Organoponic Raised Bed Gardening was created in Cuba and was born from the crisis the Cubans experienced after the collapse of the Soviet Union and this crisis was deepened by the strengthening of the American Trade Embargo

An Organoponico simply consists of low level concrete walls filled with organic matter and soil, with a couple of lines of drip irrigation laid on the surface of the growing media.

Cuba

The concrete sided beds are called “Cantero” in Spanish and the organic matter is usually “Bagasse” which is the waste left over from crushing sugar cane. Normally the ratio between soil and organic matter is 50%:50%.

Sometimes every 7th bed is used for worm farming and the resultant vermicast is an important contributor to the fertility, especially for nitrogen and microorganisms.

So it is obvious where the “organo” part of organoponic comes from but why call it “ponic” ? Well it just so happens that the Cubans had installed an hydroponic operation just before the crisis which quickly became defunct, but because they liked the hi-tech sound of that term and probably because the new gardens incorporated the use of drip irrigation they coined the term organoponic, which transformed into the generic name for these type of gardens, Organoponico.

I have adopted this word for my garden beds because the garden beds are highly amended with organic materials and also I believe in using the drip irrigation system for fertigation with both organic and chemical fertilisers. In fact the high organic matter levels in the beds provides a excellent buffer for the input of regular small doses of chemical fertilisers either through the irrigation or lightly sprinkled on the surface by hand. This is because chemical fertilisers are by nature very acidic and salty and the nutritive elements are present in a very concentrated form which can easily get out of balance and do harm to soil and plants, but a very high organic matter content in the soil can to a large extent buffer and balance all that.

Zen Concrete

If a Hydroponic Glasshouse operation is one extreme of the vegetable growing spectrum and a Large-Scale Open-Field Market Garden is the other end, then what we are trying to create here is something in between.

In the Cuban Capital of Havanna there are 200 large Organoponicos providing a city of 2.2 million people with 50% of their vegetable supplies.

For more information on Kiwi Organoponico

Email Grant Steven  zenfarmer@gmail.com