
Hydroponics, aquaponics, windowfarming, which allows urban folks
to grow food vertically using their home windows, and vermicomposting (creating compost with worms) have all become familiar
ideas to many green-minded people. But what about adding worms
to the windowfarming equation? Professor Ken Rinaldo, director
of the art and technology department at Ohio State University’s
School of Architecture, has combined aspects of these practices
in an experimental research project called Cascading Gardens. The
project employs what is called vermiponics, in which worm waste
is used to fertilize veggies. Suspended in specially-developed grow
bags arranged in vertical rows, red wriggler worms are the crux of
the system, adding rich nutrients to the process. Grow bags are
made out of felt, and the system can be used indoors and out,
and in wet or dry climates.
(Source: treehugger.com)
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Maximum Yield USA | February 2014
Sweet Potato Weevils
The sweet potato weevil is the most harmful pest
of sweet potato around the world. Because the
larval period is spent within vines or tubers, and the
adults are nocturnal, chemical
control is often ineffective.
Mass trapping using synthetic
pheromones has suppressed
populations in several countries, but it has not reduced
the damage greatly. A
new study suggests
the color of traps may
affect their usefulness.
“Sweet potato weevils responded to pheromone-baited traps of different colors differently
in the field and indoors,” says Dr. Gadi V.P Reddy
.
from Montana State University. “In the field,
sweet potato weevils preferred red, and particularly light red, over the other colors, but indoors,
green traps were favored. We h ave no explanation
for the difference. Further studies focusing on why
insect behavior changes from outdoors to indoors
will be required to find out.”
(Source: sciencedaily.com)