[mortureb]

I tried organic just for the family. It’s next to impossible to keep plants alive and weeds out. How did people do it before NPK and glyphosate? It’s probably climate dependent and contingent on not having cross continental pests. The first year Japanese beetles pretty much ate my whole crop over the span of 3 weeks.

[nightfly]

> How did people do it before NPK and glyphosate

Compost/manure and lots of manual labor

[mortureb]

Yeah, I still think not having every pest and weed from Asia helped as well. Most of the weeds and pests on my property are some combination of Japanese/Chinese/Asian ____.

[Turing_Machine]

> How did people do it before NPK and glyphosate?

Slaves or serfs with hoes and rakes, mostly.