My experience is that the progeny of organically grown plants are stronger and healthier--Last summer, my husband & I planted 3 types of potatoes from the supermarket--not recommended, but we did it anyway:). 2 were non-organic, the other was organic. The organically grown seed potato jumped out way ahead of the conventional seed potatoes. We used the same organic methods growing all of these. According to Camille Kingsolver (Barbara's daughter) in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, this is because plants that have to fend for themselves are genetically stronger than plants that are dependent on heavy loads of synthetic chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides) to do the work for them. Thus, the justification for the higher price is a naturally genetically stronger plant. But the choice is yours--couldn't say how many generations of seed saving it would take to build that strength back into the plant, but it's got to happen eventually. You may need to be more vigilant about selecting seed from the more vigorous plants if you decide to go the conventional seed route. I prefer organic seed when I can get it purely for results. Here is a link that might be useful: About Animal, Vegetable Miracle

I've been successfully taking oregano oil by North American Spice Company for any type of bacterial, viral, or fungal infection since 2005. I first heard about it on a show called Know the Cause. Then my friend started talking about it getting rid of a wart on her foot that shed been fighting forever. I had a rock hard bumP on my toe and figured it would be a corn (sorry, I know this is probably gross) it had been there for about a year and I kept forgetting to ask my dr. and I bought a generic brand of oregano oil, and Rubbed a drop on. By the the end of the day it was almost gone. It didn't vanish completely in 2 days with that brand, so I bought the more well known brand, and used it for a day and it was gone. I had was hit with a bad case of strep throat shOrtly after on a weekend (I can diagnose myself, I've had tonsil ides, and strep throat enough to tell the difference) and rather than go to the ER I had my husband stop at the local health food store and get me a bottle of oregano oil. All our tiny store had was the pill form of North Americsn Spice Company brand. I already had the bought a book written by Dr Cass Ingram called the cure is in the cupboard so that helped me to know how much oregano oil I should take bi think I took a pill every hour for the first day. Within a day 24 hours I felt completely fine and I will tell you with synthetic anitibotics it takes me 3-5 days. It is effective on colds also that normally have to run their coarse. We can be completely over a cold in 1/2 the time as anybody stricken with a cold at the same time. My husband, kids and I have been using it successfully since then, and rarely go the Dr anymore. 3 of my friends use it, and 1 of those friends is a doctor. My sister, who is married to a pharmacist, uses it. Many of you have probably heard of it, or already use it, but for anyone who hasn't I wanted to explain the benefits thoroughly. Sorry so long. I probably should have said it is a powerful natural antibiotic and the first time I saw it on Know The Cause, the were touting that it had been successful in killing the bird flu in laboratory testing. I believe them. Dr. Ingram and Doug kaufmann (Know The Cause) Often appear at the "Health Food Center" on Penn in Okc, to answer questions about it and other natural health products. I would follow up by saying that anytime I take a hefty dose of oil of oregano, I always take some type of probiotic from the health food store. You can now sometimes find probiotics in a pharmacy as more people are becoming aware of the importance and the body's general need for probiotics. My brother in law who graduated from pharmacy school about 3 years ago mentioned to me that I should follow up with a probiotic after using any type of antibiotic, to help your body good bacteria replenish itself from being wiped out by the antibiotic. So I was surprised that they are promoting the use of probiotics now, because I had never had a dr. or pharmacists mention such a thing to me before. I think western medicine is slowly catching on. I just hope the pharmaceutical companies really don't gain control over all of the natural health medicines we now have the right to use.

Look, the most likely diseases in this area to cause you any significant problems are fungal or bacterial diseases of foliage. You should first and foremost use good cultural practices to try to minimize the occurrence/impact of these diseases, i.e. mulch, grow resistent varieties, allow for adequate air flow, keep the plants otherwise healthy etc. Beyond that, the most common non-organic way to treat for these diseases is to spray a fungicide like daconil. There are, however, some organic fungicide choices. Both copper and sulphur sprays can be used as organic fungicides, but they have downsides. I've read of some decent results in using the broad-spectrum organic pesticide neem as a fungicide. There's a newer organic biological fungicide marketed as serenade or something like that which looks like it might be promising. Some people will also talk about spraying everything from milk to compost tea to varying concoctions involving baking soda etc. I have my doubts about these, although spraying compost tea certainly is unlikely to hurt the plant. Likewise, sprinkling cornmeal around your plants is unlikely to hurt. If you're going to grow organically, you need to be able to expect and tolerate some level of unpretty foliage occasionally and you need to not worry so much about "being prepared." Be prepared by building your soil, mulching etc., but don't get all worked up about how you're going to go about treating diseases which may or may not be a problem for you at all.

Posted by anthony_toronto (My Page) on Fri, Jul 6, 07 at 0:47 I remember seeing a CNN news story some years back about a study on organic vs. non-organic fruits and vegetables. I know they were not looking for differences in flavanoids, but they were looking at taste, and whether non-organic fruits and veggies retained any traces of pesticides or other non-organic compounds. The results of that study were that there were no differences between organic vs. non-organic in terms of either taste or in residual pesticides, etc. So, non-organic fruits and veggies were not found to be less healthy than organic fruits and veggies. HOWEVER, the study did find that, because of typical organic gardening techniques, the organic fruits and vegetables had a far higher concentration of e-coli bacteria from fecal matter used as fertilizer. The study determined that eating organic fruits and vegetables was far more dangerous that eating non-organic fruits and vegetable. I have always been less concerned about the effects of the using the blue stuff (which I'm sorry really does not seem materially different in any way as an effective fertilizer) than I have been with growing my tomatoes in feces. Oh well, maybe e-coli is not a problematic substance to consume. That was a John Stossel report on ABC, and they rescinded some of their statements (one or two, as I recall), as well as the conclusion that was drawn that non-organically grown produce was healthier than organically grown.