This is a collection of articles dealing with organic gardening, ecology, environmental restoration, news items of interest, travel and just about anything else I find of interest and willing to share with others around the globe. - ENJOY!
June 10, 2016 by Paso Robles Daily News Editor Skye Ravy
The heated controversy over a vineyard-development project in California's Paso Robles region has taken a interesting twist now that the owners of Justin Vineyards and Winery issued an apology statement for cutting an estimated 100 acres of oak trees and promising to donate the 380-acre property to a nonprofit conservation organization and plant 5,000 new oaks on their other area properties. See Here >> (Justin Vineyards apologizes and donates Land
When this story first broke, environmental organizations and ecology groups across California immediately jumped on the corporation hate bandwagon denouncing the Vineyards expansion. I do understand the passion and upset of another part of the natural world being dismembered. But not one of the groups made any attempts to find a solution for a fix and repair of the damage done, other than the usual call for lawsuits, legal penalty action and punitive punishment, etc. Calls also went out for major boycotts of all products produced by the Billionaire husband and wife owners of the Wonderful Company who had their life history trashed all over the internet as greedy so and sos. But again not a single group offered solutions for a correction. This is common with the environmental groups these days. Most people claiming to support an ecological movement do so mainly by joining an online Social Media Network page where actual participation is a mere clicking of a "LIKE" post, providing verbal vitriol in the comments sections, signing an online petitions, etc. I find very few actually get themselves outdoors, study nature, involve themselves in habitat restoration, etc. There are many who do this, but the majority don't.
OK enough of the negative, now what positive corrections can be done. The main worry I saw with people calling for a halt to the work being done was that if they were completely successful in stopping the project, the next rainy season could have created terrible erorsion problems on the area in question. Fortunately that has not happened.
Photo Image by Craig Heaton
Some good news from the same source referenced above here, they said that San Luis Obispo County won’t pursue code enforcement action due to the donation of property to a conservancy and land remediation.
"The county is already working with Justin to address potential erosion and runoff issues caused by any grading violations, Bergman said. The company will need additional permits to begin remediation, and Bergman said county officials will work with Justin to quickly develop and implement plans."
Some of the concern came from the removal of vegetation on extreme steep slopes. That also concerns me, but what's interesting is that steep slope vineyards & farming in general are nothing new and have been done all over the world for centuries without problems. However, those farmers and terrace builders actually took the time, patience and effort to create a solid terraced infrastructure system that was practically meant to last forever. Of course this was done by hand and without the fast convenience of modern day mechanized equipment. The people then took their time and were very skilled at what they did. As an example, the Rhineland area of Germany is well known for it's steep slope vineyards, but no one complains about those. Take for example the beautifully designed infrastructure of these steep hillside vineyards along the Ahr Valley below. Notice the rock and stone work ?
Image - Romantic Germany Rhineland Palatinate A well-terraced steep hillside landscape in the Ahr Valley of Germany.
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For a change, what we offer as advice to Justin Vineyards in replacing the Oaks, planting new Grape Vineyards and dealing with the present water crisis issues ?
As I've written previously, there are clearly more eco-friendly ways of doing things, but most modern day folks need to be deprogrammed and re-educated as to how this should be done. We all went to conventional institutions of learning and were taught at the time the conventional science-based industrial methods of quickly acquiring a profit with minimum amount of input. We were all taught this was just good business sense and modern scientific innovation was going to help us accomplish this goal. Except this same science has brought us the ruined natural world & climate disruptions we all experience today and hardly anyone is pointing this out with the exception of a handful of science researchers and other dedicated people who understand the real issues.
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Oak Habitat Restoration
Image - Groasis.com
Since the Oak Tree removal was the main point of protest, it's only logical and fair to begin here. One of the more fascinating things I've found recently with the planting innovation referenced in the above photograph is that California Native Plants establishment can be incredibly easy. I first noticed in Southern California how and under what conditions most all types of native plant communities expand and/or restore themselves to be mainly during extreme wet weather events like an El Nino. My very first observation was the wetter periods between the years 1978-1983. I wrote about Bajadas and the extreme flooding events which allowed massive saturation over entire alluvial fans. One such Bajada was just northwest of the city of San Jacinto California where Portrero Creek drainage from Beaumont and points north from the San Bernardino Mountains runs through a narrow slit in the foothills of the lower San Bernardino Mountains and striaght into the San Jacinto River. This is easily seen from Hwy 79 & Gilman Springs Rd. My original curiosity for some years prior to this El Nino wet period was how do single or grouped California Sycamores & various Oaks over in and around the city of San Bernardino in those large large boulder strewn flood plains towards the north & west towards L.A. which drain from the Angeles National Forest, how do such huge trees manage to establish themselves and thrive when first hand observation reveals they were never even remotely close to any permanent running streams or other water sources ? In the western United States, where such streams do not exist, such trees need a good permanent water source to emerge and maintain themselves during the hot dry summers. It was the 1983 Flood in San Jacinto Valley where I saw first hand how massive amounts of Cottonwoods, Sycamores, Willows, etc established themselves. Years after that only the strongest survived down to the present. But I found this also to be true of other type of plant community ecosystems like forest tree movement intrusion into the Chaparral Plant community where Oaks and Pines utilized Chamise and other chaparral plants as Nurse companions via the planting by ScrubJays. The Groasis Waterboxx as far as I have carefully observed and researched replicates this perfectly. I've provided some links and videos done by Ranchers and University eXtensions in establishing various species of Oaks, Elderberry and other California native plants within the same central California region where Justin Vineyard & Winery is located The only other extremely important thing to do besides the planting with these devices is inoculating the Oak seedlings at time of planting with Ecto-Mycorrhizal Fungi and it's imperative that Pisolithus tinctorius be the specific fungi choice utilized.
