Prepare Green and Safe Spray - Pest and Disease Control for Organic Gardens
Today's tip sharing: planting content of the flower clinic, preparing green and safe spray - pest and disease control for organic gardens, let's learn together next.
Always want to write “pest control article”, because the probability of planting pests at home is not high, so there are few opportunities to take photos of pests, so far only red spiders and aphids have been taken. Even the whitefly did not visit this time, let alone the leafminer. So sorry, there are very few self-shot pest photos, and some pests were only encountered in the first year of planting, so there has never been enough homemade photos collected, only detailed hand drawings can be used to represent, with 3 pages of hand drawings.
Is the lack of pests indicating that there are no pests on the balcony? No, maintenance is a very important process. In fact, the occurrence of pests is very closely related to weather conditions. For example, this spring, the weather is generally dry, which creates a good opportunity for the growth of aphids. So the aphids in my home, only in the spring, have produced 3 batches.
Moreover, the process of pest occurrence is often very sudden. It's just that one day when watering, suddenly found the stems and leaves crawling with aphids. If you don't take measures to pinch or kill pests on this day, then the second and third days, the aphids will enter the peak of reproduction, and will multiply. Because the excrement of aphids after absorbing the juice of leaves is sweet, it will attract ants, so aphids are not only harmful to plants themselves, but also very harmful to the subsequent harm. But actually, aphids are the least harmful pests in plant pests.
Red spiders are the same. In fact, it is not a spider, the scientific name is leaf mite, visible to the naked eye, but much smaller than aphids. If you don't pay attention, you may not even notice the small red spots on the back of the leaves. Its performance on the leaf surface is: dense small dots. Red spiders rely on absorbing chlorophyll to survive. After the chlorophyll on the leaf surface is absorbed by many red spiders at the same time, yellowing and drying symptoms will appear. At the same time, if not controlled, red spiders will multiply unrestrainedly, and they can complete a generation in about a week, and spider webs will appear between the stems, with red spiders crawling on them. Therefore, red spiders can be considered as a kind of stubborn pest that is easy to come back.
There is also a very stubborn pest that occurs mostly in summer, which is whitefly (see hand drawing). One of the reasons why whiteflies are difficult to control is: they have strong flying power, so unlike aphids and red spiders, they can be effectively controlled by hand because of their slow mobility. For whiteflies, basically, if you try to pinch them with your hand, they may fly away immediately.
The flying power of whiteflies is related to the amount of wax powder on their bodies, which is also why they are called “whiteflies”. When they are young, there is not much wax powder on their bodies, so their flying power is not strong and can only fly short distances. But when they become adults, because the amount of wax powder on their bodies becomes more, the coverage becomes thicker, so the flying power is significantly enhanced.
In general, the probability of self-sown plants suffering from whiteflies is very low, basically appearing on potted plants purchased in summer, so if you can't avoid buying potted plants, be sure to check whether there are white small insects on the back of the leaves. Or when you turn over, if you find that the white small insects originally parked fly out, then it is basically whiteflies. Even if it flies away, it is very likely to have laid eggs on the back of the leaf.
There is also a kind of pest that lays eggs and survives in leaf veins, which is leafminer (also known as mapworm, see hand drawing). Generally, it is easy to occur on peas and morning glories. The best way to deal with leafminers is to remove diseased leaves if you don't want to use chemical agents.
Some people may ask, why do pests also appear on self-sown plants? How can we avoid pest harassment as much as possible?
In addition to some flower friends buying larger potted plants, because the management of seedling farms cannot be as careful as at home, it is easy to carry viruses and pests, pest eggs. Even if it is a self-sown plant, it cannot be completely guaranteed that there will be no pests, but the number and probability are much lower than those of purchased potted plants, which is why I have always recommended that everyone plant and propagate by themselves.
The soil we plant plants includes garden soil, peat soil, various formulated nutrient soil, etc. In fact, no matter how finely packaged finished soil, if it is not thoroughly disinfected before packaging, it is very easy to carry pest eggs. Therefore, in the instructions of imported large-packaged peat soil, it will be emphasized: peat soil has been thoroughly disinfected at high temperature to ensure that it does not carry pest eggs. However, there are few flower friends who will buy the original packaging of 300L, and more people buy the repackaged peat soil online, so the guarantee of not carrying pest eggs is invalid. In the process of operation and contact with air, it will be contaminated more or less, so there is a possibility of carrying pest eggs.
Similarly, even if you buy the original packaging of disinfected peat soil, we will not use it all at once, especially for balcony gardeners. The remaining peat soil, due to the storage conditions (the original packaging is vacuum packaging), including the influence of temperature and humidity, if sealed packaging, it is easy to produce moisture inside, so that the originally dry and sterile peat soil gets damp, so it is prone to mildew and the risk of producing germs. Therefore, in the process of storing peat soil, we must pay attention not to tie it up completely, and leave a small gap to allow appropriate air circulation. But there are gaps, and there is a risk of small insects entering and laying eggs. Therefore, there is no way to completely avoid the soil from maintaining the quality of the original packaging at home. Therefore, if you are ready to start the gardening journey, pest damage will definitely accompany you. Even if you are originally very afraid to see all kinds of insects, in the process, you will definitely exercise yourself.
In addition to the soil that may carry pest eggs, during the planting process, if there are small insects flying over, staying on the soil surface or plant to lay eggs, or bringing the bacteria and pest eggs they have contacted elsewhere to your plants, that is also an important transmission route.
Therefore, for us, the key to prevention and control is to observe carefully whether your plants are suffering from pest damage, especially the back of the leaves, which is easy to accumulate pest eggs and pests. Pests hide on the back of leaves and lay eggs on the back of leaves, which is a natural self-protection mechanism. Because in the open air, the plant itself will undergo dew and rainwater flushing, and the front of the leaves will directly receive sunlight, which is not suitable for the hatching of pest eggs. The hatching success rate will be greatly reduced. Therefore, laying eggs on the back of leaves is not only hidden, but also cannot be rinsed by rainwater, will not be washed away, will not be dried by the scorching sun, and can also absorb the juice of leaves.
Therefore, when we spray organic medicine, we must remember to spray the back of the leaves. Because the efficacy of self-made organic medicine is not as strong as that of chemical agents added with chemical ingredients. There is indeed a kind of chemical agent on the market that can be sprayed on both sides to kill. But it is precisely because of its spraying on both sides to kill, indicating that the toxicity is not ordinary strong. When choosing insecticides for non-edible plants, you can consider choosing this. But if you are like me, planting edible herbs, vegetables, melons and fruits, in order to be responsible for your own health, you must not use chemical agents. You can buy organic medicine on the market or make organic medicine by yourself.
About the formula of self-made organic medicine, there have always been flower friends asking questions, and I have always been answering, but I have never talked about it in detail. Therefore, in this blog post, I will publish three different types of organic medicine and pest control formulas in detail, hoping to help everyone:
1. Two sprays: garlic olive oil spray & all-purpose organic spray
2. Plant fungicide
3. Eggshell prevention of mollusks
Let's take a look at the production process pictures: (because the content is a lot, so there are 3 pages, respectively introduced in 3 kinds of organic protection methods)
Let's explain in detail:
1. Spray
Garlic olive oil spray
Materials:
Olive oil 5ml
Garlic 1tsp
Detergent 1tsp
Practice:
1. Mash the garlic and put it into a spray bottle with 500ml water, detergent and olive oil, and shake well.
2. Spray 2-3 times a day, on the leaf surface and back.
Instructions: Because of the self-protection mechanism of pest eggs, they generally have a protective film wrapped. This layer of protective film can be penetrated by chemical agents, but organic medicine cannot play a role. Therefore, organic medicine cannot kill pest eggs. Therefore, after discovering pest damage, it is necessary to spray continuously for 3 days, 2-3 times a day, to ensure that pest eggs will be killed by organic medicine immediately after hatching. Otherwise, if only spray once, the adult pests will be killed, but new larvae will hatch out, and it is still impossible to achieve the effect of complete pest control. Therefore, once organic medicine is sprayed, it must be sprayed continuously for 3 days to consolidate the effect.
The left picture is the situation after spraying garlic olive oil spray, and the right picture is the situation before spraying:
Some flower friends have also asked why these three ingredients are added?
Because the viscosity of oil will hinder the respiratory system of insects, garlic has the effect of driving away and paralyzing the nervous system of insects, and laundry powder water can damage the epidermis of pests and make them dehydrate.
So why use olive oil?
Olive oil is used because it is not greasy, with low viscosity, otherwise the leaves will be greasy, and the high viscosity oil will block the stomata on the leaf surface, so that the leaves cannot breathe, which will lead to yellowing and falling off. Just like when washing dishes, the bowl with olive oil is easy to clean, while other oils need hot water to clean, which is also the reason why olive oil is healthy.
