PROTECT TRANSPLANTS AGAINST STRESS, INSECT AND DISEASE
This season, you may want to try a technique which will not only enable
you to have early production, but may be the difference between whether
you produce an abundant crop or no crop at all. This technique will also
enable you to grow a pest-free crop without applying pesticides.
Gardeners blame everything from vengeful neighbors to dishonest nurserymen
for stunted, nonproductive plants which are infected with a virus. No person
is to blame for the thousands of insects, such as thrips which feed on virus
infected plants and then transmit the virus to another plant. Not all insects
spread viruses. Insects which have been known to cause problems include
aphids, thrips, white flies and leaf-feeding beetles. Some aphid-borne viruses
are carried only on mouth parts, but others are taken into the gut, circulatory
system and eventually the salivary glands. Aphid mouth parts puncture an
infected plant and draw the virus particles and cell contents into their
body. All the aphid has to do then is "slobber" on a healthy plant
to cause infection. This is why virus prevention is so difficult -- 100
percent insect control is both impossible and impractical. Even if you could
grow a plant full of pesticide which would immediately kill any insect that
damaged the foliage, the virus is delivered the instant the plant tissue
is penetrated. Insect sprays are not the answer!
The remedy for insect damage and contamination is a physical barrier. Transplant
tomatoes and peppers into the garden. Immediately install concrete reinforcing
wire cages. Cages are nothing more than cylinders made of reinforcing wire,
hog wire or similar material to support the plant and keep the fruit off
Make the cylinder 18 to 20 inches in diameter and 2 1/2 (called half cages)
to 5 feet tall (the length of the roll of wire becomes the height of the
cage). Concrete reinforcing wire, generally considered to be the best, is
available in rolls of varying lengths. A 5-foot length makes a tomato cage
18 to 20 inches in diameter. Cages are held together by bending and crimping
the wire ends around one of the vertical wires.
To keep the cage supported and standing, snip off the bottom ring of the
cage and push the remaining prongs into the ground. Install cages around
young transplants and anchor all sides well with wire stakes in the soil.
For a barrier, cover the cages to the ground with clear plastic or a translucent,
fabric-like material known as spunweb (Grow-web). Adequate anchorage is
essential for cages covered with plastic or spunweb during windy periods.
closed to provide extra protection. One of the advantages of the spunweb
is that it never requires ventilation. However, this web-like material does
not provide as much cold protection as plastic; each web-covered cage will
have to be artificially heated (with Christmas lights, etc.) if temperatures
fall below freezing.
One of the greatest benefits of this system will be protection from wind.
Findings indicate that winds as low as 15 mph can significantly slow plant
growth, delay harvest and decrease yields of vegetable crops. You may wonder
if plants will set fruit when covered with plastic or spunweb since no bees
or insects are able to enter. Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are 85 percent
self-pollinated; that is, they don't need movement of pollen by insects.
If you want to insure adequate pollination, vigorously shake the covered
cages every day after bloom begins or thump bloom clusters daily with your
finger. You can also artificially set early blooms by spraying bloom clusters
with Blossom-Set, a plant hormone spray. Resulting fruit will have fewer
Protect tender transplants as soon as possible from virus-carrying insects
and environmental adversities with the covered cages. The larger a plant
is before infection occurs, the more productive it will be, and conversely.
To protect seedlings from birds or other varmints and vine crops (such as
broccoli and cole crops) from leaf-eating caterpillars, cover them with
spunweb. You can also use spunweb to"vine-ripen fruit.