Mycorrhizal Response to Salinity in Snap Beans  2006

Intercropping Sunflower, Tomato, and Basil
David Trujillo

I'm exploring a planting system that relies on companion plantings. The system will be comprised of basil, tomatoes and sunflowers. The ground cover will yield a culinary herb and insect repellent; the sunflowers will yield high oil edible seeds; and the tomatoes, fruit. Three growing methods will be compared.

This project is done to demonstrate the usefulness and effectiveness of an agro-ecological technique of intercropping to provide an economic and sustainable source of food and or income, which does not rely on pesticides or fertilizers and does away with plastic trellises or metal cage supports associated with growing tomatoes.

The three growing methods, with five repetitions each, to be compared are: amended beds, amended berms, and bagged organic soil isolated from other growing medium. Growing methods are located side by side. Growth will be monitored at each step of the plant life cycle, focusing on average growing rates, pest management, nutrient distribution, water, leaf sun exposure, and total yield. This project will compare the results and difficulties between each method to assist in grower efficiency within the aspects of horticulture and economics. The targeted growers that may apply the results are neighborhood community, the setting being used, or backyard gardeners (single home).

The berms, beds and bagged earth will be watered tri-weekly. This experiment will last from the week of June 22, 2008 until harvest, which is estimated to be the week of August 3, 2008. A total of 8 weeks, from planting to harvest, if harvest takes longer than expected, time will be adjusted. The location of this project will be at the FIU Agro-ecology Garden, west of the preserve

*The project is a preview of a long-term project concerning UV reflection and Insect interaction.

This project has been made possible by funding support under the USDA/CSREES under the 2005 Hispanic Serving Institute Higher Education Grants Program (Award # 2005-38422-15940)