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How to protect plants. How to protect plants from spring frosts. Use of special tools

Return frosts can bring a lot of problems. Unfortunately, I did not immediately understand this truism. I had to learn from my mistakes, and the price for them was the loss of some plants and part of the future harvest. To warn you against such mistakes, I want to discuss this topic that is relevant for many summer residents.
Let's figure out what danger return frosts pose, how to predict them and, most importantly, how to prevent their harmful effects on plants.
Why are return frosts dangerous?
The damage that return frosts can cause to many representatives of heat-loving crops is enormous. However, in the first months of spring they do not pose any threat, because young plants that have just put out leaves will not have time to freeze. In the worst case, only the edges of the leaves will be damaged, but it won’t take long before they recover.
A much greater danger is fraught with late return frosts that occur in middle lane Russia until the 10th of June. They coincide with the flowering of berry crops and fruit trees, the emergence and planting of seedlings of heat-loving tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc., for which sudden frosts are not just dangerous, but disastrous. The fact is that young leaves, flowers and buds are incredibly sensitive to cold and are not able to withstand it. Under the influence of low temperatures, cell sap begins to freeze, which causes membrane ruptures, leading to cell death and, ultimately, to the death of the plants themselves.
Not everyone is afraid of return frosts
A number of plants respond to return frosts completely painlessly. These are primarily cold-resistant crops that can withstand low temperatures without significant damage: parsley (up to -7...-9 °C), carrots (up to -5...-7 °C), celery (up to -3...-5 °C), as well as onions, dill and spinach - up to - 5…-7 °С.
Who can be harmed by spring frosts?
Some plants, under the influence of even a short-term sharp cold snap, may temporarily stop growing. Others may even freeze or significantly reduce yields.
If we talk about stone fruits - cherry, apple, peach, pear, apricot, plum - then a temperature of about -4 ° C will be destructive for their buds. They are most vulnerable at the moment of flowering: then they can suffer even at -2 ° C.
But the first to suffer, even at -1 °C, are heat-loving crops and crops growing close to the ground. These include cucumbers, zucchini, berries, pumpkin, etc., as well as young seedlings flower crops, such as kobeya, datura, zinnia, etc.
For minor negative temperatures Unhardened or weakly rooted seedlings of tomatoes, peppers or eggplants can also be seriously damaged. It is unlikely to die from freezing at -1...-2 °C, but it will definitely stop growing, and the start of fruiting will be delayed by about 10-15 days. Therefore, in order to somehow protect the young plants, do not forget to harden them a few days before planting the seedlings in the ground, creating conditions in which the plants will soon have to “settle.”
How to predict return frosts
Despite the fact that winters have become clearly warmer in the last decade, the likelihood of spring return frosts increased. Of course, it is impossible to predict them 100%. But why not take advantage of Mother Nature’s hints and weather forecasters’ forecasts, which, admittedly, have become quite accurate?
You should not blindly trust a forecast heard, for example, on TV. Forecasters are people just like you and me, and technology does not provide a 100% guarantee, so they can also make mistakes. In addition, the forecast may be correct for your region, but not for your garden plot. Plants in your dacha may be damaged by frost, but those in your neighbors may remain intact. This depends on the different exposure of the slopes and terrain, as well as on the presence of forest plantations and even reservoirs near the site.
To be sure that the forecast is correct, it is better to compare data from several sources (television, Internet, etc.). Nature itself will help you predict frosts, but you just need to be a little more careful. So, if in the evening the air temperature on the thermometer has approached +1...+2 °C, most likely there will be a slight frost at night, and all heat-loving plants need protection. Moreover, the lowest temperatures occur not at night, as many gardeners believe, but at sunrise.
Factors such as cessation of precipitation, clear sky and the subsidence of wind currents. And, conversely, in windy, rainy or simply cloudy weather the likelihood of frost is minimal.
Protecting the garden from return frosts
There are many ways to protect against frost. Some of them do an excellent job. Others, as practice has shown, are quite labor-intensive, questionable or ineffective. It is impossible to consider them all in one article, so let's talk about the most popular ones: sprinkling, smoke, building shelters and using fertilizers.
Sprinkling method
This method is used when the temperature drops to 0 °C. To sprinkle, you need to put a fine sprayer on the watering hose (the stream should look like raindrops) and completely spray the trees and shrubs that may be damaged by frost with water. As the water freezes, heat will be released, which will save the plants.
Beds with plants are also watered using a sprayer attached to a hose (watering can), or using a drip irrigation system. Watering is carried out in the evening, literally a few hours before the expected frost. As soon as the temperature drops closer to 0 °C, the water will gradually begin to evaporate. The resulting steam will serve as reliable protection for the plants. The fact is that it has a large heat capacity, which means it will not allow cold air flows to the ground, and plants will be able to safely endure short-term frosts.
The sprinkling method is considered quite effective at freezing temperatures of about -5 °C. True, it will only help in calm weather. Otherwise, your efforts will simply be wasted.
Smoking method
The smoking method as a means of protecting plants from frost has been one of the most popular for many years, or even decades.

