Earth Day, overpopulation, the technoarc

	Cuttings \| Page 2 \| San Pedro info \| Soil \| Potting Logs \| Shade \| Containers \| Seed \| Propagation \| Disease

Home \| Google Checkout—Buy Direct \| Huge! \| Tall tips \| Peruvian Torch \| Flowers \| Rooting \| Photos \| Forum \| Contact

May 2009: Insects | Buutcher's Big Boy

Human's—not insects—are the real disease¹

Once upon a time I lived in the great evil cities of 20th century Earth. To grow vegetables by organic means I purchased beneficial insects by mail order. At night I released thousands of lady beetles in my garden. For days thereafter you could watch an orgy of lady beetles mating. Soon the eggs hatched to release thousands of black aphid lions (Lady Beetle pupae stage). They also appeared next door in my neighbor's yard. He took a sample to me asking "What insecticide do you use to get rid of these?"

I explained they would grow up to become lady beetles - a beneficial insect - that they mate, lay eggs and the larval stage is that black & orange alligator looking thing. "They are called aphid lions" I told my neighbor.

But it was for naught. He used a systemic insecticide on his roses to kill aphids. Without reading the directions he also used that same rose plant food containing a systemic insecticide on his tomato & pepper plants. He had been doing this for many years. The label clearly warned it was for roses only - NOT FOR USE ON FOOD CROPS - thus he had been poisoning himself and his wife all those year because he could not read. Seriously, he was illiterate. He spoke English but could not read it.

The cities of Earth were like terrariums packed with earthlings in those dark days. They believed nature was a disease and the cure was a poisonous chemical. They sought a sterile, sanitized world with only themselves in it.

Listen to: The Beach Boys sing "Don't Worry Baby"
while you read the page.

The important thing is always love. Love of Nature, love of all living things, all beings. Yes, I feel bad if I have to kill a black widow - even though I squish it to protect myself and my cats. I apologize to the spider because it is a living being.

I know that may sound silly to you. But it really is not. It is respect for all life.

Living in a 20 acre hay pasture I am fortunate to have vast populations of beneficial insects:

• Lady beetles
• Praying Mantis
• Green Lacewings
• Spiders of every size...

1] A disease ... is an abnormal condition of an organism ...associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as invading organisms, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune diseases.

Love your plants by giving them rich soil, pure water, light & air. Kiss them. Smile on them. If spiders set up a house on them then you are blessed - thank the spider and be respectful of it. Nature is not separate from us, we are Nature. And so is every insect, microbe, and soil fungus. They are not evil, the goal is not to be sterile; the goal is to be balanced.

My words are not platitudes. I've raised vegetables and cactus organically for 22 years in California. By "organically" I mean naturally - the way stuff grew before humans invented chemical companies that hired advertising agencies to make more money selling more and more chemicals.

Lady beetle morphing from larval to pupae stage. Yes, this will be on the quiz.

Now you recognize them! LADY BEETLES!

This is the adult, final form, of the beetle.

Maybe 1% to 5% of my plants have problems so they go on the compost pile, or in the garbage. But the answer is never to spray the 95% to 99% that are OK with a chemical! Let Nature take her share. When I grew for the farmers market I counted on Nature getting 5% of my crop through bugs or disease. Why? Because Nature is doing her job! She recycles the unhealthy ones automatically. Don't try to stop her with poison. Let it go.

Imagine if humans never got sick and died. The ancient cave people would still be running about with clubs. Instead everyone gets old, everyone gets sick, everyone has to die. That is Nature.

As a result I raise the most beautiful, healthy plants money can buy. If you don't agree I send FedEx back to your house with a pre-printed label to bring my baby back to the farm. That is how confident I am you will love my plants that have been watched over by cat Angels, spiders, lady beetles, praying mantis, and green lacewings.

HELLO SPIDER!

Never harm these. They won't bite you and couldn't hurt you if they did. But they are part of the ecosystem feeding off other insects.

If you have no spiders it is because you do not have a balanced ecosystem.

This is one of many varieties that live among my plants. All of them are cool except black widows which creep me out.

Black Widow spiders
They are glossy black, spherical, fat, and have that red symbol that looks like the international warning sign for radiation. Their venom can make your arm swell up, or end up in a hospital.

I only kill black widows to protect myself and the cats from their powerful venom. By squashing widows with a stick I create room in the environment for more of the spiders that are harmless to me and the cats.

The good thing about widows is they run away. They are very non-aggressive. Shine a flashlight on one (they are only nocturnal) and they dart away to hide. Widows seem to instinctively move away from big things like people. Either that or they have a legend to run like hell if that human with the LED headlight shows up because he's going to squash you with a stick.

I'd be in trouble if they were aggressive like the funnel web spiders in Australia that have fangs long enough to piece a shoe, and even a toe nail, to bite a person.

STANDARD FORM REPLY TO CUSTOMERS (Early 21st Century Earth)

Some customers obsess over their San Pedro as if it was a statue that will forever be exactly the same. Like buying a bare root fruit tree seedling then taking it back to Lowes because the tip of one branch broke off. My customers rarely understand that their little cutting will grow into a 12-14 foot high cluster of thick columns weighing tons. http://www.trichocereus.com/landscaping8.htm

Living plants are not produced on an assembly line; each has as many defects & blemishes as your girlfriend/boyfriend/or whatever. (I once had a girlfriend with pimples on her ass but otherwise she was great!)

City people stare at their plant's defect to the point of obsession. There is no cure for that form of mental illness --which is why I buy back at 100% any plant with which you are not happy. Humanoids in their terrarium like apartments believe that nature is inherently diseased, that all bugs are evil and must be treated with chemicals. There is no cure for the belief that nature is a disease that must be fought off with man made chemicals.

San Pedro has grown for millions of years before humans invented insecticides, fungicides, or put little cuttings in pots to obsess over every cosmetic imperfection. The real imperfection is the human mind divorced from nature. There is no cure for that; thus Planet Earth has activated every fiber of its immune system - from extreme climate change to new viruses in its effort to eliminate excess humans from the planet.

WHAT YOU CAN DO (besides never having children)
1) http://www.trichocereus.com/tip_pimples.htm
scroll down to & read - B) INJURY MARKS ON NEW OR OLD SECTIONS

2) Read page 3 of the Trichocereus Care literature that was included with your order

3) Return policy is to put it back in box for FedEx call tag pickup. 100% refund. (read my generous return policy on eBay at the bottom of the auction page, and email me when the item is ready for FedEx: • Do not address it / • must be picked up from the address to which it was delivered / • do not ship it yourself)

After I refund 100% of your money you can buy a cosmetically perfect specimen from a dealer in ceramic, silk, or plastic plants. Then your mind will be at peace forever.

Verne (May, 2009)

Or, as the Beach Boys sang:

Don't Worry Baby

"Well its been building up inside of me
For oh I don't know how long
I don't know why
But I keep thinking
Something's bound to go wrong

But she looks in my eyes
And makes me realize
And she says "don't worry baby"
Don't worry baby
Don't worry baby
Everything will turn out alright"

Brian Wilson

Hey! Everybody in here healthy & happy?

Yeah!

"Thank you God, thank you Father. Thank you for all the beautiful plants, the wonderful warm days, the moon lit nights with a gentle breeze. Thank you for my cat Angels, for my little farm, for all my wonderful customers. Thank you. Thank you so much!"

END

BACK