From when we were little kids, our moms used a Band-Aid to fix serious cuts, minor scrapes and even imaginary injuries. Just as Band-Aids must be changed until the injury is healed, other Band-Aid fixes keep reoccurring until the cause is pinpointed and eliminated.
For years now. . .
skunks have been digging up some lawns and not others. After noticing some dead spots on a lawn and finding white grubs just under the lawn surface that ate the grass roots, it’s discovered that’s what the skunks were after. This spring, a new lawn product came on the market named Grub Be-gone, which is a poison that kills the white grubs if and when it gets to them. This is perfect example of a Band-Aid fix that has to be used until the white grubs are no more. It may take several applications and every year until the cause is eliminated.
White grubs appear the year after June bugs lay their eggs in a sick lawn that sends off an inaudible signal to the June bug. If the calcium content is high enough in the lawn, dandelions, moss, sheep sorrel, and couch grass will not grow and June bugs will not lay their eggs there. The white grubs don’t like the taste of the roots and skunks won’t dig up the lawn. The lawn didn’t get low in calcium in one year and it may take a couple years of calcium application to get the ground back to the right calcium content. Also the June bug white grub cycle is a three year cycle so don’t expect immediate results from getting the calcium base saturation up above 70.
When a necessary machine breaks down when a farmer really needs it to finish cropping or a cut of hay, quite often when a new part cannot be found at that moment, a Band-Aid fix is hastily done so an essential job can be completed. A permanent fix must be done on that machine as soon as possible so the farm is not shut down again the next time the machine is used.
A few years ago, when I was travelling on a gravel road I wasn’t familiar with, I met another car around a corner right where a large pothole faced me. I had to hit the pothole to avoid hitting the oncoming car but as a result, I broke a shock on my car. I had to buy a new shock but the municipality graded the road the next day too. If I had been driving at 20 kilometers per hour, I could have stopped.
A few years ago, we seemed to have a flat tire every time that we travelled on a short piece of road only a mile from our home farm. There was always a roofing nail in the flat tire. For a while after, we just didn’t drive on that road. Eventually, every roofing contractor began using roll of bins to put the old shingles and nails in when they changed a roof in town. After that the tire shops in town were not as busy.
For centuries, farmers plowed up a field after weeds became too abundant in it. Now, farmers look at the kind of weeds growing and determine why that kind of weed is growing there. Then before planting the next crop, they balance the mineral content in that soil so that those weeds will not grow there. Plowing would be a Band-Aid fix but balancing the soil would eliminate the problem.
When a dangerous disease or virus like COVID-19 threatens the world, an immediate Band-Aid fix is to try and cure the problem. Eventually it is discovered what causes the spreading of the virus and sometimes some drastic steps must be taken to stop the spread. Vaccines have slowed down or eliminated many deadly diseases and that seems to eliminate the cause.
Cancer has urged us to create many treatments that kind of work, some very well, some not so well. Some causes have been pinpointed and well-advertised or eliminated but some have not been released even though there is a lot of evidence. Only public pressure will overturn some very heavy lobbying by those who financially benefit from who knows what.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.
gladcrest@gmail.com
