Where Do We Get Organic Mistletoe?

Currents - Plants - Bronx Greenhouse Grows Organic Poinsettias - NYTimes.com

Where Do We Get Organic Mistletoe?

By ANNE RAVER

The New Leaf greenhouse in the Bronx is a sea of deep red, pink and white poinsettias, in peak bloom for the holiday season. All 1,100 plants, which sell for $6 each, are organically grown. “We don’t use any pesticides because our greenhouses are also classrooms,” said Edgar Sosa-Mieles, the director of New Leaf, a program that uses horticulture to teach homeless people skills for work and independent living. Plants are fertilized with a solution made of seaweed and kelp; whiteflies are consumed by tiny beneficial wasps (Encarsia formosa). “We use good bugs to fight the occasional bad bug,” he added. “Even rodents are controlled by a staff of felines.”

Available from New Leaf, 760 East 160th Street in the Bronx, (718) 401-5400, arguscommunity.org/program/newleaf.htm, or the farmers’ markets at Union Square, West 66th Street and Columbus Avenue, West 97th Street and Columbus, and Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn.