Dealing with Pests and Diseases in Window Garden - By: Tauqeer Hassan

Your plants always need your attention for food in the form of compost and watering. All these things are required in proper amount. Anything more or less can cause damage to your plants. If you want to see your plants healthy, you need to provide them with enough watering and feeding along with proper protection against different diseases and pests. Here we will discuss how one can deal with pests and diseases which cause severe damage to your healthy plants.

Growing Problems

You have often observed that the plants stops growing as they normally do. Their leaves become yellow, wilting, dying shoots and brown scorched leaves are obvious signs and can be of different reasons. Drought and waterlogged soil are the two severe conditions for the plants.

Drought is usually caused in hot weather conditions and can be overcome by proper watering along with providing proper shade and shelter to protect your plants from the wind and scorching heat of the sun. Pin shading material or other netting can be used for a day or two over the plants.

The blackening and shriveling of tender plants and young annuals could be the sign of severe frost damage. However, the yellowish color of the leaves suggest the mild frost damage and plants can recover. Frost damage is not limited to tender plants only, hardy plants also sustain damage from severe frost and the symptoms are browning of the leaves. It is better to cut out the affected shoots and leaves to prevent rot.

Pests

Birds sometimes make a mess of your plants by pulling out seedlings, tearing at flowers and pecking leaves. Protecting your window garden from birds is relatively easy. To keep the birds away from the plants, tie strands of black sewing cotton between small sticks in a crisscross shape on the window box. Two or three strands are enough to keep the birds away. You can remove these strands after few days, once the birds have given up.

Aphids are the other insect pests that can cause severe damage to your plants by sucking sap from the young leaves and short tips. You need to be careful and spray immediately with an insecticide like Malathion to keep your plants saves from aphids.

In wet seasons, snails and slugs make their way up to your garden by some means. You can simply use slug killer pellets in the window boxes and especially under the foliage – their hiding place.

There are many other pests which cause damage to your plants in one way or another. You need to examine your plants regularly for any symptoms of pest damage. Yellow mottled leaves, white tunnel burrowed through leaves, notched eaten out leaves or any malformed foliage needs your immediate response with any systemic insecticide.

Diseases

Grey mould or (botrytis) is common plant disease, which is common in plants grown in crowded conditions. This is more frequent damp conditions. Furry grey growth on leaves and soft shots are common symptoms. A fungicide containing benomyl is effective against this disease.

Other diseases include moldy, powdery white coatings on leaves and stems, sudden wilting, and brown leaves. A systemic fungicide is best to cope with all of them.

Foliar feeding is important to boost the recovery process of ill and damaged plants. Simply spray foliar fertilizer onto the leaves and it begins to start it work straight away.

About the Author

You might want to learn about Care with Pests and Disease in Window Garden and also Make a Balcony Garden.

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