Tag: Bok Choy

URB Water – First Trial

On Sunday, November 10th, a 55 gallon drum was filled with seawater from a boat launch in Long Beach, California. On Monday, 200mL of URB Water (Pro-con as it is referred to in report) was added to a 5 gallon pail filled with seawater. The procedure was repeated two more times. The three 5 gallon pails were taken to Joyful Farms in Hemet, California.

URB Water – First Trial pic 1On Tuesday, November 12th, more than 100 plants were doused with 1% URB Water seawater solutions. The plants (seen to the right) were thoroughly knocked down with the force and amount of seawater (5 gallons per row) that was administered to the plants in less than one minute. The goal of the watering was to see if the plants could survive the 1% URB Water “death bath”.

No additional water or nutrients were given to the plants. On November 25th it rained during the day and partly into the night.

This picture was taken on December 5th, which was 23 days after the 1% URB Water seawater treatment and. The plants, a member of the Bok Choy family, tasted good and no one had any negative side effects from the food.

URB Water – First Trial pic 2Bok Choy plants were watered with 1% URB Water seawater treatment and lived. The plants were harvested with the remaining untreated crops on December 6th, which are at the top of the picture to the left. Untreated seawater would have killed all the plants within 4 to 6 hours according to every agronomist that was consulted.

California Farmers Increased Harvest in Chinese Vegetables

Joyful Farms is located in Hemet, California, where 37 types of Chinese vegetables like bok choy, mustard greens, nira, etc. are grown. Aidy Yang was hired to rehabilitate the soil and he began using 5 gallons of SumaGrow on 5 acres of their Long Run field with no other inputs. On the Short Run field, Aidy would use 5 gallons on 8 acres and reduced his fertilizer inputs by one half.

On September 10th, the vegetables crops Yu Choy and Mustard Greens were planted on 8 acres on the Short Run Field. Three days later on September 13th, a weed killer (herbicide) was sprayed on the Short Run Field. Three days after the herbicide (September 16th) six gallons of EarthCare with SumaGrow was sprayed on the Short Run field. On September 17th, the amount of chemical fertilizer was reduced by one-half. About two weeks later another three gallons of SumaGrow was applied to the 8 acres, which brought the total amount of SumaGrow used to 1.123 gallons per acre.

Joyful Farms Chinese Vegetables- Increased Harvest pics 1 - CopyHarvesting actually began 9 days earlier than normal and the stems were thicker than normal in many cases (shown on the right). The mustard greens shown below are a 60 day crop, but 5% of the crop were ready to be harvested 10 days early.

Joyful Farms Chinese Vegetables- Increased Harvest pic 2

The 5 acres of the Long Run fields (on the right side) that received only SumaGrow did not do as well as the fields that were treated with an organic fertilizer (left side).Joyful Farms Chinese Vegetables- Increased Harvest pic 3

Joyful Farms Chinese Vegetables- Increased Harvest pic 5On October 17th, Aidy applied 10 gallons of SumaGrow with no inputs to the 15 acres of the Long Run Fields. The fields were planted with Baby Bok Choy, Yu Choy and Mustard Greens. Organic fertilizer (chicken manure) was applied to all 15 acres at half the normal rate.

Aidy returned to the Joyful Farms on December 5th to visit the Long Run Field and he was greeted with a green carpet of crops. The workers were thrilled because there were no weeds and Joyful Farms Chinese Vegetables- Increased Harvest pic 4they had experienced a much faster harvest times on the Short Run Field and were also looking forward to harvesting the Long Run field. As you can see, the Long Run Field did very well.