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Stone Gardens Farm
was started
in 1998 by
Fred and Stacia Monahan. Over the years our business has grown tremendously and is
known for its sweet corn. We grow vegetables, flowers and fruit on
our private and rented
land throughout Shelton. We also have several resident greenhouses utilized to support the farm.
Stone Gardens Farm stand was originally situated at Shelton's Dairy on
Birdseye Road. In 2004 it was relocated, one mile away, to 83 Sawmill City Road. At
this location you can buy fresh produce and many other tasty
treats. Our family works and lives in these fields, planting and harvesting. We are not an organic farm but our
growing practices are IPM, (integrated pest management) which means we only spray when necessary and
try to use organic spray. We want our food and environment as safe or safer than you.
Knowing where your food comes from is becoming a very important concern
in today's "factory produced" society. Feel free to
contact us for a tour of our farm if you want to really see where and
how your food is grown.
Integrated Pest
Management (IPM) is a sustainable approach to managing pests.
IPM practitioners base decisions on information that is collected
systematically as they integrate economic, environmental, and social
goals. IPM applies to any situation, agricultural or urban, and is
flexible enough to accommodate the changing demands of agriculture,
commerce, and society.
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The biology
and life-cycle of a pest often reveals the key to successful
control measures. Detailed, pest-specific information is available
in
fact sheets in this and other IPM web sites (see
links) or in crop-specific publications and manuals.
See:
Vegetable IPM Educational Opportunities at UConn
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Scouting
involves using systematic methods of inspecting the crop on a
regular basis to quantify pest populations or crop injury/damage.
Scouting techniques vary considerably depending upon the type of
pests (weed, insect, disease or other) involved. Details are
available in pest and crop-specific
IPM fact sheets and
manuals.
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Monitoring
weather conditions or trapping pests can be used to assess or
predict current or future pest problems and help to prevent crop
damage. Equipment and procedures vary by pest (for details see
references mentioned above).
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Action
thresholds are usually expressed as a fixed number for
individual pests (i.e. 7 moths or 2 weeds/foot of row) or crop
injury (i.e. 20% defoliation), or as a rating for weather conditions
(15 Disease Severity Units). Thresholds tell you when to control the
pest(s) to prevent or minimize economic damage to crops. Some
thresholds are given for pests in the individual crop sections of
the
New England Vegetable Management Guide and others vary by state
or region and are available in local or regional Extension
publications. Contact
your state's Extension IPM personnel for relevant local action
thresholds.
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Proper
record-keeping involves recording data on weather, pest
populations, crop conditions and control procedures all season. Good
records help determine which pest control strategies are working and
where improvements should be made in the future.
Feel free to contact us with your
questions at:
stonegds@comcast.net
Thanks very much, we hope to see you at the
farm!
Fred & Stacia
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