Green news from the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Other References - Oaks planted using Groasis Waterboxx
Oak tree planting using the Groasis Waterboxx in California
UCCE studies a Dutch invention for regenerating trees and shrubs on oak woodland
Image - Hunter Industries
Once the Oak tree seedlings are planted and established, a simple deep pipe irrigation system (preferrably installed within the target area ahead of Oak seedling planting), should be periodically turned on in order to counter the negative effects of an unreliable hydrological cycling thanks to climate change. The rules have changed now and mankind is responsible for that change. Again, small seedlings should ONLY be used for successful deep root development. I don't care about five gallon six+ foot tall specimens which are often recruited as some type of 'eye candy' to appease the rabin activist protestors. Do it correctly the first time around and it will save you money. Also the re-established Oak woodland ecosystems will develop much better in succession with other chaparral plants like California Coffeeberry, California Holly (Toyon), Manzanita, etc which should be used as companion plants for faster ecosystem establishment and long term ecosystem health. You simply cannot just plant oak trees the conventional way all by themselves. They do better with nurse companions and that is what biomimetics is all about.
Image taken from pinterest.com
Natural Companion Plants - Oaks & California Coffeeberry
I'll offer further input on the why of deep pipe irrigation below. But Justin Vineyards, please take note of the natural companion relationship above and I'll explain the reason why below. Replanting oak trees to satisfy an offical legal agreement and damage control is not enough. You have to do it right and do it smart. It is good business sense and aesthetically more pleasing. An important note here. If you fail to inoculate with the proper mycorrhizal species mix, your Oak restoration project will fail or at best be many years delayed.
The example photo above is of the groasis waterboxx is being done to reintroduce newer vines as replacements for those that have died or were found unproductive. The process here will establish vines very quickly as opposed to the old conventional methods and provide a deeper root infrastructure which will greatly aid in survival with very little water needed.
Image - DewHarvest.com
I love the Canary Islands because it feels so much like home. The islands are very much involved in the vineyards and wine making business. We've even gone on some wine tasting tours there. Below is an example of dryland vineyards on the volcanic desert island Vineyards of Lanzarote. This region hardy gets any rain, yet look at the results. It's not about irrigation, it's about planting techniques and training these grapevine roots to grow deeper. It's not the subsoil moisture, but rather the capillary action movement of water within the soil which hydrates plants.
The Volcanic Desert Vineyards of Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain
Reference Links and Videos for Establishing Vineyards
The vines were planted beginning of July 2010, the film was end of October 2010 at Will Bucklin's "Old Hill Ranch." Incredible root development on these grapevines growing straight downwards in that short period of time of only four months. Here is the video link:
How does this system save Water ? How does this deeper root development where hydration takes place in subsoil layers as opposed to Drip Irrigation ?
Illustration - Wikimedia - (2006)
I really dislike the illutrative layout above of a sophisticated $-expensive-$ drip irrigation system. While I understand it does save water as opposed to conventional flood irrigation and sprinkler irrigation as practiced in the central valley mega-vineyards, this should not be attempted in Paso Robles. The photo to the right is a simple animation of a deep pipe irrigation, though primitive and simple, even a child gets this. The main problem I have with drip is constant ongoing checking and maintenance. Plus, valuable water on the surface of the soil still heats up and evaporates. Water on the surface also encourages annual weeds (ruderals) which compete for both water and nutrients. There is also the problem of wild animals desperate in these drought years destroying drip system componants looking for water. It's not their fault as they as desperate for survival and act on instinct. While the illustration above shows a simplified garden version of a hand watering practice, below here is another illustration which shows a concept created by irrigation manufacturer Hunter Industries who has developed a deep pipe root irrigation system which I have a feeling many have not taken much advantage of as yet. Mostly because they do not understand the basic fundamentals and principles of how most whole plant ecosystems work, function and operate. The fact is every single agricultural enterprise should be replicated with these very native plant root infrastructures in mind.
Here on the left is Hunter's complete design concept with PCV pipe junctional fittings, branch pipe sections with goose neck design, internal bubbler fittings, etc, etc, etc. Frankly the design is great with the exception that I would prefer a solid pipe as a sleeve which would not have the various holes spaced all the way down the pipe and be perhaps a meter in length where medium sized crushed gravel were used at the bottom of the hole to aid in percolation. The solid sides would also not allow fine sand or silt to infiltrate as would a mesh type design. I understand the idea of water percolating from top to bottom, but truthfully you only need water at the very bottom a meter down. The plants through the phenomena of hydraulic life & redistribution will supply the deeper available stored water to move upwards through their root systems into the mcorrhizal fungal network which in turn are connected to other vines or perennial plants in a mutual cooperation interface. All of this is programmed and encoded within the informational content of all these living organism's DNA. Up until now this has all been ignored by the industrial science business models which have made an obscene profit off keeping the status quo. To this very day they continue to fight against this type of research. Anything Justin Vineyards & Winery can do to keep their vines well balanced and the fruiting zone aerated with dappled sunlight will also help the grapevine's internal pest-management mechanisms to be firing on all pistons. Grapevines that are excessively vigorous (excessive water and nitrogen by conventional means) are likely to be more attractive to leaf hoppers, powdery mildew and bunch rot. No chemicals necessary here, it's all about getting deprogrammed and re-educated. The money savings from not purchasing ANY synthetic chemical inputs will also be money in your pockets. Take a close look at the picture below and meditate on it's true meaning. Most wineries understand this. Less water is most often better.
Image - WineFolly.com High skin ratio grapes produce wines with more concentration
“we started to reduce the use of water in the vineyard [and] we got to amazing results. 1.) The vine can live with less water of what most of the people think, 2.) when you used less water, the size of the cluster and berries decrease, so finally you get more concentration and equilibrium in your wines.”