Its essence is that fires are lit in the area and a warm smoke screen is created. It softens the negative effects of frost on plants.
Fuel can be straw, sawdust, small brushwood, fallen leaves, potato tops and even manure. It is not so important what material will become the basis for saving fires. The main thing is to prevent its rapid combustion: it is necessary that it does not burn, but smolders, releasing a large number of smoke. To do this, most of the above materials must be burned wet.
The fire must be arranged in such a way that the smoke spreads throughout the treated area. Determine in advance where the breeze is blowing from (if there is a strong wind, there is no point in using the smoking method). One fire about 1.5 m wide and 40-60 cm high is enough to process 1 hundred square meters. For its construction, pre-prepared material is distributed in this way: about 20 cm of dry material (leaves, brushwood, straw, etc.) is laid on the bottom, and a layer of wet material (up to 40-60 cm) is placed on top, which will be the source of smoke. A three-centimeter layer of earth is evenly distributed on top, leaving a small space in the center: smoke will pass through it.
All of the above is true for small areas. If there is a need to use the smoking method over a large area (for example, in large gardens), it is more advisable to use smoke bombs rather than fires.
Smoke begins as soon as the thermometer approaches 0 °C. It should continue until sunrise: that’s when the temperature reaches its peak minus values. Therefore, by sunrise the area should be covered with a thick layer of smoke.
Despite its popularity and a number of advantages, the main ones being the relative ease of implementation and low cost, this method also has disadvantages, due to which it is today considered, if not ineffective, then at least questionable.
Disadvantages of the method:
**Unable to use during strong winds.
**Not environmentally friendly. Much has already been said about the dangers of burning dry leaves and other garden waste.
**In order for the method to work, there must still be a slight breeze. It is extremely rare to observe it at night during frost, when the pressure is high. If there is no small breeze that could carry the warm smoke around the area, there will be no sense in the smoke, the smoke will simply go into the sky.
All of these options for saving plants from frost are good if you are constantly on the site or can quickly get to it. But what about those who are rarely at the dacha and don’t have the opportunity to take care of the plants right now? The answer is simple: the following method in the fight against recurrent frosts is ideal for you - installing shelters.
Shelters made from scrap materials
Simple structures made of various covering materials and a frame made of wood, reinforcement or metal-plastic pipes - i.e. something like small greenhouses.
Creating such shelters will not take much time, and it does not require special knowledge, but the benefits will be enormous. In addition, dismantling them if necessary is as easy as installing them.
The simplest shelter, which can safely be called a greenhouse, can be easily built from several identical pieces metal-plastic pipe, bent into an arc and installed in a row at a distance of approximately 50 cm from each other. An ordinary thick film or any other covering material is stretched on top: 1 layer in case of a slight cold snap and 2 layers if the cold snap promises to be stable.

