Stress affects plants as well as all life forms as far as I am aware.
We suffer stress in our day to day lives and this time of the year is especially stressful for some people.
As there are different forms of stress which humans can be affected by, there are also different forms of stress that plants can suffer by.
The most obvious of these is moisture either not enough or too much.
Not enough moisture the plant starts to dehydrate and the lower leaves tend to flatten out to shade or cover the surrounding soil helping to prevent moisture loss from the soil.
The upper foliage also droops and without receiving a good amount of water to moisten the earth the plant will wither and die.
Too much water we call wet feet which means there is excessive amounts of water around the roots with little or no oxygen; then the roots will start to rot unless its a bog type plant.
As the roots rot the foliage will droop and leaves will begin to fall off until the plant dies.
Some plants will try to remove the water from around their roots by taking up water to the leaves where it forms as drops of water on the tip of the leaves.
Wet feet is fatal to a number of plants such as citrus trees.
Plants also suffer stress from weather conditions such as rapid temperature changes (going from cold to hot and back to cold) wind damage, heat, cold/freezing, insufficient light or too much sunlight.
Nowadays our plants have to contend with ‘The Dimming of the Sun’ we are told, done to reduce Global warming, but it actually make surface temperatures hotter and the real reason is to reduce plant growth, making poor food crops.
Planted in the wrong situation a plant can stress out because of a range of things such as soil conditions, pH, shade or sun, wet or dry, fertile or barren.
Too much food or not enough, unbalanced nutrients which are locking up, missing elements are all problems that will cause stress.
(Use Wallys Unlocking the Soil and Magic Botanic Liquid for unlocking and supplying all the elements).
When you move container plants, you create a problem as the plant has to readjust to the new situation.
Ficus Benjamina is a pot plant that hates to be moved from one spot to another unless the new spot is identical to the old spot, otherwise it will leaf drop and then produce new foliage as it adjusts.
Plants that are attacked by insects can be likened to you having a multitude of leaches or mosquitoes attacking your body. (That’s stressful).
Leaf diseases such as black spot, mildew etc often appear on plants when conditions favor them or when a plant is in stress for some reason.
If say your fruit tree that is laden with fruit sheds its crop, then the tree is in stress for some reason.
If it sheds part of the crop it is likely self thinning the fruit as it cannot support all the crop, so that the better larger fruit will have sufficient room to mature.
If you think that you are facing several types of stress related issues in your life currently then think again what our plants have to face.
(Does that make you feel better?)
Seedlings in punnets can easily become stressed when their root systems fill the punnet and the mix dries out quickly.
I have seen seedlings in stress in chain stores because the staff don’t water often enough.
It is especially bad this season because of the weather and people not planting out as they would in a better season leaving a lot of old over grown stock.
I went to one hardware chain store recently to pick up a few things and also obtain a few vegetable seedlings; all that was on display were over sized plants which would have already been in stress a few times and a total waste of money buying and planting.
If it’s vegetable seedlings you are going to buy, look for the small plants which have a bit of growing to do before they get too big for the container they are in.
If you buy the big plants what will happen is you plant them out, they grow on for a few weeks then before maturing they go to seed.
When I owned a garden Centre and nursery we would throw vegetable plants out, once they were too big and in danger of going into stress, and replace them with smaller healthy plants.
Now this rule does not apply to plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers etc which you want to flower and fruit.
Likewise flower plant seedlings, the bigger, the better as we want them to flower as soon as.
But brassicas, lettuce, onions, leeks, silverbeet, beetroot, spring onions, spinach etc you want them to mature and not waste your time going to seed.
I have had a few complaints from gardeners recently on this very problem.
While we are on the subject of brassicas, it would be a good idea, if planting out over the next few months, to place Neem Tree Granules in the planting hole and also on the soil surface.
This is to help with the control of aphids and caterpillars.
Then after planting put some hoops over the row and cover with crop cover.
It only costs about $8.50 a metre and it’s 4 metres wide.
Keeps those plants free of pests and makes their preparation for the table an easy job.
The cover can be used time and time again.
Recently I purchased a 5 litre pump-up sprayer to do those in between jobs that my big back pack sprayer is a hassle to use, and my favorite trigger sprayers are too small.
Looking at the range of pump-up sprayers about the 5 litre size, they varied in price from twenty odd dollars upwards.
I have purchased over the years numerous cheaper sprayers which all end up in the rubbish bin, more often sooner than later.
Instead I opted for a more expensive Hills sprayer and after using it I am glad I did.
So easy to use and clean afterwards I am back to being a happy chappie when I need to spray.
So treat yourself or someone to a decent sprayer this Xmas, you will thank me for it.
Well about one more article for the year after this one so look after yourselves and your gardens over the festive season.
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