The wine industry's more quality conscious growers are not necessarily interested in the mega-quantity volume producing yields like those of a Boone's Farm or a Gallo jug wine business model, but rather a quality grape which will produce more flavour. Huge grape clusters with bulging grape diameters are not necessarily what they want as the image above from Wine Folly illustrates. So a vineyard can actually do better on less water and produce a finer wine quality grape. One thing I always found interesting about some of those old historical grape growing photographs like the one to the right which shows a man at a roadside stand selling those large heavy clusters of grapes in early 1900s El Cajon Valley California where I grew up, they actually did this without much irrigation at all if any. They mostly dryland farmed as you can see here in the other historical photograph below. Many people have no clue as to how grapes were grown in the early days of California agricultural enterprises early on. Most grape vineyards were dryland farms and most older folks have probably even forgotten that. Growing up in El Cajon Valley in the early 1960s, there were still several huge tracts of land where free standing grape vines existed, produced vines and grapes although the land had been long abandoned and sold off by previous owners to speculative land developers. Areas east of Los Angeles Like Ontario, Fontana, etc were almost entirely free standing dryland famed vineyards with deeply rooted grapevines. These continued to produce leaves and grapes long after the land was sold and vacated to land developers.
El Cajon California was once 48,000+ acres of Agriculture. Most of that was free standing grape Vineyard dryland farming
There was an Aqueduct flume which was built to bring irrigation water from the Cuyamaca Mountains in the east to El Cajon Valley's citrus orchards which were also plentiful. But I doubt there was enough water for the 1000s upon 1000s of acres of vineyards. Today in many parts of the globe like Spain, they also dryland farm vineyards like the one in the photograph below. What is interesting about El Cajon Valley is that even to this day the water table is extremely high. Water can be hit 10' below the surface. Water was present at 10' when they test drilled at El Cajon Valley High School in the early 1970s prior to building the commercial pool and there was also some test drilling miles north of the school for water contamination studies in the early 2000s at my former place of employment as a landscaper between Bradly Avenue and Greenfield Drive where water was also hit at the 10' (little over 3 meters) below ground level. These vines are capable of reaching and utilizing water at those depths if trained properly in the begining. But again, even if they do not hit the water table, it's the soil's capillary action which moves moisture upwards which hydrate plants.
Real World Sustainability without Insecticides, Herbicides, Fungicides and Sythetic Fertilizers & going full blown "Organic" ???
What's the difference between organic and inorganic wines ? In a nut shell, organic means to limit the human intervention during the vineyard farming and wine production process. The 'organic' label philosophy starts in the actual Vineyards where zero to very limited use of chemicals such as pesticides or fertilizers are allowed to be used for the vineyard management processes. During the wine production process, the organic wine makers usually will not allow or will use only a very limited quantity of synthetic componants for the fermenting, bottling or cellaring choices. Organic wines usually have more characters, reflect better the terroir [environmental cues such as soil & climate - loosely translated epigenetics] and they are unique to other batches of wines in terms of vintages, origins, winemaking methods, aging techniques, etc. If Justin Vineyards & Winery want to create an image make over, then organic is the way to go. Over here in Europe, my wife and I always purchase an organically produced wine and I can tell you the popularity is growing. It does matter if it costs a little more. The actual price is actually not that much more expensive. But it's what we choose.
Image - Pinterify.org
Image - mycoapplycertified.com
The idea behind companion planting here with regards numerous perennials and mycorrhizal annuals is not only to attract pollinators, but also mycorrhizal associations on grape vine rootsystems which will tap into the nitrogen fixing micro-organisms, but also mycorrhizal fungi's ability of mining the soils for nutrients which they accomplish very efficiently. They can increase a plant's nutrient and water uptake by anywhere from 200% to 800% depending on the species and soil conditions. I'll post some other links in references below this section. I'm seeing more and more vineyards incorporating numerous flowering perenials into their vineyard systems and it's not only smart, it's beautifully attractive as a whole. But there is more to this infrastructure. Aside from mycorrhizal fungi colonizing and creating a strong interface between these other plants and the grape vines, they also attract the beneficial pollinators who are also pest predators.
Image - Hydroponics Online Earth's Natuural Pest Control
Image - Wikipedia
A huge part of being an organically run vineyard is NOT using ANY synthetic or Organic chemical sprays in preventing pests from decimating your vines. Did you all pay attention to where I stated even "organic" sprays ? Technically the official organic verification gang allows such chemicals if they are considered to be "100% Natural." But that wouldn't exactly biomimic how the natural world works when keeping balance within any ecosystem. See this small pic of a parasitic wasp ? This is an Aleiodes indiscretus wasp parasitizing gypsy moth caterpillar. Many Vineyards in California and other parts of the world are purposely planting many pollinator attracting plants for the purpose of attracting these little (almost invisible) insectt helpers. These predatary insects do not feed on the pests they hunt and kill, but their larva do. The adults however do need pollen and nectar to keep themselves healthy and functioning. That's why the flowering perenials, annuals and native chaparral shrubs are so important. The conventional Industrial Agricultural practice is to sterilize the ground of all farms. Seriously look at any farm and the only plants are those crops on industrial medical lifesupport. And it costs large amounts of money to keep that type of a system going aisde from the negative side effects to the environment. Let's consider the importance of a few beneficial chaparral shrubs that most folks have never considered.
Image - Las Pilitas Nursery (Bert Wilson)
Image - MotherNatureBackyard
This picture above is California Coffeeberry. In a way, it does look a bit like a photo of a coffee tree with green foliage and different coloured berries. But aside frombeing very ornamental and attractive, it's value is in it being one of the earliest bloomers (March) for a chaparral native. Unlike the other flowering plants we've seen in all the photographs in vineyards, this evergreen shrub has the most inconspicuous flowers you'll ever observe. But when it's dull olive yellow-green flowers do appear, what causes you to pause and take note is the loud humming coming from those shrubs. Every species of bee, wasp, fly, mosquito, beetle, gnat, etc, etc, etc are stumbling over each other on these flower clusters hoping to get a taste of whatever it is that is driving them nuts. On close inspection however, you will see tonnes of the smallest and tiniest predatory wasps who've never even imagined existed. When people in general follow the expert recommendations of using those conventional science-based synthetic sprays to kill the target pests, the chemical has no clue as to what the target is and obliterates almost everything else that is present. That's why our planet is in such a mess and why other more responsible science research is making folks take notice. Mainly because they are forced to now.
Image - Las Pilitas Nursery
Image - Eden by the Bay
The next bloomer is around the month of late May through most of June to July. The California Holly or Toyon is also a beautiful ornamental shrub which is evergreen, has large clusters of bright red berries in Fall through Winter which makes it also a nice addition for Justin Vineyards & Wines to incorporate within the native Oak tree plantings. You simply cannot plant these Oaks by themselves, you need to create a living mechanized biological infrastructure all working in mutual cooperation with one another. But knowing various plants, their blooming schedule and great companion plant abilities, not to mention the wildlife food sources which will help distract them from your grapes will be a plus. But there are other chaparral plants that don't bloom till July/August like Redshank or Ribbonwood. There are also some ornamental native Mediterranean plants which actually fit like a glove in a vineyard theme.
Image - Saint Castor Estate
Image - Ale Etiquetas
This one is a perfect match for the vineyards and general landscape around the buildings. There are so many types and varieties of Lavenders. They can bloom from Spring to Fall. Many of them also do very well here in Sweden which is something I never thought I'd see because of the damp cold. But they also thrive well in hot Summertime heat. I once saw a documentary on one Southern California News station where the reporter was interviewing a Northern California Vineyard grower. He incorporated lots of Lavender around his vineyards just because of their long blooming ability which attracted all sorts of beneficial predatory wasps which required the nectar as a food source. The man said his operation no longer used insecticides, but they still used fungiicdes for things like powdery mildew on grape leaves. However, some mycorrhizal fungi present in some of the micro-organisms blends out there add a couple of species of fungi, Trichoderma virens and Trichoderma harzianum, into the mix as they have the ability send a chemical message up into their plant host through the roots they colonize which flips an epigenetic switch to turn on and kickstart the grapewine's immune system. This wards off the mildew problems rendering fungicides useless. I'll post a link below. Many large industrial agricultural operations in the Central & San Joaquin Vallets are planting Chaparral hedges and Mounds bordering their fields so as not to have to use insecticides. Believe it or not, good science is being revealed despite the propaganda attempts by the agro-chemical industry that the world's farmers cannot live without them. Now for one of the best resources available for native plants and extremely close to Justin Vineyards.
Image - Bert Wilson
Las Pilitas California Native Plant Nursery Salvia Celestial Blue with masses of purple flowers
Great Local Native Plant Resource for Justin Vineyards & Winery & everyone else
Image - Taylor Vineyards and the Duro Valley Portugal
The photograph above points out the direction Justin Vineyards should go. They've certainly got the capital and resources available to them. The course here now is literal soil damage control and rebuilding a reputation. Heading in a eco-green organic and sustainable course is the way to go. They could show their neighbours how to proceed and I kid you not, the average small weekend ranchette landowner collectively do far worse than those large businesses put together. So even here Justin Vineyards could set a precedent and local example to be replicated by other vineyards. I like the arrangement of terrace size here in the photo which allows three or four grapevine rows on a terraced hillside. You could incorporate at the start of your vineyard project after terracing is completed & before planting, two or three rows of underground deep pipe irrigation network, only to be used after the biodegradable Groasis Waterboxx Cocoon has accomplished it's work of forcing the grapevine root systems to grow straight down deep into the subterranean soil layers. It does not matter that a deep pipe system which would place water into the soil two or three foot down, because the process of hydraulic life and redistribution will pull water towards the surface lateral roots, connecting the mycorrhizal fungi and reconnecting also with other vines and unrelated perennial plants as borders. This creates a mutually cooperative selfsustaining living system.
Image - Catacurian.com
Of course they could go the cheap route and save money by simple mechanical shaping and terracing, but for me there are drawbacks to this. First there is the small slopes which are still subject to possible future erosion and also weed control issues. All that costs maintenance money. A terraced rock wall system allows for more precious space to be utilized aside from providing less weed opportunities which offer an offensive spring boards for weed seeds to infect the vineyard system itself, further costs for herbicides and/or workers weed whacking them with a power trimmer. The photo above is from Spain. The Portugese company Taylor Vineyards on their website also have simple soil terraces without the rock walls and the offer advice on how the annual plants also provide a measure of pollinator attraction in the Springtime, but there are ways around that. Anyway here is Taylor Vineyards link to sustainable Viticulture:
As I explained above, Lavender is an excellent summer flowering shrub which not only attracts and sustains beneficial predatory pollinators, but adds an element of Mediterranean visual to the overall vineyard landscape theme. If the rock retaining walls were shorter in height and had a shorter slope behind and above them, then this area could be planted in two rows of Lavender. It would also create a weed barrier screen and fill in space where such companion planting would be a perfect fit. They could also be deep pipe irrigate here as well.
As I stated at the beginning, not one militant environmental activist organization offered any sustainable viable ecosolutions for Justin Winery to correct the mistakes made other than the usual activist vitriol, threats of lawsuits, online petition grand standing and product boycotts in hopes that the Wonderful Company would have all it's business ventures ruined and shutting their doors. This information I've provided can be used by anyone out there reading with an ecological passion for the natural world and growing things, not just the poeple from the Paso Robles winery. Hopefully something positive will be accomplished in Paso Robles without further negativity. Here is an excellent example of good results using mycorrhizal fungi
"When I visited the Rosella Winery in 2011, Sandi took me out to see her section of Zinfindel grapes. They had been struggling for years and the owners were considering tearing them out. I asked her to give MycoApply® a chance before starting over. Even though a surface soil application is not best for grapes I knew with time and with a couple applications the inoculum would work down into the rooting zone with the winter rains on this rocky soil. Here is her story."
Dr Mike Amaranthus
Below is a copy of the email letter Sandi Garoutte to Mike Amaranthus thanking him for the advice not to tear out their unproductive Zinfandel vineyards and give MycoApply a try. Here is what resulted below.
"Hello Dr. Mike,
Rosellas-Vineyard-Winery-Wine-Tasting-Sign Just wanted to follow up on our conversation regarding the application of Mycorrhizal Applications Mycorrhiza on our vineyard. If I misuse the application of the word, I do apologize. Mycorrhiza/Mycorrhizae/Mycorrhizal, it’s confusing!
We have a vineyard in Southern Oregon on the Missouri Flat Bench. I am aware that you have done extensive soil testing in this area. After showing you our Zinfandel, you thought that there was a hardpan layer preventing the vines from getting their roots deeper in the soils.
Due to the rocky soil and the fact that we Dry Farm, the Zinfandel, in particular, has always struggled. So we took your advise and applied the first Mycorrhizae to all the soils in 2012. Placing a tablespoon at the base of each plant and letting the Fall Rains wash it in to the roots. Then we applied the 2nd Mycorrhizae to the Zinfandel in Spring of 2014 and most recently the Spring of 2015 during the rains.
The upper block of Zinfandel is now on it’s 9th leaf. We noticed a marked change after the first application in 2012. The subsequent Spring of 2013, the vigor of the vines and the fruit set and were much improved. So we set out to apply again in the Spring of 2014. The vines did so well that in a heavy wind one entire row was blown over, trellis and all because it was so heavy with fruit!
Indeed, last year was a record year for growth the Zinfandel section of the vineyard, the rest of the vineyard has definitely benefitted, and most notably in the Zin. The girth of the trunks almost doubled. They went from 3″ to about 6″. We have again applied Mycorrhizae this Spring. We look forward to watching the vines continue to survive.
We are entering a palpable drought. It will affect us all. I am so amazed at the symbiosis of these tiny little creatures with the root systems of plants. I admire your knowledge and dedication to the production of this product. We look forward to using it through the years.
Kindly, Sandi Garoutte (The link to this letter on mycorrhizae.com is below)
Sending Text Message to the African Brothers in Sweden:
"Greetings, wish you were here"
image: Kevin Franck
Sending greetings to all the folks at Gothenburg Engelska Församling. Seriously, this is real communication. Even a child gets this, take a look below at this cute one minute video of a father and his one year old son.
image: Kevin Franck
The Kumbu Kumbu Market Cyber Cafe. I know, it should be Kumbi Kumbi Cyber Cafe, but the setting is east Africa, not the Congo!
image - uncharted101
This is the WaTuTu village. Notice those familiar Acacia trees ? And notice below some familiar animal friends ? I belong in areas where Acacia and Mesquite thrive. Reminds me of a post I wrote of the African Prosopis tortilis trees of the Savanna.
These native Fremont Cottonwoods are all but gone now as the picture below reveals. What ever rains have fallen have been spotty at best. Even Palomar Mountain to the west of here which historically received 8" to 13" even during small winter storms because of it's unique geographical location has at best gotten 2" to 3" in latest storm events these past seasons. Nothing in the realm of drenching downpours, subsoil recharging caliber floods which were promised by the Press and Scientific soothsayers has happened this past season. Their promised weather Messiah El Nino was a bust, a fraud and as usual unpredictable. The El Niño eco-activist cheerleaders around the internet with Pom Poms were smoke screening the true irreversible climate change problems behind the scenes. Nobody wants to deal with such a possibility as the idea that human activity has gone to far to be salvaged. I understand wanting things to improve, maybe even getting back to the way things use to be (whatever that was), but times have changed and I'm afraid we've gone well past that point of no return scenario many scientists have feared regarding reversing the climate degradation. The photo below is viewing towards the south. from that point on 1000s upon 1000s of native Oaks are dying. Even many area of chaparral are in trouble.
photo credit - Kevin Franck - (June 11, 2016)
What Does 30% Chance of Rain Forecast really Mean?
In the San diego area, the region known as Mission Valley which is an ancient floodplain with massive development is often known for it's flood events nearest the San Diego River. When news stations need to provide a sensational headline to bait it's viewers and up the ratings, they send news crews down into Mission Valley. The actual storm may have dumped only a half inch of rain, but by golly they're find a reason to hype it as catastrophic. From Mission Vallley eastward, the landscape has radically changed from it's historical past. What was once 10s of 1000s of hectares of wildland is now concrete, asphalt and commercial & residential rooftops. Now any little piddly rain will create runoff for Mission Valley low spots and provide News Hype fodder for Media. And for those who believed what all the cheerleaders said about El Nino saving the day for Central and Northern California, think again. Yes they got large amounts of rainfall in some locations and many mountain areas had large snowpacks. But these mountain ecosystems have a long way to go before subsoil moistures are restored well enough to capacity to allow wild native plants to maintain health and vigor during the dry hot months of the year and these areas are also setting record high temps across the board. Record high temps early on allowed snow melt much earlier as opposed to later when much needed water would be most needed in the peak of Summer. This entire year has thus far had each month setting new heat record highs and this month of June 2016 is set to break even more records as I write. Take a look at the video below of how dire the situation is in forests of the Sierra Nevadas. Eco-Activists don't have to worry about the Timber Industry, nature is deforesting itself in response to irresponsible scientific innovation.
But there are some possitives, but they're mainly localized urban landscape ones
photo credit - Kevin Franck - (June 30, 2014)
Pisolithus tinctorius truffle
It was on June 30th 2014 when we first planted Foothill Pines, Engelmann Oaks, California Holly and Cleveland Sage. By most folks standards it was risky because it was during a time of 100+ temperatures outside. We of course inoculated each planting with MycoApply, but I also had visited the Hwy 79 Desert View Vista Point south of Julian and collected numerous truffles of the mycorrhizal fungi Pisolithus tinctorius. The one here to the left was huge as comparison to the USA 25 cent coin shown for scale. I also incorporated crushed truffle spore powder within the soil of each plant. Below this year is the first I've seen of truffle formation on my brother's plants.
photo credit - Kevin Franck - (June 11, 2016)
The photo below is a Foothill Pine [Digger Pine] (Pinus sabiniana) which is probably a little more drought tolerable than others even native to the area and this particular location and climate. Although like others, this pine has limits as well. Back on June 30, 2014, this plant wasn't even a foot tall when I purchased it for my brother at Las Pilitas Native Plant Nursery in Escondido, which also has gone by the wayside. Other decades old specimens exist on other folks properties here in Ranchita and are doing exceptionally well. Hence I thought it a good fit for my brothers 5 acres in an enviornment which is often challenging because of it's dry climate nature, heat and constant prevailing wind conditions. Not many of the conventional retail plant nursery pics of non-natives will make it up here.
