can you suggest any environment friendly for removal of weeds and pests
Answers
Answer:
1. Mulching
Covering your garden soil with a layer of organic matter can smother and inhibit weeds, as well as prevent new seeds from germinating. Good sources of mulch include wood chips, compost, grass clippings, and straw. Just be sure not to get hay, which can contain a lot of unwanted seeds.
You can also put down ground cloth, newspaper, cardboard, old cotton curtains or bed sheets, landscape fabric, or other thick material on your soil to prevent weeds from growing through. This is especially helpful to do in your garden pathways before you put down gravel, stone or wood chips.
2. Crowding
wide-row-planting-bedsWide row planting beds shade the soil as the plants mature.
Weeds can’t take hold in your garden if there’s no space for them.
In ornamental beds, plant groundcovers and perennial plants to cover and shade the soil.
In your vegetable gardens, try either the Square-Foot gardening method or wide-row planting method so that your plant leaves will just touch each other at maturity. As the plants grow, their leaves will shade the bed and deprive weeds of sunlight.
3. Limit Tilling and Digging
Tilling or turning over your garden soil will bring new weed seeds to the surface. Instead, try using the no-till method of gardening or Lasagna gardening, where you disturb the soil as little as possible.
If you are planting seeds, only dig down as far as you need to plant them, instead of tilling up the entire bed. The no-till method also improves soil structure and fertility, and increases the population beneficial organisms in the soil.
4. Solarizing
Solarizing your soil involves covering an area of weedy ground with a clear, heavy plastic sheet. (Black plastic does not work as well.) This only works in full sun and warm weather where the heat will collect under the sheet and literally cook your weeds. Leave the sheet in place for 4 to 6 weeks, and remove only once all the weeds are brown and dry.
For even more effectiveness, till the soil to bring weed seeds to the surface, and let them sprout just before solarizing.
5. Fertilize and Irrigate Carefully
The nutrients and water you give to your garden will help weeds grow just as much as they will help the veggies and flowers you want. Only give your plants what they need.
Use drip irrigation, irrigation bags or olla pots to provide water only to the roots of your plants, not the empty spaces around them. Give heavy feeders like squash, tomatoes and cucumbers extra compost, but, feed crops like root vegetables much less.
6. Boiling Water
Boil a kettle of water and pour it over any weeds to burn them. This technique is great for weeds growing in the cracks of pavement and coming up in your garden paths. The water will cool as it runs off so it won’t hurt any plants you want to keep.
7. Vodka or Rubbing Alcohol
Try this weed-killing recipe on your annual weeds growing in full sun:
2 ounces cheap vodka or rubbing alcohol
2 cups of water
a couple drops of dish soap
Mix into a spray bottle. Spray on weeds to dry them out and kill them.
Be careful not to spray on any of your regular plants, because the alcohol will dry out whatever it hits. This spray does not work well in shady areas.
8. Vinegar
This vinegar mix is good for drying out weeds too, though you may have to apply it multiple times on weeds with a long taproot, like dandelion.
1 gallon 5% white household vinegar
1 cup table salt
1 Tbsp. dish soap
Mix into a spray bottle and spray directly onto your weeds, making sure to avoid the plants you want. It works even better in full sun.
If you use 20% or 30% vinegar (available online), this formula will work much better, but the vinegar is so acidic, you will need to use gloves and goggles to ensure any spray doesn’t blow back and burn your skin or eyes.
9. Corn Gluten
Corn gluten meal is a byproduct of the corn milling process that just so happens to prevent weed seeds from germinating. It does nothing to kill weeds once they have sprouted, however.
Corn gluten meal is often applied to lawns to prevent crabgrass and dandelions from sprouting, but it can be used in other garden areas, after the seeds you want have sprouted.
Answer:
1. Mulching
Covering your garden soil with a layer of organic matter can smother and inhibit weeds, as well as prevent new seeds from germinating. Good sources of mulch include wood chips, compost, grass clippings, and straw. Just be sure not to get hay, which can contain a lot of unwanted seeds.
You can also put down ground cloth, newspaper, cardboard, old cotton curtains or bed sheets, landscape fabric, or other thick material on your soil to prevent weeds from growing through. This is especially helpful to do in your garden pathways before you put down gravel, stone or wood chips.
2. Crowding
wide-row-planting-bedsWide row planting beds shade the soil as the plants mature.
Weeds can’t take hold in your garden if there’s no space for them.
In ornamental beds, plant groundcovers and perennial plants to cover and shade the soil.
In your vegetable gardens, try either the Square-Foot gardening method or wide-row planting method so that your plant leaves will just touch each other at maturity. As the plants grow, their leaves will shade the bed and deprive weeds of sunlight.
3. Limit Tilling and Digging
Tilling or turning over your garden soil will bring new weed seeds to the surface. Instead, try using the no-till method of gardening or Lasagna gardening, where you disturb the soil as little as possible.
If you are planting seeds, only dig down as far as you need to plant them, instead of tilling up the entire bed. The no-till method also improves soil structure and fertility, and increases the population beneficial organisms in the soil.
4. Solarizing
Solarizing your soil involves covering an area of weedy ground with a clear, heavy plastic sheet. (Black plastic does not work as well.) This only works in full sun and warm weather where the heat will collect under the sheet and literally cook your weeds. Leave the sheet in place for 4 to 6 weeks, and remove only once all the weeds are brown and dry.
For even more effectiveness, till the soil to bring weed seeds to the surface, and let them sprout just before solarizing.
5. Fertilize and Irrigate Carefully
The nutrients and water you give to your garden will help weeds grow just as much as they will help the veggies and flowers you want. Only give your plants what they need.
Use drip irrigation, irrigation bags or olla pots to provide water only to the roots of your plants, not the empty spaces around them. Give heavy feeders like squash, tomatoes and cucumbers extra compost, but, feed crops like root vegetables much less.
6. Boiling Water
Boil a kettle of water and pour it over any weeds to burn them. This technique is great for weeds growing in the cracks of pavement and coming up in your garden paths. The water will cool as it runs off so it won’t hurt any plants you want to keep.
7. Vodka or Rubbing Alcohol
Try this weed-killing recipe on your annual weeds growing in full sun:
2 ounces cheap vodka or rubbing alcohol
2 cups of water
a couple drops of dish soap
Mix into a spray bottle. Spray on weeds to dry them out and kill them.
Be careful not to spray on any of your regular plants, because the alcohol will dry out whatever it hits. This spray does not work well in shady areas.
8. Vinegar
This vinegar mix is good for drying out weeds too, though you may have to apply it multiple times on weeds with a long taproot, like dandelion.
1 gallon 5% white household vinegar
1 cup table salt
1 Tbsp. dish soap
Mix into a spray bottle and spray directly onto your weeds, making sure to avoid the plants you want. It works even better in full sun.
If you use 20% or 30% vinegar (available online), this formula will work much better, but the vinegar is so acidic, you will need to use gloves and goggles to ensure any spray doesn’t blow back and burn your skin or eyes.
9. Corn Gluten
Corn gluten meal is a byproduct of the corn milling process that just so happens to prevent weed seeds from germinating. It does nothing to kill weeds once they have sprouted, however.
Corn gluten meal is often applied to lawns to prevent crabgrass and dandelions from sprouting, but it can be used in other garden areas, after the seeds you want have sprouted.
Explanation: