Spring is in full swing and invites us to return to our gardens. And for houseplant lovers, it’s the time of year when potted flowers start asking for a “new home” and need to be replanted. However, it is important to remember that it is spring plant care that has the biggest impact on the yield and beauty of houseplants. What can we do to properly protect our plants from pests and diseases?
Gražina and Mindaugas Vyskupaičiai, the owners of the organic Mėtos farm in Vaidotu, who grow an orchard of 100 apple trees, point out that it is more important than ever to take care of your plants this spring. The late spring, the prolonged wet season and the warm winter temperatures created favourable conditions for the spread of bark diseases and pests. It is therefore recommended that additional attention be paid to plant protection, prevention of bark diseases and pest monitoring.
What do we protect plants from?
For effective protection, it is important to know the main harmful organisms. Sucking and gnawing pests are common attacks on garden and house plants. The most common fruit and shrub pests depend on the type of fruit tree. Apple trees are mostly attacked by aphids, apple blossom borer, orchard mites, apple fruitworm, apple leafhoppers, sawflies and sawflies. The most damaging pears are the pear mite, aphids, pear tuberworm and pear leafhopper, while plums are affected by aphids, plum fruitworm, black and yellow plum sawfly.
Indoor plants are most actively attacked by yellowish, green, black winged or wingless small aphids, white woolly-ball aphids, powdery mildew, whiteflies, whiteflies, cutworms, cutworms, centipedes, leafhoppers and other pests. Mould fungi, powdery mildew and slugs also pose a risk to both garden and houseplants.
Chemicals or natural: which is more effective?
If the plants are severely damaged by diseases or pests, it is often difficult to do without chemical treatments. If it is decided to use “chemistry” in such cases, the preparations must be used very responsibly. The instructions for use of chemical pesticides must be read carefully and thoroughly, and the period between the last application and the picking of berries or fruit must be strictly observed.
However, the owners of Mėtos Farm stress that the use of chemicals can be avoided by timely prevention. In addition, the choice of disease and pest protection measures must take into account the close proximity of plant-based measures to natural conditions. Their effects are therefore less aggressive and do not pose a risk to human health: the natural protective substances break down easily and are easily removed from the plant surface.
The same cannot be said for chemicals. According to studies and information from the World Health Organisation, only 1% of people with diabetes have a high prevalence of diabetes. Pesticides perform their direct function, i.e. killing diseases and pests. The remaining 99%. are released into the environment, either by being deposited in the soil, water or absorbed by living organisms. Once in the body, pesticides accumulate and have negative effects on the nervous system, lungs, immunity, hormones and cancer.
Disaster helped discover the product
Lime, wood ash and adjacent insecticidal plants, such as serendipity and garlic, increase the plant’s resistance to diseases and pests. Decoctions and suppositories of various plants are an effective alternative to pesticides. A decoction of bitter honeysuckle is particularly effective against aphids, which are probably the most dangerous to garden and houseplants.
The owners of the organic farm “Mėta” say that the composition of the all-natural plant protection product “Gamta saugo” was dictated by the need to protect their own garden from aphids. “When we were looking for a solution to aphids for our orchard of 100 apple trees, we decided to give up on popular chemical products because the aphids had developed immunity to them. It was then that we discovered a recommendation in the literature to try a decoction of bitter horsetail. Our factory is capable of producing extracts from a wide range of plants, so we tested it in our own garden after making a bitter horsetail extract. The effect exceeded expectations and eventually we offered Lithuanian gardeners and houseplant lovers a completely natural plant protection product.”
The plant protection product “Nature Protects” is made from bitter yew, green soap and clove oil. Bitter chickweed provides effective protection against plant sap-feeding pests. Green soap provides a protective film on the surface of the plant, kills mould fungi and protects against powdery mildew. Cloves are very effective in repelling insects. It is a plant-based prophylactic that does not contain any chemicals, synthetic colours and flavourings. “Gamta saugo is recommended for indoor and outdoor plants: it does not directly kill pests, but protects the plant by making it unpalatable to pests and by giving off a pest-repellent odour when sprayed.
“The Mėtos farm grows and produces organic food, bath, spa and household products from the Mētio gyvenimas line. You can buy the natural plant protection product “Gamta saugo” at Senukuose, Maxima outdoor sales outlets, the “Žalioji stotelė” chain of shops and the online shop metinisgyvenimas.lt .