photo credit - Kevin Franck - (June 11, 2016)
Some references for home gardeners and urban landscapers [habitat restoration is out of the question for the moment]
Concluding Commentary It's commendable that many wish to fight to save what remains as a remnant of what once was. Unfortunately all the environmental activism in the world is not going to save anything. Mainly because the passion so often is hatred filled against those deemed as the cause environmental ruin as they see it and their solution is to force the opponant. Declaring massive tracts of land as Preserves, Reserves, Wilderness or National Monuments are certainly admirable, but these are not going to reverse anything regarding climate and other natural world ecosystem disruption. And what are they really saving anyway ? The rescued Land has already been degraded long ago of any old growth plant community ecosystem and it's inhabitants. These heroic acts are more of a symbolic victory than viable corrective solution. More often than not it has become a maneuver to trip up a much hated political opponant's ideological worldview. There is no real materialist fix here or viable scientific solution. Despite the propaganda about Science, it is truthfully not the self-correcting fix all which will reverse the damage caused by the misuse and abuse of industrial science for over a century of imaginary enlightenment. Science today is infected with way too much politicking and ideology. As time pants on to the end, the words of United States Environmental Lawyer, Gus Speth, ring so true. Mankind's problem is a spiritual one and not a materialistic innovative one. And by the word/term 'spiritual', we're talking about clean healthy human personality traits which are not necessarily something physically seen, but rather the secret person of the heart expressed in daily conduct. Every man, woman and child in every land around the globe has to be on the same page morality-wise if mankind and nature is going to have half a chance. Qualities such as neighbour love, which mainly is a respect for fellow man and nature. But admittedly, even the world's mainstream religions are bankrupt on this one. It's funny, I get slammed by both sides if I refuse to participate in one position or another. The old biblical saying, "The Truth will set you Free" doesn't really apply with this subject, especially since telling the truth in this present dysfunctional system more often than not gets you hammered by either side.
“We have a weed here or there,” he said unapologetically.
Image from Vineyard Golf Club
Vineyard Golf Course's Club House
Another incredible example of a large commercial enterprize rejecting the conventionally practiced, science-based, peer-reviewed methods of maintaining a part of the Earth's landscape without the use of synthetic inputs. There was an article in the New York Times back in August of 2010 about a golf course architect named Jeff Carlson who attempted to do what no one else had really done with regards large commercial golf course installation and maintenance. That was of course a strict organic approach. Here is what the Vineyard Gold Club's website has to say after all this time:
"Today the Vineyard Golf Club stands as a tribute to what can be accomplished through persistence, collaboration and creativity. Working hand in hand with the local regulatory agencies, naturalists and organic experts from around the world, Carlson and the Grounds Team have established, and continue to maintain, what is reputed to be the most environmentally-sensitive golf course in the world."
But I loved the actual account as related in the New York Times and I'll repost it here because I find that the Adverstisements and other online junk their pages are rather annoying and who knows how long it will be available to the general public who may not have a subscription to the journal. This seems to be the trend with most former conventional newspapers which are online these days:
EDGARTOWN, Mass. — Standing alongside the 13th green at the Vineyard Golf Club on Martha’s Vineyard, Jeff Carlson spotted a small broadleaf weed between his feet. As the superintendent charged with maintaining the club grounds, he instinctively bent to pluck it, then stopped.
“We have a weed here or there,” he said unapologetically.
It was the rarest acknowledgment in American golf course landscaping — the Vineyard Golf Club is not meant to be as unnaturally perfect as many of the country’s best-known courses.
Opened eight years ago, the club is thought to be the only completely organic golf course in the United States, its 18 holes groomed without the use of a single synthetic pesticide, fertilizer, herbicide or other artificial chemical treatment.
“When we started here, some of my peers thought this golf course would be a dust bowl,” Carlson said, walking across a lush, smooth green toward a rolling, verdant fairway. “I admit I wasn’t so sure it could be done myself. People said we were crazy.”
The club has a more prominent endorsement now. The nation’s first golfer, President Obama, is expected to play here while vacationing this month, after playing the course twice last year.
Image From Vineyard Golf Club
Not exactly what most Agro-Chemical critics would admit when it comes to organically maintained landscaping
With golf courses increasingly being criticized for environmentally unfriendly practices, the Vineyard Golf Club has become a petri dish for alternative maintenance techniques. Carlson has learned to kill weeds with boiling water and a natural foam cocktail and to remove moss with kitchen dish detergent, and he has transported microscopic worms from Iowa to attack turf-ruining grubs. He has disrupted the mating cycle of damaging oriental beetles with a strategically placed scent and has grown grass that he believes is more resistant to disease because it developed without chemicals.
The staff at the Vineyard Golf Club are now seen as environmental pioneers, with many in the golf industry examining their methods. The club’s organic model could become the successful experiment that helps push thousands of courses toward using fewer pesticides, less water and more natural grass-growing procedures.
“Everyone won’t be able to go fully organic, but we’re proving you can severely cut back on synthetic chemicals,” Carlson said.
When the Vineyard Golf Club opened, it was the first club in 30 years built on Martha’s Vineyard, where the wealthy, many of them environmentally conscious but also accustomed to playing on chemically enhanced private courses, have long kept summer homes.
Opposition to the project on this liberal-leaning island was fierce. It helped the project that the land was also zoned for a 148-lot subdivision. The Martha’s Vineyard Commission eventually allowed the course to be built with conditions prohibiting the use of any product whose active ingredient was synthetically produced.
Bill Wilcox, a water resource planner for the commission, called the club a good neighbor and said he knew of no major complaints against it.
Although the club is private, with 288 proprietary members — the initiation fee is $350,000 with annual dues of $12,000 — the deal with the commission includes a condition that 125 island residents be accepted as members with no initiation fee and annual dues of $725.
Carlson, 61, had experience building a golf course with conservationists watching, having worked with the noted architect Michael Hurdzan during the 1990s in the creation of the Widow’s Walk Golf Course in Scituate, Mass. That course is known as America’s first environmental demonstration course, although it was maintained with some synthetic materials.
