A Beginner’s Guide to Garden Pests and Diseases

It does not matter whether you have plants growing indoors, or a garden outdoors – where there is really, there are going to be pests. These are going to be insect pests. Also, you are going to be pestered no pun intended with plant diseases.

This book is an introduction to Garden pests and diseases, and how you can cure them organically. As I definitely do not advocate chemical pesticides in my garden, especially on my plants which I am going to feed my family or eat my own self, you are also going to get organic pesticide cures, which are going to help you get an insect free and fungus free produce and harvest.

The ills from which the garden suffers are usually divided into animal pests and fungus diseases. Weeds also really can be included under this heading, as they have almost as detrimental an affect upon garden plants as either of the other classes of affliction.
There should be no delay in dealing with all these three types of destructive elements in your garden because the damage caused by their inroads on your plants are often going to be extensive and cumulative in effect.
Prompt action should always be taken and where the preventive measures are possible the resulting improvement in in plant health will be marked.
I am going to start with animal pests, who are definitely not going to be controlled by pesticides. However, they are going to be preventive measures, which help take care of animals in your garden.

Animal Pests

Cats

Cats and gardens don’t mix.

Cats are a menace particularly in city and small gardens. Though the adverse affect which they have on vegetation is very negligible, if you have a huge garden out of the city. Their fresh excreta is very powerful, and is fatal to plant life.

Cats have this bad habit of digging up plants or sharpening their claws on tree barks, or just sitting right in the middle of your flower bed. Also, they are not very easy to control, especially when they are running around a garden in a limited space, either for fun or just for sheer destructiveness. But then, your tender plants are destroyed.
Gardening and cats do not go together. So if you like cats, you may want to say goodbye to your garden. They cannot be taught to keep out of a garden. Instead, they are going to sneer at you in their very polite feline way and keep walking alone, especially at night when they party in your geraniums are in your herbs.

Dogs

The damage caused by dogs is somewhat similar to that caused by cats, though it is usually less expensive. Dogs, especially they are well trained are obedient and reasonable. So garden train your dogs while still puppies not to go digging up your garden.

A mixture of ammonia and vinegar, applied to the perimeter of your garden, – and not anywhere near your plants, because vinegar is also a natural organic weed killer – is going to help keep dogs away from your garden.

They also do not like the strong odor of plants of the citrus family, so if you have orange peel, lemon peel, and grapefruit peel, just place them in discrete corners and out of general view in your garden. The dogs are going to come, smell, and retreat in confusion.

Leaf Cutting Bees and Caterpillars

There are a number of biting insects who destroy your leaves by biting them. Their presence is betrayed by the appearance of holes in your foliage. I would suggest painting the leaves and other parts of the plant with neem oil and water.

Vegetable pests

Vegetable pests should properly be regarded as including not only mosses and weeds which discourage healthy plant growth by fighting for their share of the nutrients in the soil, but also, fungus diseases are going to be considered to come under the category of vegetable pests.

Weeds

Weeds are most unfortunately not an indication of soil poverty, which can be eradicated by an increased fertilization. They are plants, which are going to grow naturally in receptive soil, and are an integral part of the natural evolution of plants. Human beings consider them to be weeds. So if you are using weed killers in your flowerbeds, I would not suggest chemical weed killers. You will need to do hand weeding to get rid of those plants. Hoeing can also get rid of these weeds.

A properly de-weeded bed is going to give your seedlings a much better chance of growing up well and flourishing.

Moss
Did you know that the attractive looking Moss is considered to be one of the most pernicious of vegetable pests? This is generally a sign of dampness, and is a particular menace to your lawns.
Good drainage, which is the best cure may be difficult to secure, especially if you live in an area which is perpetually damp. Moss can be controlled by using a dressing of lawn sand and sharp sand on the surface. Try remedying the problem of dampness, and you are going to control Moss naturally.

Fungal Diseases
Fungal diseases are vegetable in nature and originate from small spores which are generally airborne. Though they may be partially or wholly cured by the removal of the affected foliage and by the use of organic fungicides, the gardener’s first priority is to make sure that they do not make an appearance through regular spraying.
When I was a child, the garden was sprayed regularly with a solution of potassium permagnate crystals. 1 teaspoon to 1 gallon of water. This was a mild but excellent form of fungal deterrents. Begin spraying your garden in the beginning of spring, so that the fungus cannot attack any new plants, which you are planting in your garden.

I hope that this book has given you some tips and techniques, which can help the new, enthusiastic, and would be gardener with protecting his garden from best. You may have been made to feel that the results cannot ultimately be worth the anxiety and the toil involved in this continuous fight against viruses, fungus, animal pests, weeds and other factors affecting the harvest from your plants. This is not so.
A garden in which the evidences of sound cultivation and intelligent care are manifest wherever you look is infinitely rewarding. But without this care and without a little bit of effort and dedication, the patience and the knowledge they involve, only disappointment can result.
However, a gardener who has taken the effort to create and maintain his garden worthy of a name is doing so much to contribute to his own pleasure and contentment as well as that of fathers that he will have no need to be reminded that something you do for your own enjoyment is definitely not an effort.
Live long and prosper.

 

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