Leaves Never Lie
Neither does my tongue. Here’s the story.
I’ve been going to acupuncture every week now for the past month. Every week Brian the acupuncturists asks to see my tongue. He reads it like I read leaves when I’m on a farm or in a greenhouse.
For the past two weeks, I have been getting a gallon of what is hands down the best ice cream I have ever had since the time I was in doing farm visits around the O’Brien, Florida area. The ice cream I had at one farm would blow your mind. I could be considered somewhat of an ice cream snob.
Every time I’m standing in the kitchen eating some while thinking everyone else is preoccupied, my daughter inevitably comes around the corner and says,” Brian’s going to ask to see your tongue.” I respond with, “I know and I’ll tell him the truth.”
This week I go to acupuncture, he asks to see my tongue, it has a greasy film, he gives me a look, and I confess to the fact I’ve been eating the best ice cream found in the state of Pennsylvania every day for the past several weeks. We have a conversation much as I would have with a grower. I leave realizing the error of my ways and how my ice cream eating is only holding back my progress.
When I do farm or greenhouse visits, I’m often looking at leaves more than I’m listening to the farmer. Well, I’m doing both sometimes simultaneously. All because much like my tongue, leaves will always tell me exactly what I need to know. They are the first indicator of everything from management decisions to fertilizer and amendment applications or the lack thereof. It all goes back to week 7, Thinking Like an Agronomist. Being observant and asking questions to put the pieces of the puzzle together
https://www.theaccidentalagronomist.com/news/2018/2/7/ag-101-week-7
Leaf appearance is also a determining factor for deciding the necessity of further analysis such as sap, tissue, pathology or entomology testing.
You can google resources for all types of leaf issues. The following are the best I found and I still use them.
Image courtesy of Google Images
Image courtesy of Google Images
An app I’ve used is called Plantix.
Plantix for Android
You can pick up to four crops at a time, submit a post for others to comment on and use pictures from your phone. The library is fairly extensive for some common and uncommon issues.
The next time your walking around your fields or greenhouses look at the leaves, they never lie.