“Nobody had tried what we were trying,” Carlson said.
Cruising the Martha’s Vineyard club on a golf cart last week, Carlson recalled one of his earliest jobs in the business, in which he mixed mercury-based fungicides by hand, occasionally near the on-course house where he lived with his wife, Kathy.
Image from Vineyard Golf Club
“Kathy has beautiful, thick red hair, and it started to fall out,” he said. “She went to the doctor, who did some tests and was told she had heavy-metal poisoning. Obviously, I stopped using that stuff. All these years later, it has been kind of satisfying to be trying something so very different.”
In the golf community, there is no clear definition of what constitutes an organic course. A 79-page report prepared by a consortium of golf and environmental experts proposed definitions earlier this year but did not settle the issue. The report listed about two dozen courses that call themselves organic, but noted that most used some synthetic chemical pesticide, fertilizer or wetting agent.
“The Vineyard Golf Club has gone further than anyone organically, especially for that level of golf course and considering what they’ve achieved over the years,” said Paul Parker, the chief author of the report. When Vineyard Golf Club opened in 2002, Carlson was in hand-to-hand combat with fungal diseases, insects, grubs and the skunks, crows and raccoons that tore up the turf to get to the grubs. There was also the matter of teaching the membership that nothing in the rules of golf mandated that the game always be played on green grass.
“We had to promote the notion of playability rather than visual perfection,” Carlson said. Still, the grubs were particularly vexing. A synthetic insecticide application would have made things easy. But Carlson discovered a specific kind of beneficial nematode, a roundworm that would attack the grubs from within the soil. It occasionally meant flying in the nematodes from Iowa packed in dry ice.
When it came to the skunks, crows and raccoons, the club went old school. It turned to a retired local fisherman — whom some have compared to Carl Spackler, the character played by Bill Murray in the golf movie “Caddyshack” — who was known on the island for his ability to trap and remove those creatures.
Nothing at the Vineyard Golf Club, now in its ninth season, is left to chance. To prevent fungal disease, crews go out daily at dawn using a long, whip-like device that whisks condensation off the grass throughout the course’s 69 acres. And visitors have their shoes cleaned before they play to keep contrary grass seeds or diseases from infiltrating the fairways and greens.
I've split this paragraph into two parts here above and below, because I'd like to interject my own personal thoughts on what was stated here. I love the fact that they have a large crew here for the hands on maintenance. Clearly it's a lot of work, but enjoyable work just the same. With the 10s of 1000s of dollars not spent on synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, insecticdes and water savings as a result of having extremely thirsty plants because of the over fertility caused by synthetics, they can now hire and pay for more employees. More jobs and safer environment for the whole community.
The club’s maintenance labor budget is higher than those of most clubs its size, but Carlson said his net costs were the same “because of the money we save on traditional pesticides, which are very expensive.”
The Vineyard Golf Club greens are devoid of weeds or major blemishes, and they roll true and consistent. The fairways have patches of crabgrass and clover that are barely noticeable. What is most obvious in a walk of the holes is a striking and scenic layout pocked with deep, distinctive sod-faced bunkers designed by the British architects Donald Steel and Tom Mackenzie.
“Yes, it is not perfect out there, but even if your ball comes to rest next to a shaved-down broadleaf weed, it’s not going to affect your shot,” said Gene Mulak, the club’s golf pro.
Private golf course members are notoriously hard on superintendents, but Carlson says those at the Vineyard Golf Club are “real environmental pioneers because they put down the money for this experiment.”
Sally Rorer, a charter member, said members were proud of the club’s organic approach.
“It makes it easier to put a sandwich down on the ground between shots, too,” she said.
What practices and techniques might be transferable from Martha’s Vineyard, where golf courses are generally open only eight months a year, to other parts of the country is debatable.
“Most golf courses wouldn’t make it with an approach so organic, especially year after year with changeable weather,” said James Snow, the national director of the United States Golf Association’s Green Section. “But over time, we’re going to be using less synthetics, and that’s a good thing.
These days, walking past the occasional weed, Carlson has moved on to other goals.
“We’re trying to be like any other golf course,” he said. “I don’t want people to come here and say, ‘That was a real good golf course for an organic golf course.’
The beauty of this organic landscape maintenance example is that it is yet another illustration of how a holistic approach through biomimicry [which is replication of Nature] can be successfully implemented with fantastic results on a large commercial scale. This is something the Agro-Chemical and Biotech Corporate business interests say cannot be done with any real serious commercial venture without their help, be it Farming, Urban Landscaping, etc. Here are a couple more examples of big commercial operations [one Farm & one University Campus] who have successfully done what the Vineyard Golf Club has done and the Agro-Chemical industry is livid. Why ??? Because these operations have completely eliminated all synthetic inputs and rely on beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi colonizing plant roots which provides enhanced water uptake and both nutritional and immune system needs. Mostly it's a change in practice. The first example are the grounds keepers at Harvard Yard who were severely criticized back in 2009 by the Garden Professors at Washington State University who are often committed to industrial science business interests for no other reasons than the claim of peer-review, scientific consensus and the illusion of a practice of something as science-based. Although to be fair, they do provide some good insight and helpful advise about organic practices, but they are adamantly against compost tea even to the point of putting down some of the efforts of their own fellow colleagues at the Extension Service who actually put on a great well balanced webinar on Compost Tea.
Here is an article I wrote in response to the WSU Professors thrashing they spearheaded against the successful Harvard Yard Groundkeepers and their own eXtension colleagues for providing information through a very informative well done webinar on the use, recipes and research being done on compost teas.
Another wonderful example of a commercial venture is a 5,400+ acre farming operation outside of Bismark North Dakota by farmer Gabe Brown who has stopped using synthetic inputs and having fantastic results and like Harvard Yard and Vineyard Golf Club is saving 10s of 1000s of dollars in the process. He manages his land by nurturing the soils mycorrhizal fungi and beneficial bacteria by keeping his fields continually covered with a 20+ biodiverse mix of perennials in pasture [because mycorrhizal fungi needs a continual host], grazing cattle and planting crops all on the same land with a no-till process which leaves the ground micro-organism infrastructure intact instead of killing them with conventional tilling and synthetic chemical inputs. You can watch this video which features Gabe Brown and his Keys To Building a Healthy Soil, filmed on Nov. 18th 2014 at the Idaho Center for Sustainable Agriculture's annual symposium.