To protect from frost flowering shrubs- karyopteris, cyanothus, David's buddleia and others - just wrap them with burlap, film or agrospan. Strawberry flowers, which die already at a temperature of about -1 ° C, must also be covered with agrospan before the onset of light frosts.
Small plants can be covered with trimmed plastic bottles, paper caps or plastic buckets (large cups) of sour cream.
Ordinary soil can also be an excellent shelter from frost. So that the potato seedlings are not damaged, it is enough to simply hill them up. Covering hilling will help protect the leaf mass and reliably protect the mother tuber, which means that the potatoes will not be afraid of frost. Hilling can be repeated until the threat of return frosts has completely passed.
The exception is cases of planting potatoes with mini- and microtubers, botanical seeds, as well as layering and sprouts. The fact is that at the beginning of the growing season these plants are still very weak. After hilling, they simply will not be able to break through thick layer soil and die.
Shelters made from scrap materials do an excellent job and reliably protect plants from frost. The main thing to remember is that whatever protective material you use, it should not touch the leaves.
Protection in greenhouses and greenhouses
If frosts are expected in the area of ​​-4...-7 °C, you will have to take additional care of the inhabitants of greenhouses and greenhouses: they also need shelter.
To do this, you can use old newspapers, burlap or modern covering materials - agrospan, lutrasil, etc.
In the event that it is not possible to cover the plants inside the greenhouse (you won’t be removing already grown tomatoes and cucumber vines from the supports), the greenhouse itself must be insulated. To do this, build an additional covering from the same materials. It can be secured both outside and inside. Just don’t attach the second covering close to the first; leave a small air gap between them: this way you are guaranteed to protect all the “inhabitants” of the greenhouse from frost.
If plants need to be covered for several days, no matter where they grow - in open ground or in a greenhouse, it is more advisable to use modern covering materials. It is advisable to remove covers from plants no earlier than 8-9 am.
Cobblestones and plastic bottles, it turns out, can also be effective helpers in this matter. In order to protect plants growing in a greenhouse from return frosts, place cobblestones or dark plastic bottles pre-filled with water near them. Having heated up during the day, they will give off heat at night, working on the principle of radiators.
Anti-frost fertilizers
Foliar fertilizing with phosphorus and potassium will also help to effectively resist the destructive effects of frost (down to -5 °C).
Important: fertilizing to increase the frost resistance of plants must be done 10-24 hours before the onset of frost, otherwise such procedures will be of no use.
There is probably no ideal way to protect plants from return frosts. Each of the above is good in its own way, each has its own disadvantages. Which one you prefer is up to you to decide. But no matter what method you choose, the plants will in any case be grateful for your care and give you a generous harvest.

Our grandparents still remember those times when the climate was stable and fairly predictable, winter was snowy and frosty, spring was warm, summer was hot and there was sufficient rainfall, and in the fall the harvest from the gardens could be harvested until the end of October. Today, unfortunately, weather surprises cause many problems for gardeners.

Spring frosts can cause significant damage fruit trees and shrubs, seedlings of heat-loving crops, flower beds and flower beds. The quantity and quality of the harvest suffers from them, and people who grow vegetables and fruits professional level, incur significant losses. In order to withstand this natural anomaly, you must be able to determine the time of onset of frosty weather and be thoroughly prepared for it. In this article we will talk about methods and means of protecting plants from frost, which can occur even in late spring.

What kinds of frosts happen and how to predict them

In order to understand how to fight it, you need to “know the enemy by sight.” Science divides late spring frosts into adventive, radiation and mixed.

Adventive frosts occur during the period of invasion of Arctic air masses into the territory. There are no methods to counter this natural phenomenon; it is useless to fight them. One good thing is that this type frosts are typical mainly in the northern regions, where the planting season and bud break occur at a later period.

Radiation freezes occur quite often, and the reasons for their occurrence are still practically unknown. This phenomenon is associated with night cooling of the surface layer of soil. During the day, the earth warms up under the influence of sun rays and gives thermal energy into the surrounding space. At the same time, equal heat comes from the atmosphere. At some point, this mechanism is disrupted, and the soil gives off more heat than it receives from the air. As a result, there is a sharp decrease in the temperature of the surface layer of the earth. Such frosts are short-lived, occur in streaks and, as a rule, occur on clear, windless and cloudless nights.

