SFNY
INSECT & DISEASE
PAGE
|
|
PICTURED TO THE RIGHT:
A LADYBUG CARRYING BENEFICIAL MITES
|
WHERE DOES COMPOST TEA FIT INTO PLANT HEALTH CARE PROGRAMS?
First of all, actively aerated compost tea is NOT a pesticide. However, many of the
beneficial organisms that are present in many teas do compete with, feed on, or are
antagonistic toward plant diseases, pest insects and plant feeding nematodes, when
they are in their natural soil environment. So, teas can put back needed beneficial
microbes to a disturbed environment such as a golf course, landscape or farm.
The microbes in the tea provide a wide variety of plant benefits, including:
Building soil structure; retaining and cycling of plant nutrients; improved water holding
capacity; breaking down toxins in the soil.
|
|
|
|
PICTURED IS A CUSTOM
MULTI-PURPOSE COMPOST TEA
SPRAYER. IT HAS BOOMS AND A
FLOOD JET FOR TURF AND A HOSE
AND GUN FOR TREES AND SHRUBS
|
SOME DISEASE BASICS
In order for a disease to infect a plant 3 conditions are needed. First, the disease
organism must be present; second, the host plant must be present; finally, the
environmental conditions must be favorable for the disease organism.
In almost all cases the disease life cycle can be interrupted with or without pesticides!
Weather conditions, competitive organisms, antagonistic organisms, good sanitation,
crop rotation, pruning, are all pesticide free ways to interrupt the disease life cycle.
|
|
