What Plant Residues Can Be Dangerous?

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Not all plant residues can pose a certain danger to crops grown on the site, but there are still some that must be immediately destroyed. Plant residues are fallen leaves, and branches cut from trees or shrubs, and vegetables not removed from the beds, and vegetable tops, and spoiled fruits or carrion, and, by the way, this is not a complete list of what can be safely ranked to plant residues! And if some of them are not removed in time, the site can very quickly turn into a real haven for all kinds of diseases and pests! What exactly should not be left on the site for a long time, and even more so it will be unacceptable to leave for the winter?

Spoiled vegetables

During the harvest, many summer residents often leave moldy or rotten vegetables in the beds in the hope of removing them later. However, then hands also do not always reach the point of harvesting, and as a result, the left vegetables begin to decompose right where they were left, that is, in the beds! And it would be a mistake to believe that they will thus turn into a valuable organic fertilizer! In this case, it is important to understand that the fruits themselves do not rot - most often this happens as a result of their defeat by any disease or pest. And, leaving them in the beds, the summer resident contributes in every way to further aggravating the problem, because next season all plantings may suffer from the pathogen! That is why, before you go to collect the coveted crop, it makes sense to prepare in advance a separate container into which all the spoiled fruits will be added. And after the harvest is harvested, these plant residues can be used to prepare anaerobic compost, or simply dug under garden trees or bushes.

Carrion and mummified fruits

Usually, either the fruits eaten from the inside by pests or the fruits affected by some ailment fall from the trees, and only occasionally the fruits shed healthy young trees, which are unable to provide the entire crop with nutrients at once. This means that the risk of infection in this case will also be very high! Of particular danger are the fruits mummified right on the trees - these are the real carriers of all kinds of fungal ailments! Therefore, in order to avoid such troubles, all the carrion and all the mummified fruits must be collected and promptly disposed of as soon as possible. By the way, such fruits are also not suitable for composting, as they can infect the entire compost!

Tops from the beds

Some summer residents quite often leave vegetable tops in the beds - especially often this concerns potato tops. Healthy tops can be safely buried in the upper soil layer or in the aisles - it will decompose there quite safely. But if the tops are affected by late blight or some other infection, it can easily ruin the entire area! Moreover, in piles of tops, slugs, Colorado beetles, bears and other pests often equip themselves with a winter shelter. And in some cases, even mouse nests can be found in such tops! So it makes sense to take care of the future fate of the tops even during the harvesting process - healthy tops from radishes, beets, carrots and a number of other vegetables can be safely piled into a compost heap, and suspicious or clearly affected tops must either be burned or taken out of the site and bury.

Lawn grass

The height of the lawn grass left for the winter should ideally not exceed the mark of seven to ten centimeters, otherwise, with the onset of spring, it will be extremely difficult for young sprouts to break through the dried layer. In this regard, the last mowing of lawn grass is carried out in the autumn season, either at the end of September or at the beginning of October. And it is recommended to immediately rake everything that has been mowed to the side, and not leave it directly on the lawn, since autumn rains will inevitably lead to the fact that the mown grass will begin to rot, and in the spring there will be a very high risk of finding extremely unsightly bald patches on the lawn. the restoration of which will subsequently take a lot of time. By the way, there should be no questions at all about where to put the mown lawn grass - this grass is equally well suited for composting, and for adding to garden aisles, and for mulching all kinds of bushes, trees or wintering perennial vegetation! Such a herb is an absolutely safe option in all respects, because it is devoid of seeds, is not affected by various ailments and is not a reliable haven for gluttonous pests!

How do you dispose of the listed plant residues?