Skip to main content

Why pests attack your crops and How to stop it?

Disease pathogens and pests are always present. Yet not all plants come down with diseases or are attacked by pests. This tells us that diseases and pests are not unavoidable and that insects and plant pathogens are not the real cause of the problem.

Pests and diseases are nature’s garbage collectors !!!

Pests and diseases are merely there to eat or infect an unhealthy plant which is weakened. It is easy to see this as a nuisance but from our perspective, they perform an important ecological role. These unhealthy or defective plants would not be optimal for consumption of humans or animals and therefore these pests and diseases are doing us a favour by preventing us from eating inferior produce. However modern agriculture and horticulture have meant we can now simply kill off the pests and diseases using chemicals and eat the inferior produce anyway.

Insect pests and diseases cannot successfully attack healthy, vigorously growing plants because, like humans and animals, healthy plants can deploy various methods of resistance. This means the key to reducing pesticide and herbicide costs is to grow healthier plants.
Stressed plants may not be able to produce their normal resistance chemicals, and may even look and smell different to healthy plants. This is how pests and diseases locate sick plants to attack. A healthy plant that is growing and respiring normally will have good temperature control and give off a particular infrared wavelength. Using tiny hairs on their antenna, insects can detect which plants have a different temperature and give off a different infrared wavelength, and therefore track down suitable sources of food.

How to put pests and diseases off their game…
There are a number of natural mechanisms that can work to prevent attacks on our pastures and crops. Here are a few:

A) Soil life
Soil organisms directly or indirectly protect plants from diseases and pests. Beneficial organisms can work together in healthy soils to provide a proper balance of plant nutrients and growth factors which help to produce a vigorous plant that will be more resilient to environmental stresses. More specifically, certain fungi and bacteria compete with or directly attack disease pathogens by releasing natural antibiotics. Other fungal species actually attack and eat pathogens.
B) Soil Nutrients
A proper balance of nutrients must be present in order for plants to be healthy. If one element is out of balance (too high or too low), others can be affected and mineral deficiencies can result. These nutrients need to be balanced to ensure strong root systems, and growth as well as healthy, disease and pest free plants.
C)Amino acids and proteins
Certain proteins and amino acids (known as secondary plant metabolites) are created in healthy plants. These are complex communication molecules which help the plant respond to environmental stresses and remain healthy. These metabolites can only be created when there is a proper balance of protein build-up and breakdown, resulting in balanced levels of amino acids, vitamins, and trace elements to nourish the beneficial microbes and their host plant – our crop. Excessive and inappropriate fertilization unbalances soil mineral ratios and adversely affects important soil microbe communities, making plants more susceptible to viral, fungal and bacterial diseases and insect attack.
In short, insects and diseases attack our plants when they are unhealthy or under stress and their tissue has become suitable food for them. Our challenge is to keep the soil conditions right for optimum plant health so they are good for us. A holistic, broad-spectrum programme to balance soil mineral levels and boost soil microbe communities will provide the best form of ‘crop protection’.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Five Layer Shri Palekar Ji Model - 36*36 model for full 1 acre

Huge trees, for example, Mango, Jack-fruit, Jamun, and Amla ought to be planted 36 feet separated. Guava, Chikku, Lemon and Pomegranate saplings can be planted in the middle of the mango plants at a separation of 18 feet. Papaya, Drum-stick, Banana that involve lesser space ought to be planted in a space of 9 feet between the second arrangement of trees recorded previously. The above plants ought to be planted along a similar column over the plot of land leaving space to develop a single assortment of vegetables, millets and so forth on each bed. separate 1 section of land into a break even with squares of 36ft X 36ft. In each piece of 36 ft x 36 ft ( which is additionally separated into four 9ft X 9ft sub-squares) We can grow around 170 trees, in that 9ft x 9 ft part of the land (one sub-square). Plant 1 Banana Tree, 4 Arecanut Trees, 4 Black pepper Creepers getting on Arecanut trees, 2 Coffee Plants, 2 Glirsedia Trees, 2 Venella Creepers hopping on Glirsedia trees

Stone pole fencing Vs Cement pole fencing Vs Iron pole Fencing

Which is best Fencing? (Stone Vs Cement Vs Iron pole Fencing) Height: If your main concern is to protect your farm from theft, above 10 feet height poles required, which stands 8 feet above ground and 2 feet below ground. Size: 4Inch * 6Inch average pole dimension with 8-10 feet length. Barbed wire from TATA wiron Durability: Stone poles are much more durable than cement or iron. Cement poles starts crumble, iron poles often leads to damage due to rust. Especially poles used to support other poles used in corners or usually called as cross pieces must be strong. Only stone poles give sufficient support without damage. Weight: Stone poles have good weight when compared to cement or iron, so it is not easy to theft by a single person. Whereas Iron poles are easy to lift and carry. Distance: Ideal distance between pole to pole is 8 feet. Even in case when the fence wire sags after some period, it can be re-tightened. If distance increases there will be problem with fence wire. Suppor

Want more flowering for fruit trees? Learn the concept of Smudging !!

Is your tree is lazy to give fruits? Is your tree stubborn to bear fruits? You can make your tree listen to you., how? SMUDGING... Smudging is concept of giving smokey fire to tree, branches and leaves. Some of old aged people know this concept very well, it was slowly perished after potassium nitrate/paclobutrazol came into existence which will make tree to induce flowers and bear fruits. Smudging is simple, gather dried material like leaves, branches, peels, husks etc. Identify air movement, burn dried material. With the flow air into you farm smoke will spread to all trees. Or Keep dried material under the tree and slowly start fire the smoke will spread to the tree. If you want more smoke add some green leaves like Neem or Moist organic material. Best time to do smudging is early morning where air movement is very low and smoke will spread evenly. This need to be done every morning until tree induce with flowers. For Example, Mango trees will start flowering in the months of SEPTE