John KempfRegenerative Agriculture Entrepreneur

Finding Solutions to Thrips and Pink Root with Regenerative Agriculture

4 Mar 2022 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:15

A short video/transcript excerpt featuring Dan McClure of Walla Walla Organics describing on-farm experiences with organic onion and spinach production. He reports success reducing thrips infestations and pink root disease by strengthening plant health through regenerative practices, noting improved onion sizing, quality, and increased spinach yields without mildew.

Chapters

I'm Dan McClure with Walla Walla Organics. We've got a farm here in beautiful Touchee, Washington. Started working with the AEA about four years ago. One of the major problems we have with onions is an insect called thrip. And thrip will get in and actually devastate a crop of onions and growing them organically. There's not much you can do thrip. But with getting the plants stronger and healthier, we're finding that we're reducing the infestation of thrips also with the onions. Pink root is a huge problem that we have in this area. And we are doing a pretty real good job of getting rid of the pink root. The last couple years, we've seen less and less. Our onions seem to be sizing nicely. And the quality seems to be really good. We're very excited about it. We've got the best stand we've ever had. Our spinach has been growing very well. We're not seeing any mildew on the spinach that we've had in the past. It's growing vigorously, and our tonnage is way up from years.