Effective Methods to Control Weeds

Weeds are harmful in many ways. The damages caused by them are: Reduction in crop yield, increase in the cost of cultivation, harbor insect/pests and diseases, it checks the flow of water and so on.

While producing organic crops, weed management is not so easy for farmers. Organic crops require Organic composts and organic fertilizers.Earth’s Honey is the best organic fertilizer in Ontario in Canada. 

 

Weed Control Methods:

 

Weeds have upper hand than the crops; so instead of preventing it, you need to do any of the below control mechanisms.

1. Mechanical Weed Control:
   

Using pre-plant tillage like ploughing, disking, and field cultivating, we can minimize the spread of specific perennial weeds and emerged weed seedlings.

2. Manual Weeding:
   

This is very effective but needs little time and work, where the weed can be plugged when they are smaller in size.

3. Crop Rotation:
   

This is also an effective way for reducing weed and it is a good method for long-term weed control.

4. Thermal Control:
   

This is a method which uses flame thrower to get rid of the weeds. Flaming is ideal for crops that are particularly planted in wide rows.

Top 5 Tips for Effective Lawn Care

1. Don’t plant the lawn in a completely shady area. Avoid planting it on the slopes and unnatural spots of your yard.

2. Soil shall be loose and light to grow healthy plants. Clay soils will become hard and fragile over the period. You can use an organic fertilizer to maintain loose soil for a longer time. Earth’s Honey is the best organic fertilizer in Ontario in Canada.

3. Grass in a shady part of your lawn requires less watering and fertilizer as it doesn’t receive full sunlight, you can’t boost its growth by over watering, and over fertilizing.

4. Mow your lawn before the grass reaches its high point to avoid sun-burnt lawn. Mowing the tall grass can affect their roots and damage the blades of the mower.

5. Walking over the lawn and trampling it for years, tighten the soil and take all the air out from the lawn. So, aerate your lawn twice a year in both spring and fall. Aerating helps the root system and soil by providing enough air and water to the lawn and improves nutrient penetration. Aerating is the secret of good-looking green lawns.

Vegetable Crops & their Survival Temperatures

Plant’s ability to survive in a specific climate is termed as “Hardy”, even it might be a cold winter. All vegetable crops have their own temperature ranges, which they survive & yields good quality fruits/vegetables. Use organic fertilizers for a better growth of the plant. Organic fertilizer is applied to soil to improve soil fertility, strength of plants. Earth’s Honey organic fertilizer is the best organic fertilizer in Ontarioregion in Canada. Here are types of vegetable crops and their details.

1. Hardy Vegetables:

Hardy crops survive freeze, frost or cold snap. It can survive at temperature as low as 4°C (40°F). Plant the seeds 2-4 weeks before the date of average last spring frost.

Example crops:

Kohlrabi, Onions, Lettuce, Peas, Radish, Spinach, Turnips, Broccoli, and Cabbage.

2. Semi Hardy Vegetables:

Plants that can survive only limited or light frost, may be just an hour or two of frost or near freezing temperatures. These plants must be protected from anything more than a touch of frost. Minimum daytime temperature for these crops are from 4°C (40°F) to 10°C (50°F). Plant them 2-4 weeks before the date of average last spring frost.

Example crops:

Cauliflower, Parsley, Parsnips, Potatoes, Swiss chard, Beets, and Carrots.

3. Tender Vegetables:

Plants that can be injured by cold weather or frost can be defined as Tender Vegetables. They need a daytime temperature above 12°C (55°F). Plant them around the time of average last spring frost. Example crops:

Beans, Celery, Corn, Cucumbers, Summer Squash, NZ Spinach.

4 Key Benefits of Organic Farming

1. Lesser Up-front Investment - Organic farm requires less capital investment than a conventional farm, since there is no involvement of any chemicals. Conventional farmers go for large loans for starting the farm; it’s not required for organic farmers. The use of organic based fertilizers aid farmers, growers, consumers and the environment. Earth’s Honey is the best organic fertilizer in Ontario region in Canada.

2. Higher Profit Margins - Depending on the conditions, organic farming methods yields lesser than the conventional methods. However, the premiums are high with organic farming. Any Organic product will be sold for 20-30% more than conventional yields. So, with less start-up debt and high profits, organic farming will be more successful.

3. Biodiversity and Nutrition - Environment enjoys the benefit of organic farming in many ways. Avoiding harsh chemicals establish better biodiversity. This keeps the soil rich, where good crops will continue to grow year after year. The product will also taste better and be more nutritious than chemically grown crops.

