Pitfalls of Guerrilla Gardening
Since the beginning of agricultural development, humanity has been fighting various plant pests and dangerous parasites that can threaten entire vegetation crops in a short time, causing significant losses for outdoor farmers. Pests pose a constant threat to farmers, as they can attack any agricultural crops. Predatory animals and insects cause many problems, especially when plants are still small, in their vegetative phase.
Prevention
We repeatedly emphasize to all growers that the level of sufficient prevention far outweighs the purchase of excessive medications and additional treatment of already infected plants. Preventing the outbreak of any infection is the primary task of every good gardener. Only then comes treatment using specific therapeutic supplements, of which the current market offers a wide range (from natural to synthetic).
Always remember to maintain basic hygiene when handling your plants. This principle of cleanliness will truly help you with effective prevention on a massive scale.
Here are the main rules that must be followed as basic prevention of all diseases:
- When growing outdoors, always use compost that has been properly processed by the manufacturer and is most suitable for growing specific plant varieties. Any growing medium that has been heat-treated before use (at a minimum temperature of 60°C) will kill all present larvae, eggs, and molds that may appear in natural compost. Caterpillars and eggs mainly appear in completely natural manure and compost. By following basic rules of proper composting, you'll naturally achieve sufficient temperature and safely eliminate larvae. If you're unsure about composting at home, purchase growing media and composts from trusted sellers.
- Never use mulch soil instead of regular soil. This moist medium is cheap but is also an ideal refuge for various pests and especially molds. The risk of using cheaper mulch soil is definitely not worth it.
- Always keep your garden tools clean and store them separately. Never transfer outdoor tools to the interior and vice versa. Tools for common outdoor garden work should always be thoroughly sterilized using alcohol solution, soap and warm water, or heat-treated with a manual torch to the aforementioned 60°C.
- For all cases, purchase a pesticide spray. As an effective prevention, you can spray from the beginning of vegetative growth up to mid-summer. This is the most risky period when larvae of most pests are still fully mobile and can spread safely through the air. Pesticide spraying should be done continuously every few weeks.
- Always try to maintain at least basic hygiene when handling plants. Wash your hands if they're dirty from a forest trip or you've just been playing with your dog.
- Manually remove any dangerous predators found on your plants. Exactly as this phrase sounds. Manually pick pests from plants and move them far from your garden. If you detect an infestation early, manual removal of pests can greatly help the plant.
When prevention fails..
Regardless of the preventive measures you take, there is always a certain risk of infestation, especially when growing outdoors. There are certain factors that as a grower you can never completely eliminate and which may ultimately attract hostile parasites.
Always focus primarily on the weakest plants in your garden. Pay special attention to the least resilient vegetation, as the evolutionary process dictates vulnerability to the weakest plants. Pests tend to infect one plant that is most vulnerable first and then launch an attack on other plants located closest to the initial point of interest.
Most flying insects can lay thousands of eggs during the first few weeks. Let's calculate simply that if just ten pests lay 100 eggs and their offspring do the same, the population of dangerous pests will increase from 10 to 100,000 in a very short time. This situation can occur within just a few days.
Natural Predators:
The internet has opened opportunities to use natural predatory insects that can professionally and effectively rid you of other insect pests without using any chemical substances for their elimination. The main advantage of using predatory insects is 100% treatment success and a completely natural insect-against-insect approach that will not harm your plants' development. Predatory insects are not interested in your green vegetation but are most interested in the presence of other insects that serve as their natural food.
Insects are ancient enemies
Plants are exclusively food mainly for insects, and any such infestation spreads incredibly quickly, eventually leading to complete crop destruction. In outdoor conditions, we find insect pests in soil, as well as on green leaves of surrounding vegetation. However, it is possible to keep these natural insect manipulators under control and in partial balance with the ecosystem.
Especially during the first few months of vegetative growth, be very careful about countless problems associated with flying insects. Each infestation can hinder stable growth, and the number of flying pests must always be under control for a successful gardener.
Pests that require the most attention in summer months are primarily slugs, snails, caterpillars, and other beetles. There are several different methods to control the development of these pests, using natural and artificial pesticides and repellents.
How to defend against wildlife?
Soap:
Strong-smelling soaps repel animal curiosity, especially deer. You just need to grate soap into very thin slices and scatter it carefully around your garden. The soap smell really works well, but the odor lasts a maximum of a week and needs to be repeated quite regularly.
Human Smell:
Most wild animals hate human smell. One way to successfully spread human scent around is to urinate everywhere. However, you must urinate quite regularly, as human smell disappears after about a week. Another, for some more complicated but possibly even more effective solution is to spread your hair around. In this case, just scatter a handful of hair around, which supposedly reliably repels any wildlife for several weeks, especially if human hair gets wet.
Fencing:
One of the most reliable solutions is establishing a physical barrier around the growing plot. Make sure your fence will be higher than plants on all sides. Fencing can be wire or anything strong enough to defend your section. You may need multiple fence layers to completely prevent access for both small and adult animals trying to nibble your green wealth. This method really works best.
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