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Index : Miscellaneous Gardening Topics
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- 42. Gardening in the New Millenium - Top
- In terms of advancements in gardening, and the broader application of agriculture, the last century has been filled with great accomplishments. So at the beginning of the new millennium it's appropriate to reflect on the past, and make a few predictions of what lies ahead!
At the turn of the last century, the age of chemical fertilizers and pesticides had not yet arrived. Products used to supply plant nutrients were exclusively organic in nature or were minerals mined from the earth. The most common fertilizer products used were animal manures, cotton-seed meal, bone meal, and compost. The primary source of nitrogen at the time was obtained from nitrate of soda mined in Chile, which contained 16 % nitrogen. Phosphorous came from rock phosphate mined in the Southeastern U.S., made water-soluble by adding sulfuric acid. Potash was supplied by a product called Kainit, a mining by-product from Germany which contained 12-14% potassium.
One of the favorite controls for plant feeding insects was Paris Green, a type of poison derived from arsenic. It was especially effective on caterpillars. The author of the 1908 "Elements of Agriculture" wrote: "Cabbage growers often use Paris green to kill the cabbage worm, but do not let their customers know it". Such applications are so small, and the poison is so near washed off by rain, that no person has ever been known to be hurt by eating the cabbage treated in this way". Obviously, long before the days of our Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency.
In the deep South, starving was the practiced control for cotton weevils. At the turn of the Century Professor F.W. Malley of the Texas Experiment Station writes: "if cotton stalks are destroyed early in the fall, the weevils will have to endure a longer fasting period, and fewer will live till spring".
The types of fertilizers used in farms and gardens changed dramatically in the 1940's when petroleum-based hydrocarbons began to be used for the chemical manufacture of nitrogen fertilizers. Hand-in hand with these advancements came petrochemical derived pesticides such as DDT, and Chlordane. This was truly a boom for agricultural production midway through the century, resulting in two and three fold increases in crop yields and a major reduction in World famine.
With the authorship of Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson in 1962, came a reevaluation of the use of chemical pesticides. And the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 was the catalyst for change in methods of pest control.
Today, as in the past, organic controls are at the forefront of pest control measures. The concepts of integrated pest management incorporate many methods including; insect trapping and scouting, use of natural plant extracts such as oil from the neem tree, and natural insect predators such as lady bugs, parasitic wasps, and beneficial mites. Life cycles of insects and other pests are painstakingly examined to find "weak-links" in the biological chain and thus the best and safest method of control.
Over the past decade, gene modification has been used to enhance and develop certain plant characteristics. Flavor-savor tomatoes were engineered genetically to slow the ripening process and keep tomatoes fresh, longer. Cotton and soybeans have been engineered to be resistant to the commonly used weed killer "Roundup". With this innovation, farmers can now spray weeds in crop fields without danger of injuring their valuable crops.
In the new millennium, there will be much more to come from genetic modification. Imagine the modification of tropical plants to grow where winters are cold. One day mangos and coconut palms might be grown right here in Tucson! Or how about flowering trees and shrubs that normally bloom but a few weeks, modified to flower all year long!
Of course, computers and the Internet have impacted greatly the availability of information and communication. CD's are available to help the home gardener access volumes of data on plants and landscaping with just the click of a mouse. In the future, virtual gardening will allow you to stroll through computer-generated landscapes around your home, and instantly change the plantings to suit your taste. When the plan is complete, press an electronic order form and the Internet will access the appropriate suppliers and deliver your entire landscape, ready for installation.
Finally, with the expanding global economy, gardeners here in the U.S. will be introduced to an array of new fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices never before experienced. More importantly, this expansion in our knowledge of plants will lead to the development of an array of promising new plant-derived medicines.
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Written by John Begeman, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the University of Arizona, 520-626-5161.
Material originally appeared in Arizona Daily Star gardening column, on January 02, 2000
- Updated: January 02, 2000
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