Plant pest and disease control, i.e., winter spraying
Winter is a relatively quiet time in a gardener’s calendar. If the plants are properly fixed in the fall, planting is limited to checking the sheltering and condition of trees and shrubs. The end of February brings new opportunities for spraying as temperatures rise outside. What to do when the snow melts and the first warm rays of sunshine appear?
Sow
Seed treatments have many uses. Spring seeds are much better, young seedlings develop faster, and adult plants are more resistant to disease. There are three ways to do this treatment. The first is colored, i.e., with a dry solution. Grains are placed in a glass, adding a little liquid suspension. Then the container is closed and shaken until all the elements are evenly coated with the substance. The second method is coating, a sticky component is added to the prepared solution, with which the seeds can be permanently covered. The last method combines the previous one and adds a component that creates a spherical shell. This should increase the protection of the seed in the ground. When fertilizing, be mindful of the proper dose of liquid, too much can overburden the grains and prevent them from germinating.
Pests and Diseases.
In contrast to visibility, a harsh, cold winter can have a positive effect on plant protection. Low, sub-zero temperatures effectively kill pests. On the other hand, the mild season prefers its development and reproduction in the spring. In this case, it is worth opting for an auxiliary spraying. It is impossible to determine the daily period of introduction. The gardener should closely monitor the development of leaf buds when they swell. It is worth taking an extract of yarrow, ponytail or division of copper. Fruit trees, which in this phase are the weakest and most susceptible to pests, need such support in the first place. Before carrying out the procedure, you need to choose suitable devices, with which you can not only the outer part of the shoot and branches, but also between them. All sprayed in winter to combat the transient larvae and females that lay eggs in the spring. Caterpillars and spider mites – the real bane of gardeners – remain resistant to some substances. Therefore, it is worth acting in different ways – for example, adding a few teaspoons of vaseline to the prepared solution. When it settles on the hostile animals, it sticks to it and does not let them breathe, which gets rid of them.
Against Disease.
Late February is also a good time to use nausea sprays. When you have peach trees growing in your garden, be sure to protect them from leaf ripple. This disease is caused by a fungus that lives on the bark of the branches and trunk of the tree. Copper and silite are ready. The same preparations help in the fight against plum cystosis. The symptoms of this infection are above all: deformation, browning and falling off of the fruit. So if you noticed them last year, protect yourself in February. If you decide to spray in winter, remember to do it at temperatures above plus. At least 7 degrees Celsius.
February in the garden is a time of increased control and creation of protective measures against possible diseases or pests that appear in the spring and summer. The work described above is based on careful observation of plants and shrubs. During this difficult time, it is mainly the delicate fruit trees that deserve special attention. Take a look at our offer and get the high-quality equipment you need today!
Methods for controlling heterogeneity and plant diseases
A farmer can support and protect the plant crops grown in the garden or vegetable garden not only with chemical, but also with organizational, agronomic, mechanical and biological methods. By taking the listed measures, you can avoid damage and death of healthy crops.
Measures to protect horticulture and garden crops are aimed at reducing the number of dangerous pests and pathogens, preventing their mass reproduction or increasing the resistance of plants to damage and disease. The combination of methods aimed at the destruction of pests and pathogens or reduction of damage from them is called a system of plant protection measures. It includes organizational and economic measures, agrotechnical, mechanical, biological and chemical methods of control. All these methods combine and complement each other.
Management measures
The group of organizational and management measures initially includes the correct placement of trees on the plot. It ensures the observance of optimal distances between trees, which are determined by agricultural guidelines. Large varieties require a large feeding area (usually 4 × 5 m), semi-dwarf and dwarf varieties require a large feeding area. Dense plantings are undesirable: when the trees close their crowns, they interfere with each other, making it difficult to spray the trees, worsening lighting conditions. Thickened plantations also have worse wind tolerance.
Varieties of fruit crops with different maturity dates are often sprayed much more often: summer varieties – less, winter ones – more. For their treatment, different means are often used. Therefore, trees with the same fruit ripening period should be placed in groups. This will protect summer varieties, especially during the ripening and harvesting period, from pesticide spraying in winter.
Planting material for starting and renewing gardens, as well as berry, seedlings, and seeds of vegetable and flower crops should be healthy and free of pests and diseases. Aphids, leafworms, scale insects, grapevine and some pathogens can be brought into the garden with the planting material. Therefore, it is better to take planting material from private individuals, but from orchards.
To make better use of the land, berry bushes, strawberries and vegetables are sometimes placed between the trees. Such placement can be justified only in the first few years after planting the garden, when the trees do not yet need to be sprayed with pesticides. When sprayed, pesticides get on the berries, strawberries, and vegetables growing under the trees, making them unusable or unfit for food.
Agronomic measures
Agrotechnical measures, if carried out in a timely and qualitative manner, allow growing strong, healthy plants with increased resistance to damage by pests and diseases. They greatly reduce the number of pests and, consequently, the damage caused by them. It is better to give preference to varieties that are resistant to pests and diseases, if the yield and taste meet the requirements of the gardener. Loosening the soil, eliminating weeds, and moderate fertilization prevent the reproduction of many pests and pathogens.
Fall tilling the soil with careful mixing of leaves and other plant debris is an effective way to combat apple scab, diamondback moth, stump spot, etc. Pruning and burning dry and damaged branches in the garden helps reduce the number of caustic woodworm, gooseberry aphid, codling moth, raspberry fly and others. Many pests and pathogens breed on weeds and from there enter crops.
Regular weed control reduces the number of cruciferous vegetables, cabbage moth, white rot of garden crops and many other pests. Timely harvesting of apple trees reduces their losses from codling moth, scab. Planting flowering and nectarous plants on the plot will attract beneficial insects. Feeding flowers with nectar increases their fecundity and enhances beneficial activity.
mechanical measures
The mechanical method of control includes measures aimed at the physical destruction of pests, and sometimes pathogens, as well as the creation of obstacles to the penetration of pests into the fruit tree or its crown. The group of these methods includes, for example, removal from branches and burning of winter nests of lacewings and hawthorns, hanging trapping tapes on tree trunks, manual collection and destruction of Colorado beetle, cabbage moth caterpillars, etc.
Biological control method
Biological method of pest and disease control is based on the use of natural enemies against them – predatory and parasitic insects, mites, insectivorous birds. Viruses and bacteria are also used. Bacteria are grouped into the kingdom Eubacteria or Bacteria. The kingdom is divided into several types: Gr. , fungi, which often cause mass mortality of pests. By the way, parasites are animals that live on or inside other animal “hosts” and feed on their juices or tissues. Parasites kill their “host” when they are finished evolving. A predator feeds on its prey for a short time and kills it instantly. Of the predators, ladybugs, lacewings, ground beetles, tachin flies, spiders, predatory mites and parasites – Trichogramma, Aphelinus, Eupteromalyus and other hymenoptera – are often found in gardens and vegetable gardens.
Beneficides are used for pest control in a variety of ways. For example, Trichograma bred in laboratories and then used in fruit and vegetable orchards to control the white cabbage windmite. The predatory mite phytoseiulus is bred and put in greenhouses to control spider mites on cucumbers. In a garden plot, it is possible to attract parasites and predators and protect with crops of phacelia, mustard, dill and other nectarous plants. A judicious reduction and choice of pesticide application concept helps to keep benefactors and mites away. Industry produces a number of bacterial and fungal preparations for pest control (Lepidocide, Bitoxybacillin). To attract insectivorous birds (maysen, flycatchers, starlings) to gardens, feeders and other nesting boxes are hung in gardens.
Chemical method of control
The chemical method of control is based on the use of chemicals against pests and diseases: insecticides against insects, acaricides against mites, fungicides against fungal diseases. Chemicals can be applied by spraying, rarely pollinating plants, in the ground, making poison baits (plants, warehouses, greenhouses, containers), dyeing seeds, bulbs and tubers intended for planting. Chemical preparations are applied to plants with special devices – sprayers, bleaches. The chemical method is convenient and easy to apply. Therefore, you can reliably protect the crop. However, pesticides are not harmless to humans and pets, which requires caution in handling them.
In addition, pesticides kill not only harmful but also beneficial organisms. Pesticides that accumulate in fruits and other parts of the plant can be dangerous to humans. They enter the air, soil and water and, together with fertilizers and herbicides, are a source of environmental pollution. Therefore, in recent years, pesticides have been used less frequently, but only in the presence of a significant number of pests, if it is not possible to reduce their numbers by other methods.
Scientists have developed pest thresholds, i.e. values at and above which pesticide treatment is useful for certain pests. In order to achieve a greater effect and to avoid burns of sprayed plants, it is necessary to follow the concentrations recommended in the instructions when using pesticides.