All-purpose organic spray
This is a kind of spray with relatively “universal” insecticidal effect, and it is very convenient to make, because it uses liquid soap, which is the kind of liquid soap we use to wash our hands.
If you don't use liquid soap, you can also use soap water instead, the principle is the same, it is just that liquid soap is more convenient to use. It can disorganize and penetrate into the cell membrane of insects, making pests dehydrate and die. However, the key to using soap water or liquid soap is: do not use too high concentration, otherwise the plants will also be killed.
This recipe also uses a special plant insecticidal raw material - tomato leaves. In fact, tomato leaves contain several toxic alkaloids, which is a natural insecticide, especially effective against aphids. Similarly, potato leaves also contain toxic alkaloids, but potatoes are not planted in winter and tomatoes are not planted in summer. Therefore, they can be used as plant insecticidal raw materials in winter and summer: tomato leaves in summer and potato leaves in winter.
Materials:
Liquid soap 1tbsp
Water 1L
Garlic 3tbsp
Ginger 3tbsp
Chili (not sweet pepper) 50g
Tomato leaves 30g
Boiling water The amount required is enough to completely cover these ingredients
Practice:
1. Put all the ingredients in a small pot and cover with boiling water
2. Leave it overnight
3. Filter out the residue
4. Put the filtrate, water and liquid soap into a spray bottle
5. Shake well and spray the leaf surface and back.
Attention: All self-made sprays should be used immediately in summer, or placed in the refrigerator, otherwise they will ferment.
2. Plant fungicide
Plants not only produce pests, but also get diseases, such as gray mold, powdery mildew and black spot disease, which are very common plant diseases, and are highly contagious. If diseased leaves are not removed or measures are not taken, all the leaves of the plant will be infected, as if covered with a layer of powder. And black spot disease is also a kind of lesion caused by fungi, with irregular black or black-brown circular spots on the leaves. Generally speaking, the previous practice is to buy bactericides such as chlorothalonil and carbendazim (methyl thiophanate) to spray the leaf surface.
However, although chlorothalonil is an extremely weak-toxic fungicide, it is still a pesticide after all. If we can make fungicides by ourselves, can we also avoid this part of weak toxicity?
The answer is that it is not difficult to make fungicides. We can use the materials at hand to make fungicides by ourselves.
Materials:
Baking soda 1tsp
Water 1L
Soap shreds 1tsp
Practice:
1. Put baking soda, water and soap shreds into a spray bottle
2. Shake well and spray the infected leaf surface
Attention:
Seriously infected leaves must be removed, and the leaves sprayed must be still normal green, that is, leaves that have just been infected and leaves that have not been infected. The purpose of this method is to control the scope of infection, rather than remove powdery mildew.
3. Eggshell prevention of mollusks
Mollusks are the things I am most afraid of, such as slugs, snails and earthworms (H), etc. Once seen, the hair will stand up. Moreover, mollusks are also very harmful to plants, such as mollusks like to eat leaves, so if you see large holes and gaps on the leaves, you must check whether they are present.
How to prevent snails and other animals from settling on your balcony in damp weather?
There is a good way to use crushed eggshells.
Materials:
Washed eggshells Quantity at will
Rolling pin
Practice:
1. Put the eggshells into a container and crush them with a rolling pin (do not grind)
2. Place the crushed eggshells on the soil to prevent the invasion of mollusks
This is a purely physical method that has no impact on the environment. The reason for washing the eggshells first is that there will be residues of egg white, etc. in the eggshells that have not been cleaned. If placed in the outdoor environment for a long time, they will deteriorate and produce an odor, attracting the attention of small flying insects. And the crushed eggshells have sharp corners, which can hurt mollusks, so they do not like to cross any sharp and broken eggshells. Laying crushed eggshells on the soil can help block the invasion of these pests.
These are the basic organic prevention and control methods. Of course, there are other organic protection methods, such as some people use coffee powder, and some people use milk to kill red spiders (but personally, I don't recommend it at all, because milk will produce heat and odor during the process of decay, that is, the so-called fermentation process, which will cause other pests, and even penetrate into the soil, causing root burning).
Actually, there are many pests and diseases of plants, and it is impossible to write clearly in a short article, especially the prevention and treatment methods of small black flies, which are highly demanded by everyone, because the generation, prevention and elimination methods of small black flies are relatively complicated, and I am preparing to write a separate article to explain. I hope that today's content can be helpful to the organic gardeners who are fighting on the front line of pest control～
The above brings the detailed explanation of the preparation of green and safe spray - pest and disease control for organic gardens, hoping that this article can bring you help in green plant management!