Most often, mixed frosts (adventive and radiation) are observed. They are accompanied by a systematic decrease in temperature during inclement weather and continue quite for a long time and capture large territories.

In order to be fully armed and be able to provide plants with effective assistance, you need to know about the onset of frost in advance. This information can be obtained from the weather forecast in the media.

As you know, weather forecasters are often wrong, so you have to rely on your own observations of weather changes, which will help you be well prepared for the onset of unexpected cold weather. The approach of frost is always indicated by a sharp drop in temperature in the evening after a warm day. spring day and the absence of dew on the grass, as well as windless, dry, cloudless weather.

A bit of theory

Different cultures deal with lower temperatures differently. Cold-resistant plants adequately resist spring frosts, and there is no need to worry about them when cold weather sets in. For example, carrot shoots and cabbage seedlings can withstand frost down to -6 ° C, parsnips and celery - up to minus 5, and parsley and lettuce - up to 9 degrees below zero.

Warm-loving crops such as peppers, tomatoes and eggplants cannot tolerate even slight drops in temperature. Hypothermia greatly weakens the plant’s immunity, which can cause a number of dangerous diseases in the future.

It should be noted that from spring frosts Unhardened and poorly rooted seedlings of heat-loving crops suffer the most. Seedlings early vegetables Must be grown in pots. This ensures that it is not damaged during transplantation. root system. Plants take root faster and gain strength, and, therefore, resist cold weather more actively.

Fertile, rich, loose soil helps plants during difficult periods. They have enough air for active development, they warm up better in the sun. However, loose soil, cleared of weeds, cools much faster. This must also be taken into account when frost occurs.

Crops planted in unfavorable areas - lowlands and northern slopes - suffer the most from low temperatures. Here, subzero temperatures are observed more often, and frosts last much longer than in areas with convex relief or in open areas. Near rivers or large bodies of water, the risk of spring frosts is reduced many times.

Smoking

Fumigation or smoking is a well-known, long-used method of combating spring frosts. This technology is based on the fact that smoke creates an artificial cloud, and the radiation of heat from the soil is noticeably reduced. In addition, when fumigated, dust particles are able to condense water vapor present in the air, resulting in the formation of fog that protects plants.

To protect against frost by smoking, heaps of materials that are capable of smoldering with low combustion are prepared in advance on the site. Firewood and brushwood are placed at the bottom of the pile, on which straw, manure, and leaves are piled. All this is compacted and covered with a layer of earth 2-3 centimeters thick. Such smoke piles (measuring 1 meter high and 1.5 meters wide) are designed for a 15-hour fumigation period; for the best result, it is necessary to lay them out at a frequency of one pile per 10 square meters. To allow smoke to escape and air to enter, holes are made from above and on the leeward side.

The main disadvantage of this method is its complexity. Frosts, in most cases, are not limited to one night, and therefore next night smoke piles need to be restored. This method is effective only in calm weather and at temperatures down to minus 4 degrees. Once the threat of frost has passed, unburned material from smoke piles can be used as fertilizer or mulch.

Sprinkling and watering

To reduce thermal radiation from the soil, you can use the method of creating artificial fogs (sprinkling). This method is quite effective during short-term frosts. The essence of this method is to spray the plants with water using any possible ways. This work can be carried out at night, until sunrise. At this time, the leaves and stems of plants are covered with a thin crust of ice, which can protect the crop from frost down to minus 5°.

This method of protection from spring frosts, such as irrigation, has long been used in agricultural practice. Watering very well increases the thermal conductivity and heat capacity of the earth. By wet soil at night, heat is transferred from the depths to the surface much more efficiently than on dry days. After evening watering, condensation occurs, accompanied by the release of heat. And in this warm cloud, plants will be able to withstand short-term temperature drops of up to -4 degrees.

When using sprinkling and watering, the well-known laws of physics apply, when freezing one gram of water releases 80 calories of heat, which increases the temperature around the plant.

Covering

Covering plants is by far the most effective and most common method of protection. heat-loving plants from spring frosts. This method has only one drawback - it is not suitable for protecting large trees.

Individual shelters are the most primitive part of this method. Such shelters can be built over each individual hole or bush of seedlings. Any materials on hand will do. Plants can be covered paper bags from juice or dairy products, or plastic bottles. Covering it can be a good protection for newly planted seedlings. glass jars, and some gardeners use cardboard packaging boxes for this purpose. Burlap and matting are also suitable for protecting crops from frost; many people use hay or sawdust for these purposes.

Tomatoes and potatoes can be covered with soil. In this case, the tomato seedlings are carefully bent to the ground and sprinkled with a 2-3 cm thick layer of earth. The tomatoes can remain under such cover for several days. To protect against frost, young potato sprouts can simply be hilled up.

The use of polyethylene film is possible with some restrictions. The fact is that you can’t just throw polyethylene over the plants. On frosty nights, when the film comes into contact with leaves, plants can receive significant burns. Polyethylene film is not capable of retaining heat at the proper level and shelters made from it can only be used as an additional means, and only if it is stretched over a frame. You can, for example, cover the plants with paper or hay, and put a frame with stretched polyethylene on top. In this case, an additional air bag, which improves protection against sub-zero temperatures.

Today the farmer's market offers gardeners big choice agrofibre. This non-woven polypropylene material very light, and at the same time has good thermal protective properties. Agrofibre can be thrown over plants without using a frame. This material allows water to pass through well, and after rain the soil under it does not need to be watered. Moreover, in hot weather, the soil covered with agrofibre perfectly retains moisture.

Agrofibre comes in various thicknesses and densities. Most thin version will help protect plants if the temperature drops to minus 3°, and agrofibre of greater density and thickness helps with frosts down to minus 7-9 degrees. When purchasing agrofibre in a specialized store, you must definitely consult with the seller about this. Light agrofibre can be laid directly on plants freely and without tension, sprinkling earth around the edges. For large plants, it is better to make arcs from wire.

Features of garden protection

When late spring frosts occur, the level of danger for trees and shrubs depends on the phase of plant development. For example, buds and already blossoming flowers can be damaged if the temperature drops to minus 3-4 degrees, and the formed ovaries will die at minus 1 °C.

Trees and shrubs growing in lowlands and on northern slopes are especially affected, since the intensity and duration of frosts in these places is much higher than in elevated areas and on flat surface. But near rivers, ponds and other large bodies of water garden trees and shrubs are almost never damaged by frost. These factors must be taken into account when setting up a garden.

You can protect trees and shrubs using all the methods we discussed above. That is, smoking, sprinkling and covering plants are suitable here. Many gardeners, when cold weather sets in, place many containers of water under the trees. In specialized stores you can buy smoke bombs, the use of which helps protect trees at temperatures down to minus 4 degrees. The smoke from such bombs covers the leaves with a layer of paraffin, which protects them from the icy dew that falls in the morning. It is good to cover small trees and shrubs with dense agrofibre using a frame made of wire arches. However, this method is not suitable for large branched trees.

Some gardeners, when spring frosts occur, heat the garden using special heating pads. Old iron buckets, large cans and others are suitable for making such devices. metal containers. These containers are filled with used oil, diesel fuel, fuel oil - that is, that flammable material that will not be too expensive for you. A cross made of tin or mesh is placed on the heating pad, and a wick in the form of a stick dipped in kerosene is installed on it. When frosty weather sets in, you just need to light the wick. Placing such heating pads at the rate of two per hundred square meters will help raise the air temperature around trees and shrubs by 5-6 degrees.

Some gardeners, especially those living closer to northern latitudes, use the so-called biological method combating spring frosts. The essence of this method is to inhibit the onset of flowering of trees and shrubs.

