Roberto:
Texas and California have the most acreage. I think there may be some in
the eastern deep south, which might be more relevant to your situation. I
will try to find links this week end. If you do not mind, I will try to
find you some biocontrol information, even though your pests are probably a
little different, and your natural enemies more so; the discussions might be
useful.
In Charles Benbrook's book, PM @ the Crossroads, there is a good telling of
the Boll worm eradication mess ups (occurred in 1995, I think), due to the
destruction of natural enemies of the beat army worm. (not a pest until the
widespread adoption of organophosphates). In Robert van den Bosch's book,
The Pesticide Conspiracy, he outlines similar stories of secondary pest out
breaks, mostly due to plant bug control efforts. If you want a less
scathing telling of the same events (well written to convince skeptics),
read his textbook, Introduction to Biological Control, which he wrote with
P.S. Messenger and A.P. Gutierrez (Posthumous edition, 1982, Plenum Press,
NY).
I believe Texas has an organic directory from which you might contact
growers directly. Good luck, cotton is uniquely adapted to atract
pollinators and natural enemies (some are both) because it has extensive
extrafloral nectaries (unless they've managed to breed them out in some
varieties, I do not know).
Sincerely,
David Stanley
Stanley Gardens IPM
44 Paige Hill Rd
Brimfield MA 01010
(413)245-9701
sgipm@mail.ccsinet.net
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-sanet-mg@cals.ncsu.edu
[mailto:owner-sanet-mg@cals.ncsu.edu]On Behalf Of Roberto Verzola
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 6:36 AM
To: sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu
Subject: Organic cotton growing
I'm looking for success stories in organic cotton production. I'd
appreciate URLs or case studies (pls email me privately if too long).
Roberto Verzola
Philippines
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