Sustainable Agriculture

Report

Name: 費南多

Student ID: 410600414

Major: International Bachelor Program of Agribusiness.
Activity: Testing the effectivity of two different organic fertilizers and pesticides on passion fruit
vines and Jasmine flowers.

Introduction

During the last 4 weeks I studied the effectiveness of 2 different kinds of fertilizers and
pesticides on 2 different kinds of plants.
#1: Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis). 2 varieties: Tai-Non No. 1 (hybrid); Purple (Dark Purple)
#2: Jasmine flowers. (Gardenia Jasminoides Aimee Yoshida).
 General information about the passion fruit and Jasmine flower.

1. Passion fruit originated in Brazil and was introduced in Taiwan by the Japanese in 1901
during Japan's colonization of the island. In Taiwan, passion fruit can be harvested from
June to December. Taitung, Nantou and Tainan counties are the major production areas
in the country. The three most common types of passion fruit currently grown in Taiwan
are the bright yellow variety, the purple variety and the hybrid Tai-Non No.l. The purple
variety is dark purple in color when ripe, has relatively less pulp and juice, and is not
very sweet or acid. The yellow variety has a strong aroma, more juice and high yield.
2. Jasmine flower The Jasmine is a very popular flower around the world especially in the
tropics because of its unique fragrance. The Jasmine is native to tropical and warm or
temperate regions of the old world.

The Jasmine flowers are white in most species, with some species being yellow. The
Jasmine is believed to have originated in the Himalayas in western China.

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Oleaceae
Genus: Jasminum
 Report:

Compost:
I initially started making the compost (#1C) and the pesticide (#1P). First of all for the #1C, I
decided to pick up a compost bin, a simple plastic one. I got many references from the internet
in order to create #1C, it’s very simple and doesn’t consume much time.
The second step was selecting the brown materials and the green materials for the compost.
For the browns I chose eggshells, leaves and tea bags. As for the green ones I chose fruit
peelings mostly banana and apple peelings, coffee grounds, vegetable peelings, and a few
green plant cuttings.
I made sure not to add whole eggs, any dairy product and any material coming from animals or
other sources.
I got a 5 inches layer of brush and straw, 4 to 6 inches of brown material, a thin layer of soil,
then I added from 4 to 7 inches of green material topped with a layer of soil. I kept adding
brown and green materials in alternating layers of each till the bin was full.
I turned the pile every 10 days for almost a month. (I started making the compost and other
different kinds of compost every month since October 2017 for my other plants and trees).
In total I got different kind of compost, with different balances of greens, browns and additions
to the soil included in the compost such as:
Beer (drunken compost), fermented rice water (100%) fermented for a few weeks.
Other pile of soil with worms and 2 different ones without any other addition one that is kept in
ambient temperature and the other one which its protected container is exposed to the sun,
every day at the patio.

Pesticide:
One month ago I asked my advisor, Professor July Chen for advise on how to avoid certain kinds
of flies infesting my passion fruit vines. I was told to try making a pesticide made out of
cigarette butts and water. I took advantage of my roommate who smokes a lot.
I collected the cigarette butts and put them inside a spray bottle with water. I kept it for 10-14
days exposed to the sunlight and ambient temperature. This is the one called #1P
Fertilizer: Commercial organic fertilizer liquid and granular (NPK: 5.2-5.3-5; 11-11-11; 10-10-
10;5-2-2 and other unknown percentage of NPK due to the unavailability of its original package)
Bought from a store. Named #2F for this project. Tested in different kinds of trees, flowers and plants
in order to test how to satisfy different needs for different plants such as flowering, growing or fruit.

Pesticide: Commercial organic pesticide.

Bought from a store. Named #2P for this project.

4 different passion fruit vines were put on test, 2 purple varieties and 2 hybrid Tai-Non No. 1

3 jasmine flowers were put on test. (Gardenia Jasminoides Aimee Yoshida).

Passion fruit vines: 1,2,3 and 4 divided by groups:

1: Purple: P1 and P2
2: Hybrid Tai-Non No. 1: H1 and H2

Jasmine flowers divided by groups:

J1; J2; J3.

P1 used #1C,
P2 used #2F,
P3 used #1C and P4 used #2F

P1 was sprayed with #1P,

P2 was sprayed with #2P
P3 and P4 were both sprayed with #2P
J1 used #1C
J2 used #2F and J3 used #1C
J1 was sprayed with #1P,
J2 and J3 were both sprayed with #2P

P4
P4
P4
P3
P3
J1
J2
J1
J1
J2
J1
P2
P3
P3
P3 –P4
P2
P1
P2
P1
J3
J3
P4
 Conclusion:

The whole month was not documented. As a personal conclusion I have to say #2F was more
effective than #1C since the amount and the kind of #2F was not totally controlled i.e. (Amount,
concentration NPK and time of exposure) for J3 was more effective #2P than #1P¸ although, for
J1, J2 #1P and #1C were more effective and improve their growth exponentially in only 9-12
days, without many signs of plague or any bug.

The amount and kind of fertilizers should be measured in a more precise way. There’s not a
very unclear conclusion about the pesticides since both of them showed similar results for
J1,J2. The results were not that satisfactory for P1 – P2 since #2P slightly seemed to work better on
P3 and P4.

We must keep in mind that P1, P2 belong to a different group from P3 and P4 and J1, J2 and J3 belong
to the same species.

Sources:
1. https://eng.coa.gov.tw/ws.php?id=20461
2. https://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/giftflowers/flowersandfragrances/jasmine