My coffee is looking pretty good. The problem is it actually needs to. Because I do not intend to protect my yields with chemical fungicides, pesticides and so on........my plants have to do much of the work of being disease resistant all by themselves.
There is some iron deficiency that we are addressing but on balance the soil testing, pH adjustments and fertilizations are working. We are fertilizing now almost every month both around the roots as well as foliar applications. We need to prune to stop unproductive growth robbing the plants of energy they need for the coffee producing branches. It seems never ending. It is expensive.
Today, we gave the plants a bit of a help with our trichoderma based biological fungicide to combat fungus in the soil and on the leaves. This is all the help they are going to get.
This is not true of much of the mountain. Many farms invest much less in getting their plants in tip top condition and instead put money into chemicals to fight the diseases.
I think this is not just true of coffee; It is really true of most of our food production and a sad reflection of our times. It is cheaper to provide sub-optimal care for plants (and animals) and treat disease than it is to ensure vigor. One looks terrible, has all the risks of chemicals and will produced fruit on a stressed plant; The other seems closer to the way nature intended.
There is some iron deficiency that we are addressing but on balance the soil testing, pH adjustments and fertilizations are working. We are fertilizing now almost every month both around the roots as well as foliar applications. We need to prune to stop unproductive growth robbing the plants of energy they need for the coffee producing branches. It seems never ending. It is expensive.
Today, we gave the plants a bit of a help with our trichoderma based biological fungicide to combat fungus in the soil and on the leaves. This is all the help they are going to get.
This is not true of much of the mountain. Many farms invest much less in getting their plants in tip top condition and instead put money into chemicals to fight the diseases.
I think this is not just true of coffee; It is really true of most of our food production and a sad reflection of our times. It is cheaper to provide sub-optimal care for plants (and animals) and treat disease than it is to ensure vigor. One looks terrible, has all the risks of chemicals and will produced fruit on a stressed plant; The other seems closer to the way nature intended.
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