This week, my partner, Aziza, and I went to Oko Farms in Brooklyn, with Yolanda, our Supervisor. At Oko farms, we met Yemi, the Founder, and Director of Oko Farms; a farm that relies on aquaponics as a form of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). This method uses a combination of aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics. The waste from fish (ammonium and urea) delivers all the required nutrients to the brassicas and onions grown. Furthermore, the water can be recycled back into the fish. Each species nurtures the other with no requirements for chemical fertilizers, isn’t that interesting?
We set up two sets of traps, just like in the previous farm, (John Bowne High School Farm), that is, two pitfall traps and two pairs of pan traps made of two pairs of blue and yellow bowls; we positioned one set of traps near the flower planting (Beneficial insect habitat) installed this spring and further away from the crops of interest (the Brassicas and tomatoes), and positioned the other set of traps close to the crop of interest (tomatoes) and further away from the flower planting. We also scouted the neighboring crops (Brassicas and tomatoes) where we did foliar monitoring to assess the damage by pests and identified the pests present. Moreover, we mapped out the beneficial insect habitat (flower planting) to create a map that will help us to evaluate the beneficial habitat later.
After 48 hours, we returned to Oko farms to collect the traps. It had rained that morning and we were afraid that the rain might have interfered with the traps, but luckily, it didn’t. We got more insects compared with the ones we trapped at John Bowne High School farm. During the sorting process, we realized that our scientific research skills such as meticulous attention to detail and accuracy were getting better. We were also able to identify some commonly confused insects similar to the ones we aimed to identify. The distribution of insects trapped was also different from the previous catch, an indication of how different environments can determine the distribution of data collected.
