Interesting Video

[Tee Gee]

The contents of this video more or less go along with  my thoughts!

How about you?

https://youtu.be/PwRCZE0-P2I

[Tee Gee]

[ed dibbles]

I concur 100%. Plant root hairs are minute and take up soluble chemicals (NPK) from the soil. It makes no difference to the plant whether the soluble food is organic or synthetic. Plants grown hydroponically are grown in solution aren't they.

Adding organic matter to the soil helps improve soil structure and aids plant growth but neither improves the vitamin content nor the nutrition of a given vegetable.

Buying "organic" from a supermarket is simply another way for food manufactures and agri businesses to make increased profits and for supermarkets to rip off the customers yet again.

That's why it is infinitely better to grow your own

[squeezyjohn]

I agree that the "organic" label is confusing and often misleading (along with free range etc.) and I also agree that not all chemical intervention has a detrimental effect on how good the food is for you.  But I think it's a token step in the right direction and the fact that people are thinking about how their food is grown is better than just ignoring it completely.  When you really think about it ... all veg gardening is an artificial thing ... otherwise we'd just be foraging from the wild - if you chuck a few cabbage seeds down and leave it you don't get cabbages, you get weeds!

What I do know is that I am totally happy that ALL the food I grow for myself on the allotment is grown to a standard I am happy with and I believe it is often better and tastier than shop bought fruit and veg.  That's why I do this.

[woodypecks]

Yup ! Me too !     

[Pescador]

I firmly believe that the main benefit of growing your own is that you can eat the produce on the day of harvest and it's that freshness that gives the main taste advantage. The sugars start turning to starch as soon as they are picked from the plant, so the change in flavour is most noticeable with things like peas and sweetcorn.
Quite often Christmas Day morning involves a trip to the lotty to pick parsnips, sprouts and whatever else might be available.

[Vinlander]

Carrots grown in places like Lincolnshire are effectively hydroponic and you can tell by the taste (or lack of it) compared to carrots grown on heavier soil that isn't going to produce the biggest, quickest crop.

I'm sure it is possible to put whatever trace elements/compounds make that massive taste difference into sand and/or peat, but most of them would be flushed through and out soon after.

I'll admit that fruit is less fussy - probably because the plant's evolution/breeding is a vested interest in making fruit taste good to attract good seed dispersers.

It was noticeable that any water-rooted tomato cuttings I didn't get around to planting out produced good tasting fruit on a diet of 100%water (and a bit of green algae) - but they were all paramount flavour varieties so they had a head start - they weren't quite as good as the ones grown in open soil, but they were still a hell of a lot better than anything in the supermarket (except maybe Piccolo). Score one for genetics over nurture!

I might consider hydroponics for growing cherry tomatoes to cook with (I love the extra zing they give -  the credit goes to Jamie Oliver).

Cheers.

[woodypecks]

I,ve been worried about the use of "Sprouting Suppressant " that farmers /supermarkets are using on  vegetables ..ethylene gas, MH pesticides, Restrain fluid in particular on potatoes and onions/shallots . I,ve been reading about all this , but it is all too complicated for me to understand and it really worries me ..I really dont want to be swallowing these chemicals . I,d like to know which supermarkets have banned the use of these sprouting suppressants .
Also are these sprouting agents used on the bags of onion/shallot sets and seed potatoes that we buy in garden centres ?
Does anyone know ?   

[johhnyco15]

to me a balanced soil gives good flavour give the plant ideal growing medium  for the variety and it will pay your back with outstanding crops i agree i makes no difference  how the essential chemicals are delivered however in my mind a good rich humus  filled soil  is how i like my crops produced  as the saying goes you pay your money you take your choice

[okra]

Even if there is little scientific evidence that organic is a healthier option another consideration is the dependence of big agriculture on oil. The general agreement is that we have around 50 to 60 years of oil left, so in the lifetime of my grand daughter, and apparently around 400 gallons is needed to produce enough food for one person a year. About one third of that oil is used to manufacture fertilizer, about 20% to operate farm machinery, 16% for transportation, 13% for irrigation, 8% for raising livestock and 5% for pesticides.  Transportation involves refrigerated trucks and planes transporting foods long distances around the planet. So I think industrial agriculture will need to move towards organic as oil prices increase.

For us lottie holders I think the cost of food will rise in years to come and allotments will become more popular and if artificial fertilizers and pesticides cost more it will be cheaper to consider organic methods.