You can slow down the onset of flowering with the help of early spring watering, which reduces the air temperature in the garden and increases its humidity. summer pruning Such stone fruit crops as peach and apricot contribute to the appearance of a second wave of growth of young shoots, on which buds later appear, and, accordingly, flowering and fruit formation begin later.

A few words about resuscitation

Do not despair if, despite using protective methods, your plants still suffered from frost. Many plants can be brought back to normal by spraying them in the morning before sunrise with water from a spray bottle. This will help them recover faster.

Root feeding with a solution of nitroammophoska - at the rate of 50 grams per bucket of water (a bucket of solution per 1 m 2) - helps to speed up recovery. Foliar feeding, that is, spraying the leaves, can also significantly improve the health of the crop. For spraying, you can prepare a solution according to this recipe: take 2 grams of boron, copper and manganese and dissolve it all in a bucket of water. Instead of water, it is best to use an infusion of fermented weeds, if available.

Loosening the soil promotes better regrowth of frost-damaged plants.

And also, do not rush to remove damaged tomato seedlings - a quite “passable” harvest can form on the side shoots.

A person does not have the ability to influence weather changes, but we can help our garden and vegetable garden actively resist the onset of cold weather. To do this in the spring, you need to carefully monitor changes in weather conditions and prepare everything in advance. available funds protection.

Turischeva Olga, rmnt.ru

You keep thinking that suburban area just for you, your children and your grandchildren? But that’s not true! What about our favorites (cats and dogs, hamsters and more advanced ferrets and minks)? After all, we are sad and lonely without them, just like they are without us.

I am sure that not a single summer resident will leave his pet at home in a city apartment. Out of town, in the sun, on the grass - for health and summer fun. We are all happy to pamper our pets. How to properly prepare the site for their reception?

Let's start with dogs. All dogs are guard dogs. But in large dogs (Dobermans, Rottweilers, mastiffs and shepherds) the guard function is especially well developed. And their favorite route for jogging is along the perimeter of the fence. As a result of a 2-3 week run along the fence, a path with a width of 0.5 to 1 m is formed. Moreover, all the plants that come across their path will either be demolished by a powerful carcass, or will be weeded out by equally powerful teeth.

Therefore, if your pet belongs to this breed, the main task is to give him the opportunity to freely perform his functions. And a 1 m wide track of grass next to the fence will only help your dog stay in great shape.

But another problem may arise here. Running around the perimeter is boring and monotonous. And even the barking of passing people and dogs does not bring proper animation to a dog’s life. And then the owner called. Forward! Run! Through the entire site and plantings! Which flower didn’t hide - it’s not my fault! In this case, it is necessary to plan all the landscaping of the site taking into account the through traffic of the “friend of flowers and trees.” Plant curtains with a fairly dense wall. And in some cases, a small, strong fence made of steel mesh will bring greater confidence in the problem of planting survival.

But running is not the only problem. The food preferences of our pets are very interesting. The tasty and juicy bark of rose hips and roses perfectly compensates for the lack of vitamin C in dogs. I remember a case when two dogs (a Rottweiler and a mastiff) trimmed a 70-meter-long rose hip hedge “on the stump” during the fall and winter. One good thing is that after this “pruning” the hedge became fluffier and rejuvenated.

Acacia, honeysuckle, and a number of annual flowers are also tasty, and for some “gourmets” tulip bulbs and muscari are also good. Young actinidia roots are a delicious treat for cats. Therefore, I recommend protecting them immediately after planting in the first year with either boards or mesh.

Now about the problems with the toilet. Everyone knows that cats and cats love sand. And rhododendrons love light sandy soil with the addition of peat. The roots of rhododendrons are shallow, and soft cat paws tear them up without much difficulty. There is only one conclusion - mulching with pine bark.

