Burning
Starting a fire for slash and burn plot in Mexico (Picture courtesy of Alison Power)
Fire and heat are often overlooked as plant disease management practices. The high temperatures produced by burning may eliminate inoculum of many pathogens in the slash and burn farming system. The negative effects of burning should not be overlooked when contemplating the use of burning for plant disease management.
Slash and Burn Systems
Please click on the images below for a larger, more detailed version.
Clearings in Amazon Jungle for slash and burn agricultue
Slash
and burn milpa in the lowlands of Mexico (Picture courtesy of
Peter Ewell)
Hillside
cut and burned for slash and burn plots in Viet Nam (Picture courtesy of
Larry Fisher)
Hillside
in Honduras after slash and burn agriculture. Note that the soil has
benn destroyed and the rocky land remaining will not support further agriculture
(Picture courtesy of Roland Bunch)
Slash
and burn plot on road to Ibadan, Nigeria (includes cassava, maize, yams,
oil palms)
Hills
in Sumba, Indonesia covered by Imperata grass which came in after slash and
burn agriculture had destroyed trees (Picture courtesy of Lucy Fisher)
More traditional agricultural methods :
| Mulching |
| Slash/Mulch | Frijol Tapado / Web Blight |
| Manipulating Shade | Burning | Flooding |
| Multiple Cropping | Using Organic Amendments |
| Rotations | Fallow | Raised Beds |
| Crop Diversity | Storage Practices |
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