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Article: Sustaining the earth. (sustainable agriculture)(Food & Health)
- Article from:
- E Magazine
- Article date:
- October 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Earth Action Network, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Crimson and clover, over and over...That's a sign of spring at pecan orchards across the South and Southwestern United States. Once, the season meant a continuous procession of tractors pulling insecticide sprayers, contraptions with nozzles and fans spewing clouds of insect nerve gas over the trees and the aphids plaguing them. Now, bed after bed of untrampled crimson clover, entangled by vines of blue-flowered hairy vetch, adorn the grounds beneath the stately, spreading trees.
These innocuous-looking orchard flowers lead the assault on the pecan's aphid enemies by enticing an unlikely army of lady beetles, lacewings and assassin bugs, thereby dramatically ...