Dogs do things a little differently. They choose a part of the lawn (usually the most closed one) for the toilet, and the owners are left with one problem - to clean it regularly. But dog marks!!! Every thuja, every juniper and dwarf spruce will be marked, if not protected by netting or other natural barriers. Moreover, traces of this mark are visible visually. A black oily coating forms on dried leaves and bark. True, this problem only applies to male dogs.

As I wrote before, it is a great blessing and joy. Including for dogs. But how can you not come into the house and wipe yourself on the bed and sofa? And bring sand on your paws and dirt on your sides. What to do?

Of course, there is an option - do not let the wool into the house until the wool is completely dry, but you can also pave the banks of the pond with a path of paving slabs and lead the same path to the house. The amount of dirt will be significantly reduced.

What to sow the lawn with? If you have animals, then under no circumstances use a sports mixture. Sports grass mixture is made from tough, fast-growing grasses. There are known cases of paws of cats and dogs being pricked on stubble and tongue cuts in cats.

Now about other living creatures . Birds They love to build nests and live in birdhouses. Sometimes they feed in feeders. Both we and the cats admire this process. But we do it platonically, and cats do it from a practical point of view. To avoid excesses, it is better to place both feeders and birdhouses not on thick trees, but on poles and walls, along which our pets cannot climb there.

Bunnies, mice, moles They also have the right and opportunity to live on your land. And no decree or resolution can stop their reproduction and prosperity.

Some tips for stopping their activities. A high solid fence and winter harness help keep bunnies out fruit crops metal masonry mesh with a mesh size of no more than 1 cm. The same mesh will protect fruit plants and from mice. It is convenient to place mouse poison in ceramic drainage pipes. But we must not forget that cats and dogs can eat a poisoned mouse. Wouldn't it be better to let the cat solve the problem of the mouse population himself?

They live underground and feed on worms and various insects. The most effective method of disposal, in our experience, is kerosene. It is necessary to pour 100-200 g of good kerosene into each mound (after excavating it first). And the animal will leave your land.

You are a gardener. You have currants and honeysuckle. And in February your site became more frequent bullfinches. Don't trust them. They didn’t come to decorate your area, but to peck flower buds. Therefore, a bird net or, at worst, gauze can preserve your harvest.

And yet we should not forget that without animals and birds our life is boring and monotonous. And watching the pranks of our pets calms the nerves much better than any patented drugs or alcohol.

Mikhail Mikhailov, CEO"Mika" company
Photo by the author

A chicken can peck, a horse can kick, a cat can scratch, a sparrow can fly away. We know how animals can protect themselves. How do plants protect themselves?, if they cannot run away or bite, the enemies don’t even need to sneak up. The plants will remain in their place and will not even move.

How are plants protected? They carry weapons.

In the North Caucasus there grows a bush with very tenacious branches that grab the intruder with hooks, like powerful claws. You can get out of the thickets on rocky slopes with torn clothes, scratched hands, and tattered pants.

Residents call this plant derzhiderev. And they advise not to take shortcuts when leaving the path into the thickets, and not to anger an angry native. The pain from scratches and cuts lasts a long time.

In the forest, in the garden, in the field, people constantly encounter similar plants. They defend themselves skillfully. And their weapons are dangerous: barely get distracted and you’ll end up with splinters in your fingers or needles in your skin. Just have time to groan.

Raspberries grow in the garden. Oh, we love her for fragrant berries, behind healing properties. But you can’t yawn, it will immediately hurt you. She knows how to defend herself. But with raspberries, not only humans are the enemy, but also insects, who are very hungry for its tasty leaves. But the raspberry will not allow either a caterpillar or a snail to approach its leaves; it can even tear its abdomen with its prickly needles.

Rose hips grow in tufts, their enemies will be larger than raspberries, and their means of defense are also more serious than those of raspberries. Real stings, very sharp, capable of making deep puncture wounds. A person who likes to escape from flu and colds in winter with tea made from rose hips must pay very good attention to the thorns and berries, otherwise there will be trouble.

From large ruminants. The rosehip grows not as a slender tree, but as a bush with shoots flowing down to the ground, all of them twisted and intertwined, like tumbleweeds. Maybe the military learned from the rosehip tree how to make barbed wire barriers?

