Bacillus thuringiensis is the answer, for me anyway, for white butterfly. It's organic approved - from a natural bacteria found in soil.
It's the only spray I use (besides pyrethrum). It disrupts the catapiller and keeps brassicas from being eaten.
You buy it as a powder and mix a tiny amount with water (a drop of detergent helps) and spray about every two weeks. I highly recommend it.
Yes they do? Farmers are share holders and Frontera need to make a profit to pay back to farmers. If the industry tanks so do they?
Interestingly, the area where I live was once heavily invested in forestry, mostly native harvesting. The govt. put a stop to that, rightly due to disappearing native forestry. The town nose dived and the population halved. It's a shell of what it once was.
Forestry is beginning to reappear, so the town is unlikely to disappear as many try to report. It will just change. Hopefully some of the dairy will convert to crops (oats) which will see a future, possibly better than now.
My reading of the history of the area where I am, indicates that dairy has NOT contributed much to the prosperity of the area, but there are some wealthy dairy farmers who will sell up with plenty to retire on. And move away taking a lot with them.
Yep. We struggled for a year or two trying to keep them of gardens. Just use netting now, and don't have problems. Occasionally "catch" a cheeky sparrow that finds a gap somewhere, but they don't do any harm. When plants are big enough we take off the netting so the birds can have at the bugs. Mostly works for us.
Looks like a lot of IT types on Lemmy NZ by the discussion today (I'm one too). But I've had enough of that in my lifetime, so, another gardening topic:
I've been growing some Asparagus from seed over winter in our sun room and have just got them into the ground. They take a while to establish, so I probably won't start picking them until after next winter.
Really easy to grow from seed, just have to wait a bit longer. These have gone into a no dig bed with pretty rough compost, but by the time they establish it will have rotted down well. I'll try to collect some seaweed sometime during summer and add that as well, which is recommended for Asparagus beds.
Netting to keep those hard-working blackbirds from moving the garden bed to somewhere I don't want it.
I'm still a kid at heart. When my wife makes me a stack of pikelets that are supposed to last a week, then leaves them on the kitchen bench, where I walk past often during the day. I do not know where they go, but they are usually gone within a day, 2 at most!!! (must be the dog)
Not sure why in NZ it seems that the government is always responsible, this should be driven by the industry e.g. Frontera. After all, it is their lively hood and they are the ones who have created the situation. Admittedly with some push from govt. at times.
If you do some searching on "Oat Milk Powder" it is a thing for sale in some parts of the world now. If it's any good or "milk" like, I have no idea?
The issue with Oat milk currently is that it's grown here, shipped to Sweden where it's processed into Oat Milk and then shipped back. Take that shipping out of the equation, and surely it will be a more reasonable price? Let's hope this Oat Milk factory gets built soon!
Alternative milks are currently more expensive than cow milk (by a long way). If that changes, I can see the dairy industry crashing.
Not that much more if you compare 1l of dairy milk to 1l of alternate at the cheap end:
We buy powdered milk since we live out of town and it's so much more convenient for us. That works out at about $1.70 a litre - so yeah.
I would be interested in a powdered Oat Milk, for a "reasonable" price.
Daiya cheese
Looks interesting, though a quick search doesn't turn up anyone selling it in New Zealand yet.
Though non-dairy cheeses do appear to exist in NZ: third annual Vegan Society Vegan Cheese Awards
Even some in Countdown! Angel Food Cheese (made in NZ) and Veesey Cheese (product of Greece) - at $35.90 and $43.50 a kilo! I might try a small block (220g @ $7.90) of the Angel Food Cheddar Cheese just out of curiosity? Hopefully, in time, competition might drive the prices down a bit?
Part 3 for those who may have missed it: Crown vs Cow part three: Why farming reneged on its deal to cut emissions
Very interesting point toward the end due to proposed legislation of the Free Trade Agreement between NZ and the EU:
if New Zealand can’t reduce its greenhouse gases by 30 percent by 2030 - a very real possibility at this point given its current trajectory - it could be sanctioned, or cut off by the EU.
I bought 1kg a couple of years ago, which will last me the rest of my life as long as it doesn't go off - I store it in a cool, dark, dry place. Have only used 20 - 30 grams in the last 3 years.
When I bought it, it was called Bactur Organic from SprayShop. It looks like that has been discontinued and replaced with Genius BT.
This was the most economical way to buy it for me at the time. It has gone up considerably by the looks. If you've got friends who garden, you could share it around to spread the cost - it goes a long way.
I think there is another more generic brand that sells it, but I can't remember what it's called, and they sell very small quantities for the price.
IIRC => Yep, BT produces a protein that blocks the digestive system of the insect/caterpillar, effectively starving it - we don't see any meaningful loss at all. It is not supposed to harm other beneficial insects, and that appears to be true - we don't spray it on bees, but haven't seen any dead bees or reduced bee numbers with its use.