Take Care What You Let Into Your Eco Friendly Garden!
I don’t mean badgers and sparrows – I mean plant diseases and pests!
We know that the quickest way to kill off diseases and pests in our gardens is to use chemicals – but that isn’t very eco friendly or organic.
There are alternative treatments, but they normally involve a lot of your time or money or result in dead or dying plants.
So, why not plan to never have the pests or diseases in the first place?
Planning Ahead.
Why not follow these simple guidelines to reducing the chances of anything untoward getting into your garden from the start!
The most likely way to infect your garden is to bring in plants from elsewhere. If you buy plants from garden fetes or charity shops etc, or find them in skips, you have got to expect the worst.
If they were loved and cared for in pristine conditions – people wouldn’t be selling them cheap or throwing them away, would they? So:
1) Use only local and reputable suppliers and nurseries
2) Only use the neighbours you know who care for their plants properly
3) Make sure the supplier or neighbour has been organic too!
4) Avoid semi-mature specimens from overseas – you just never know!
Plants on arrival:
Any plants, seeds or bulbs arriving in your yard should be carefully inspected to make sure they are healthy, especially if they are from a friend/fete/garden show/etc.
If you buy plants that are not looking healthy, you can’t expect them to be healthy – so only take on with care. If you are receiving a delivery of plants – check them too: don’t just look at a few – check them all – you are paying for them. There is no point paying for a plant that is diseased or infested.
Buying dodgy looking plants may be a cheaper way to get them – but won’t be so cheap if they need chemicals to recover, take an extra year to establish or flower, or worse: cause damage your existing plants!
Quarantine the new plants in a specific area away from any other plants or gardens for at least 2 but preferably 6 weeks. Many bugs and diseases can travel short distances so could easily infect neighboring plants if planted too soon.
And finally, make sure you don’t cross-contaminate the tools and equipment used for new plants. Disease can be carried on your tools and hands – so be fussy and make sure you clean everything.
I recently moved my plants to a new home and picked up a strange mite – which has all but killed a tropical plant of mine that took 6 months to germinate last year!
So Finally:
Find out what the common pests and diseases look like and what plants and conditions they prefer so you can spot the first signs of trouble – hopefully before you buy them!
Also, knowing the visual identification of garden pests and preferred conditions of certain diseases means that you can act fast at the first sign of trouble and save your plants – and all your hard work!