Barberry turned some of its leaves into thorns, Thistle tried to stretch out the veins of the leaf and they grew beyond the border of the leaves and became thorns. The skin on the branches of the rosehip has turned into thorns. The dwarf tree sacrificed its stipules, which became thorns.

This is how plants protect themselves.

How are plants protected? Instead of a leaf there is a saw.

An ancient man invented, or rather spied, how do plants protect themselves?, and adopted their methods. This is how a scraper was created from a flint fragment with jagged edges. Then it was time for the sickle.

Many plants have tooth-shaped leaf edges. Birch, sedge. But birch cloves do no harm to anyone, and sedge is a very angry plant: you just lightly run your finger along the edge of the leaf blade and blood immediately comes out of the torn wound. Because only under a microscope can you see that the edge of the leaf has jagged teeth. Therefore, animals avoid sedge thickets, and if, out of stupidity or ignorance, they decide to bite off a succulent leaf, the sedge will immediately show how do plants protect themselves?. There will be no more attacks.

Why can sedge defend itself with its barbs, but birch cannot? Because sedge can extract silicon from the soil and deposit it in the leaves, making them hard. And such a saw is very durable and will never become dull.

How trees protect themselves from insects.

Trees created bark for themselves. As long as the bark is intact, the tree is not in danger. But there are many people who love wood, for example, wood-boring beetles. They make holes and passages in the bark, and then fungi can settle in them and destroy the tree over time. There are a lot of bugs, but the forests are standing.

It turns out that trees have invented their own way of protecting themselves. As soon as the bug gets into the tissue, resin begins to be released, which locks the thief in his hole, like in a dungeon. At the same time, a bandage will appear on the wound. That’s why beetles don’t like the smell of turpentine and leave such trees.

For such protection, trees have come up with a whole arsenal: the tissues have a special system of tubes, something similar to the human lymphatic system, and resin flows through these tubes. But it is thick, viscous, cannot flow on its own, special cells adjust it. Resin is formed right there in tubes, in special bubbles.

In gardens, trees also know how to defend themselves. Cherry trees have gum that flows, sometimes the entire trunk is covered in amber drops and shines in the sun.

Oak also knows how plants can defend themselves.

Somehow, during excavations, scientists found a well-preserved boat, and it was 3000 years old. How could the oak tree protect itself from destruction?

It turns out that there are plants that have learned to protect themselves from rotting. This is oak, willow. Even felled willow does not rot for a long time. People noticed this and began to soak their leather boots in water with willow branches. This is how they made yuft.

Tanners found another plant - alder. She also knows how plants protect themselves. But especially valuable tree– oak. Its wood is impregnated with substances that prevent rotting, they are called tannins.

Imitators. How plants defend themselves, I use the glory of their protector.

In any garden there are certainly thickets of nettles. Everyone knows that it is good for health, but harmful for cultural plantings. Before you know it, it will fill the entire garden. equipped its leaves and stems with burning hairs. They are like fragile glass vessels: as soon as someone touches a nettle, the hairs immediately break, the points pierce the skin, and a fire begins.

And all because nettle holds formic acid in those hairs. Animals and insects are afraid of this acid; only the urticaria caterpillars and the peacock's eye are not afraid of the formidable weapon. They love to feed on nettles, but they also have to be careful, so they don’t do much harm to it.

There is another plant, popularly it is also called nettle, but it is deaf. Because it’s not nettle at all, but nettle. But how similar she is to a burning beauty! Yasnotka also knows how to defend herself; she uses the nettle's notoriety. Animals don’t touch it, and people avoid the thickets.

There are others who know how nettles defend themselves, so they have become like them - this nettle-leaved bell and green chickweed.

Ghostly dreams or how plants protect themselves with the help of smells.

All villagers know: if the house is full of flies, you need to put a bouquet of larkspur in a bucket of water. And cockroaches can be driven out of the house with the bird cherry spirit. