Organic Weed Control
For weed control, the entire farm needs to be weeded at least 5 times a year; most of this work in done with machetes, but the use of ground cover is also highly efficient.
Machete
The machete is used throughout the plantillos to cut down all visible weeds. This is a very slow process, and one that requires a lot of labor. It is performed throughout the year, between 5 to 7 times a year. This activity is done with a crew of about 25 men.
Manual
Some cleaning of parasites can only be performed manually. Since some of these weeds start growing on the actual coffee trees, the use of machetes could damage the tree. Any moss that develops on the coffee tree must be removed manually as well as the removal of strangling vine type plants like the morning glory, and another knows as batata.
Ground Cover
The concept of the ground cover is to cover the path or rows between the coffee to avoid the growth of weeds, most of the ground cover methods mentioned below will prevent the growth for about a year, after which we have to place another layer of ground cover, and cut the weeds with machete. The problem with the ground cover material is that we can't produce enough at the farm to cover the entire plantation. For instance, we use about 10 truckloads of cow manure per acre to cover up the rows between those coffee trees. As you can see, a lot of material is required for this purpose. The main advantage of the ground cover material is that it serves at the same time as a fertilizer, which enriches the soil. This is the main reason for us to try so hard to work this way. The following are some of the ground cover materials currently used at the estate.
- 1. Algae - At the estate we have eight ponds all of which have an incredible amount of algae accumulation. It became a plague and a troublesome situation, until one year we tried it as a ground cover and fertilizer for the coffee plants. To our amazement it worked wonderful, so we use it now on areas where we have lots of weeds. This will cover the weed for a good part of the year. We wait for the ponds to accumulate the algae again, and reapply the following year. This alga provides a clean floor for the application of fertilizer.
- 2. Mulch - On areas where there is some weed, we cut it first with the machete and we use mulch as a ground cover. The mulch that is used for this comes from two sources. The coffee trees - When the coffee trees are pruned, the larger pieces are used for firewood and the rest of the branches are mulched there on site. And the shade trees - The pruned sections of shade trees are first stripped of leaves and laid on the ground to cover the weeds, and then all the smaller branches are mulched and the larger branches are used for construction.
- 3. Ashes - The ashes produced in the kitchens throughout the farm are also used as a ground cover.
- 4. Cow Manure - Cow manure is converted into compost (please read compost article in Spring 2006 newsletter) and spread beneath the coffee trees. This compost provides for an amazing fertilizer and also prevents the growth of weeds.
Organic Pest Control
Organic pest control is a much greater challenge than organic weed control. We try to control the pests with organically developed pesticides and traps whenever possible. We do not use any chemicals in our estate. Among others, we produce organic coffee, vegetables, cattle, cheese and sausages.
Creating organic pesticides
There are several ways of making your own pesticides. Some of the methods are with plants, mostly wild ones, with which you can experiment. First you have to notice if they are always healthy, this is proof that insects don't like it. We experiment with those plants by cutting the leaves, grinding them, fermenting them and then applying the result product to experimental coffee trees where we have problems. Then we observe the reactions and then use it, or not, accordingly. When using natural pesticides it is important to rotate often, so insects don't get used to one pesticide resulting it ineffective in future attempts. Some plants are great for developing pesticide such as: limonaria, madero negro, ruda, and malanga. Other options include the use of spices, like garlic and chilies. At some instances we have sprayed raw cow manure diluted in water to get rid of some "picudos". This worked great on its first attempt, of course the next year it did not, this is an example of why you have to rotate the products on a regular basis.
Traps
Traps are on option with some pests. One trap that we have experimented with utilizes the recycling of water and soda bottles, those of 1½ liter. This trap was created especially for the "broca". The bottles are painted in red color, open flaps on the sides, and fill the bottom for water. Inside we hang a kind of dropper that contains a special liquid mixture to attract the pests. The effect are the attraction of the "broca" to the bottle by the color, then the smell of the liquid will numb the insect who will in turn fall in the water and drown. When get rid of the "broca" we count them, thereby knowing how many we have, this year we killed over one million of them.
Manual
Although not exactly a trap, another pest known as "picudo", is manually removed from the coffee trees. Teams of workers walk around the plantation and search for this pest on all the coffee trees and manually remove them. The collected pests are then burnt.
