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I have a friend who owns a 20-hectare avocado farm with 6,500 trees. While he’s not currently interested in transitioning to regenerative farming, he does want to move away from using Roundup and is looking for an organic pesticide to manage spotting bugs.

In India, I’ve successfully used neem oil and IMO made with inknut to control leafrollers, aphids, and mites on avocado farms. However, these farms were permaculture-based, incorporating companion planting and other ecological factors, which likely contributed to the success. Additionally, neem oil and inknut aren’t readily available in Australia. Neem oil, although accessible, is quite expensive.

Given that his farm is large-scale and neighbouring farms are macadamia orchards, I’d appreciate any suggestions for effective organic pest control solutions that could work in this context.

Hi all,
We are building a new garden, on top of a long ago abandoned spot. We’ll be using downed alder trees (good idea?) for posts to keep out the elk and deer that are out to trample and destroy. Q’s for all you sexy permaculturists:

-I’m thinking 10′ tall should do it?

-how far apart would you space the posts?

-whats a good fence material, square metal welded stuff?

-for raised beds, whats a good method? we have MAJOR volage so I was originally thinking to line it with galvanized hardware cloth, but now I’m reading that that stuff is toxic as it degrades?! UGh. maybe gravel and ground out seashell bits as I’ve read somewhere?

-would love to keep grass out of the raised beds too, should I think about treating the entire garden footprint in a certain way, or just the raised beds?

-we have a greenhouse I’m rehabbing. treat it same as raised beds or what? if you can point me to a good method for greenhouse setup that would be so appreciated.

We’re in NW Oregon, USA. If you are around these parts come through!