4. No Harmful Emissions - In addition to better biodiversity, organic farming helps the environment in other ways as well. Mostly, organic farm won’t mix up chemicals into water sources, and organic fertilizers like Earth’s Honey won’t release toxic gases into the air. So, for better farming business, go for organic farming and make the world better.

3 Premium Benefits of Lawn Aeration:

One of the healthiest ways to maintain a great lawn is perfect aeration. Aeration allows water and nutrients to penetrate the soil better, so your lawn can thrive. For better nutrients, use organic fertilizers which boosts aeration in the soil. Try Earth’s Honey, which is the best organic fertilizer in Ontario in Canada. The benefits are:

 

1. More Productive Irrigation:

It’s the water, either from your irrigation system or from the next rain, will be able to soak into the soil more quickly. Minute problems like post-rain puddles will be fixed immediately. Algae growth is eliminated. Water penetrates more deeply into the soil, which create a deeper root system that is much more tolerant of drought.

2. Increased Lawn Resilience:

After aeration, your lawn becomes springier and more resilient. Because of the additional oxygen in the soil, the roots will be thick and healthy, making the blades thick and healthy too. These roots will grow towards the newly loosened soil which will be in a cooler zone of the soil that automatically increase heat tolerance and vibrant.

3. Healthy Earthworms and Microbes

Earthworms will thrive in an aerated lawn, which moves through the soil is a major benefit for the soil. This permits excess air, water, and nutrients to move deeper into the root zone. Along with them, natural microbes present in healthy soil will also thrive with the additional oxygen and nutrients. These microbes play a much larger role in grass health which breaks down the nutrients in the soil that allow the grass to use the organic fertilizers like Earth’s Honey you apply in your lawn.

Nutsedges - Ways to control it in your Lawn

Nutsedges is a lawn plant which blooms well especially in hot, wet conditions. It is also called as NutGrass, TigerNut and Chufa. Nutsedges are very aggressive that commonly infest your lawns, vegetables and gardens.

It is very difficult to control them; and it will be a longer process once it spreads. So, it’s better to eradicate them once you see it in the lawn.

Ways to remove Nutsedges:

1. Nutsedges grows through tubers rather than roots, you can’t simply pull it out of the ground. You must dig deep, for about 14 inches down to kill it completely.
2. Try to grab the nutlets and seeds of the plant while removing it. If a single seed left behind, it will re-spawn this aggressive plant.
3. After digging, use a mesh screen to pull them off. This will help you find those seeds and nutlets easily.
4. Even though they are not toxic, try to burn them out of the lawn.

How to prevent it from growing in your lawn:

1. Nutgrass blooms in poorly drained areas of lawn. Keep your lawn aerated to prevent nutsedge from spreading.
2. Using organic compost and organic fertilizer together to the lawn improves its aeration. Try Earth’s Honey which is the best organic fertilizer in Ontario in Canada. Also, nutsedge goes on wildfire when the temperature warms up. So, be alert and kill it before summer.
3. While purchasing a new soil from outside, check for any nutsedges tubers.

Apply Lime to Your Lawn – Why & When?

In most parts of the Canada, adding lime to lawn is as essential as mowing the lawn. Without lime, lawn grasses may be unable to benefit from the nutrients in your soil, including those you add through fertilizers. Try Earth’s Honey for the best organic fertilizer in Ontario in Canada to boost the lime which works healthy for the lawn.

Why Lime the Lawn?

 

A healthy, well-balanced lawn can be grown with pH of the soil. The total pH scale ranges from 0 to 14, out of which 7 is neutral; while everything under 7 is acidic, and everything above 7 is alkaline. Lawns are usually mild acidic, ranging between 5 and 7. If your soil pH is below 5.5, your lawn won’t grow well.

The reason to add lime to lawn is that most of the soil are acidic and increases as alkaline nutrient is released. To maintain it at the right pH level, we must add lime to the grass.

Advantages of using lime:

1. It helps in healthier growth.
   
2. It keeps acid moss and weeds away.
   
3. It helps the fertilizer to function, which won’t happen on soil that is too acidic. Make sure it’s organic like Earth’s Honey.
   

When to Add Lime to Lawn:

The lime can be added any time of year, but don’t wait until your grass suffers. However, it is best to add lime in the fall, so that the winter weather helps to work them into the soil most effectively.