CROP PROTECTION PART 1 – A-Grade Hydroponics
Happy New Year to you all!
Let’s dive straight into this week’s topic, which is Crop Protection Part 1!
We are making this a 2-part tutorial for easy reading.
Crop protection is a very important part of gardening and shouldn’t be ignored, if it is, not only will your plants suffer so will your pocket if the venture is a financial one, think of preventative crop protection as yield insurance.
Each crop will attract specific pests, it is best to understand what these pests could potentially do to your crop if they attack, even just knowing what they ‘sort of’ look like is a great start as this will make any treatment programs much easier to follow.
These insects are going to interact with your plants at some point, doing a little bit of research on each of these insects and their family groups will help you identify them in the future and then also find out what gets rid of them;
Thrip
Whitefly
Cabbage moth
Spider Mites
Aphids
Greenfly
Fungus Gnats
Healthy plants can’t really be affected too much by insects because pests are less likely to attack strong plants, they seek out a weakness and attack. But that doesn’t mean we don’t treat them. Most high value crops would have some form of IPM (integrated pest management), this preventative approach to pest control will always deter pests and your plants will stay strong, resilient and in general ensures crop success.
Finding a solution to fix a problem will come at a much greater cost rather than making sure it doesn’t happen at all. Prevention is key.
So, what types of preventatives can I use to protect my plants?
The most commonly used and purchased products for pest control are readily available liquid solutions that can be applied via foliar misting, below are a few examples.
Based on their chemical nature, insecticides have been put into 4 groups:
Organic insecticides.
Synthetic insecticides.
Inorganic insecticides.
Miscellaneous compounds.
Miscellaneous compounds & Inorganic forms may include:
- Pyrethrum
- Sticky traps (A great way to ID pests)
- Neem Oil
- Pure Crop 1
- Chitosan
- Soya-bean Oil
Chilli & Garlic broth
Synthetic Insecticides
There are lots of other synthetic based insecticides that can also be used as preventatives and in some situations their use is unavoidable and the crop has to be sprayed with these chemicals, these solutions fall under the harmful chemical banner though so be careful, always read the label or SDS if you can find one.
We will look at the synthetic list of insecticides & organic insecticides next week in Crop protection part 2.
Remember, whether you’re growing indoors or outdoors, if you have to foliar spray your plants, do it when the lights go off or the sun goes down, this will prevent any leaf scorching.
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