This year I changed the feed I use from just using slow-release granules to just using a plant-based liquid feed on a regular basis. All my plants look healthier, with more growth and blooms. I definitely have not been experiencing the issues with pests I was expecting. I have had only one minor issue with aphids (lupin). There has been some slug damage but it’s not as bad as I feared it would be based on previous years. Still, it’s early days. Perhaps all the pests are waiting in the wings to plague me next month.
I say no, I cannot see why a pest would want to eat a sick plant. especialy as these same people apply it all the way up to rabbits and deer sized pests. If you walk into a garden and want a snack do you pick the sick plant? No so why on earth would a deer or a rabbit, a sick plant will have less sugar in it's sap so why would an aphid want to eat it over a healthy plant?
I also get annoyed with the whole, nature will balance out and you won't get any pest damage if you have enough predators like in nature.. well next time you are out in the wild have a close look at the plants, not a single one will be "whole" they will all be missing bits, have bite marks or other issues, so long as the plant gets to set seeds it's happy, but we as cooks do not like leaves with holes in, so we need to be more proactive. Son't get me started on slugs, the spanish slugs are a nightmare, nothing actually eats them, apparently they taste too bitter for the larger predators and they rapidly grow to big for the smaller ones like ground-beetles, they most certainly do not care if your plant is healthy or not, last year I lost 30 iceberg lettuces that to my eyes were perfect, they were almost ready to pick and then they were gone just stumps left in a week. (yes we have a ton of the horrible slimy sods)
Plants naturally produce chemicals to make them less palatable to things that like to eat them. This will work for some pests but not for others. If the pest has a choice between a plant that is already weak and not able to produce the same chemicals to defend itself then I can see the logic in the pest choosing the easier to digest meal. I have read for example forced rhubarb grown in the dark is sweeter than other forms of the plant. Also was told that the type of rhubarb we do eat has a virus that persists in it enough to make it edible and when attempts were made to micro-propagate rhubarb it ended up growing too big and becoming useless when the material was treated to get a pure culture of plant cells to grow new plants from. If plants are covered to block out light they become weakened and in these circumstances they will usually be fed on by slugs when I have seen these circumstances in the past. I imagine something similar is in play with foods we produce from growth that is forced in the dark when plants are blanched like with chicory or celery. These foods would otherwise be more bitter and less palatable if they were growing in a more healthy natural situation.
@robairdmacraignil - I'm interested in how you see this playing out in your garden...
In my own garden my strategy is to grow lots so even if pests take a few plants there is enough for me to get a crop as well. Also plants that are not robust enough and required too much protection tend not to be grown again when I can much more easily grow something that can protect itself to some extent. There are a good number of perennial flowers planted that have proved too tender to survive but I have found others that self seed and propagate easily to fill the spaces left by the failures. Selection of the fittest.
Natural predators that control pest numbers are also helping and this year a male pheasant has decided to make the garden its territory and is constantly pecking about looking for food as are other birds and this includes foods that might otherwise attack my plants. Good number of solitary wasps and hover flies also this year and while there have been some damaged plants and the odd crop failure I simply planted again and they have not been that noticeable.
I also get annoyed with the whole, nature will balance out and you won't get any pest damage if you have enough predators like in nature.. well next time you are out in the wild have a close look at the plants, not a single one will be "whole" ...
There'll never be no pest damage (not without going down the chemical route, anyway) but a good balance of predators and healthy strong plants will mean less damage.
I think we're generally too fixated on perfection.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Why do "we cooks" not like "leaves with holes in", @Skandi? Perhaps we just have to be prepared to share our lovely home-grown food with the odd bit of wildlife...
I try to grow healthy plants, but it's not clear to me whether the healthy ones are less susceptible to attack by pests. Diseases, maybe - as in overcrowding leading to powdery mildew.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Plants that do not get what they need by way of nutrition, water or light will be sickly and attract pests and disease.
This mantra is turning that negative statement into a positive. Rather than ditching you at what to avoid, informing you with what to aim for.
Plants getting what they need from the environment, thriving, will mitigate an undue amount of pests. Those plants will generally look good and a little tatty stem or two are easily overlooked / tended to.
Healthy plants don't ward off pests with some mystic shield, they mitigate pests and thrive despite them.
Posts
This year I changed the feed I use from just using slow-release granules to just using a plant-based liquid feed on a regular basis. All my plants look healthier, with more growth and blooms. I definitely have not been experiencing the issues with pests I was expecting. I have had only one minor issue with aphids (lupin). There has been some slug damage but it’s not as bad as I feared it would be based on previous years. Still, it’s early days. Perhaps all the pests are waiting in the wings to plague me next month.
I try to grow healthy plants, but it's not clear to me whether the healthy ones are less susceptible to attack by pests. Diseases, maybe - as in overcrowding leading to powdery mildew.
Plants that do not get what they need by way of nutrition, water or light will be sickly and attract pests and disease.
This mantra is turning that negative statement into a positive. Rather than ditching you at what to avoid, informing you with what to aim for.
Plants getting what they need from the environment, thriving, will mitigate an undue amount of pests. Those plants will generally look good and a little tatty stem or two are easily overlooked / tended to.
Healthy plants don't ward off pests with some mystic shield, they mitigate pests and thrive despite them.