Some of the more interesting photos on their website's gallery were these two photos of the sand traps surrounded by what appears to be the low growing native vegetation of their region. This made me think of ways and examples the west coast golf courses could also use many specimens of coastal sage scrub and some high desert plants in the same ways. There was one paragraph which seemed to sum up what other varied geograpphically located golf courses could do to incorporate many of Vineyatd's ideas, but also specifically tailor them to their own region. This is important not only from a maintenance perspective, but also a localized ecological one which enhances the natural ecological habitats within any given locality. Here are those pics below.
Image from Vineyard Golf Club
Image from Vineyard Golf Club
I love those pics. For me they are illustrative of the mountain high terrain in eastern San Diego County in California where such application could be implemented at another golf resort called Warner Spring Ranch Resort . For that matter all of the other golf courses of Southern California, including those of the deserts southwest could follow this example since an organic approach which utilizes and encourages micro-organisms allow less water to be used, something that is a rare and expensive commodity out there. And this is irrelevant whether the water comes from an effluent gray water source. Take a look at some example photos below of the Warner Ranch Resort golf course.
Image from Warner Spring Ranch Resort
The photo above here reveals the non-native trees and shrubs first by the previous ranch developers decades ago. This was always the practice way back then by not only developers, but also land owners of the high elevation country. People move in from the cities and bring with them their favourite plants purchased at the conventional retail nurseries. They most often are not a good fit and if they do survive at all, they are not long lived and often stunted in growth. But today there are more Native Plant Nurseries for places like San Diego county which offer a huge choice of better suited attractive native ornamental plants for this drier environment located at the edge of the Anza Borrego Desert which almost take care of themselves under the right microbial soil conditions. The trees and shrubs the ranch has now have higher water requirements. The southwestern natives on the other hand generally have much deeper root systems and actually resent the massive amounts of water generally supplied on conventionally maintained golf courses. Take as an example the native oak trees below which are experiencing severe die off of their branches. Without any forethought decades ago when plans were architected and being developed, the course was mapped out to weave in and out of existing majestic oak specimens. But giant oaks resent a constant supply of water all the way up to their trunks. Take a look at the major decline and die off of foliage below.
Image from Warner Springs Ranch Resort
Again, as above, the photo below shows, the native California Live Oaks struggle under the golf course's wet grass conditions where the grass actually grows righ up to the trunks of the trees and the foliage declines as a result. The native majestic looking Fremont Cottonwoods and California Sycamores they have left are doing fine, but that is because they are water loving riparian trees. But I also like that they have left in the back in the photo below large patches of the attrctive native Silver Sagebrush. This allows a mycorrhizal system to remain intact and a buffer to weeds taking over had they removed them as a fire break which would create a bacterial system favouring ruderal plants which are non-mycorrhizal. Even many pines do not take so well to the continual wetness of the lawn environment needed for the course. Please keep in mind here that I really can only speak from a southwestern ecosystem perspective and other regional ecosystems around the globe will all have their own unique ecological fine tuning, even though the basic fundamentals and principles are the same.
Image from Warner Springs Ranch Resort
Successful organic landscape examples on a commercial scale are desperately needed in a world where the prevailing Scientific Orthodoxy insists we need the Biotechs & Agro-Chemical comapnies if the world is going to survive. And they have the world's power and wealth to back up their claims. Truth be said, it is these very same companies from their earliest origins at the beginning o the 20th Century who have literally dismantled and reverse engineered the Earth by means of abuse and misuse of Science. Clearly, their are other scientific studies and ecologically minded organizations which time and again have proven the industrial science business model to be dead wrong. But one of the greatest allies the Industrial Science world has on it's side when t comes to propaganda storytelling is the global Media. Recently there was an article explaining why and how this major gray area journalism culture operates. The article's title is, "Is Most Science News Bull****?"
"If we want to live our lives based on evidence (and who doesn’t?), it makes intuitive sense to live according to what we read in the science section of the newspaper. First things first, don’t do that. Newspapers are actually one of the worst places to get information about scientific matters. Now this isn’t some kind of revelation. Anyone with a good understanding of science knows this is as clear as night and day."
Unfortunately the media is where most average people get their science education and understanding. Today's modern society living in a further and further dismantled world where life seems to have less and less purpose are for the most part apathetic. Like the old time religion of the past, most people are lazy and allow the prevailing ruling Scientific Orthodoxy to do their scientific study, research and thinking for them. That article further explained why journalists are not more honest and thorough in producing a well balanced and well thought out educational reads.
"This is because a well-considered and balanced article is not only time consuming and challenging to write, but ultimately sells less copies, brings in less traffic, and consequently less advertising dollars than shock-horror headlines. All journalists who want to tell substantive, well-researched stories face this problem."
Humans under the failed leadership of political, Commercial & Religious elements have gradually dismantled this planet's life sustaining natural systems which has been accelerated since World War I thanks to the misuse and abuses of science. Quite literally our Earth (Home) has been trashed and abused for it's natural resources to such a degree that many parts are becoming unlivable. Hence the migration of people to the prosperous industrial countries. And yet very few are taking not. This question begs, Why is the average human content with living in a home in an ever growing homeless world ?
Some Great News in the Biological Controls Research & Development Department
The article in Entomology Today dealt with grub issues in the lawns that the Vinetard Groundskeepers had to deal with. Here is the latest from the online journal Entomology Today on potential biological controls:
Most people are more familiar with the larval form of masked chafers, like the one shown here. Often called “white grubs,” these cream-colored and brown-headed larvae can grow to an inch long and are typically discovered in the soil lying in a characteristic C-shape.
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MycoApply® Improves Zinfandel Grape Harvest in Southern Oregon - Mycorrhizal Applications, Inc.
