Comments
PLANT WELLNESS - Plants, like all living things, get ill from time to time. This is also true for indoor specimens, which are produced in a controlled environment with a restricted area for roots. Wrong care and pest assaults cannot be ruled out; they enter our homes through the earth, air, on shoes and clothes, and live quite happily within.
You must identify your opponents by sight and have knowledge about their annihilation in order to safeguard your green buddies or, if required, take appropriate steps in a timely way.
Of course, there is an alternative – always order indoor plants or flowers from flower shops. As a rule, the employees and florists of such stores know everything about the proper storage and care of flowers so that not a single pest gets on them. For example, top salons that sell wedding bouquets, original flower arrangements and even unique compositions in the form of bouquet for men in Dubai are so proficient in their business that you receive the freshest processed bouquet, which definitely did not take a parasite with you to stay.
But if you already have a whole collection of greens at home, here are the diseases you need to know about.
Powdery mildew
A special type of fungus forms mycelium (a white velvety coating) on leaves and stems. The development of the disease is promoted by stagnation of water, sudden changes in temperature and irregular watering. Affected leaves need to be removed and the temperature and watering regime adjusted. In the initial stages of the lesion (up to 5 days), you can get by with folk remedies: tincture of garlic, a solution of soap with copper sulfate, and an ash-soap solution. If treatment is not started, the plaque will begin to spread to all parts of the crop and gradually change color from white to brown. This indicates the advanced stage of the disease and the need to use special fungicides. The culture is sprayed 3 times with an interval of 10 days to completely destroy the fungus.
Powdery mildew, by the way, is a rather harmful disease, because it can be brought from the street or an already unnoticed diseased plant can infect a healthy one. Therefore, if you want to bring a new plant into your home, be sure to buy it in trusted places with improved storage conditions for flowers and plants. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s Zamioculcas in a pot or Violet flowers bouquet, remember that you need to buy flowers only from trusted suppliers so that you don’t infect the existing green residents of the apartment.
Rot
Provoking factors may be high humidity and excessive use of nitrogenous fertilizers. Tuberous and bulbous plants, as well as those with succulent and fleshy leaves and stems, are most susceptible. Usually it all starts with the appearance of a small shapeless dark spot on the leaves, but it can start from the roots and flower stalks of the plant, and is accompanied by an unpleasant odor. If the above-ground part looks alive, and rotting has destroyed only part of the roots or the tip of the leaf, then you can try to save the plant by replanting it in newly prepared dry soil, before cutting off all the rotten parts of the plant. After transplantation, the plant must be watered with copper-containing preparations.
Late blight
Stems and leaves become covered with purple-brown spots, wither and gradually die. The disease can be provoked by too intense watering or a dense substrate. In case of severe damage, it is useless to fight late blight, and the affected specimen is simply thrown away along with the substrate.
Spider mites
These are the most common pests of indoor plants, especially active in winter. At home, at least average air humidity is more of a dream than the norm. Keeping heating devices running half the year creates an ideal dry environment in which spider mites (and most other pests, too) thrive.
The best way to deal with small colonies of spider mites on houseplants is with regular laundry soap. Lather all large leaves with a sponge or spray small ones with soapy water and leave for 3-4 hours. Then rinse off the soap and cover the still wet plant with a bag for a day.
***
It's always sad when your indoor flower gets sick. To prevent this from happening, follow one rule – look at it as often as possible, not only admiring it, but also from the point of view of the presence of “uninvited” guests. The sooner you detect them, the easier it is to deal with them.
###
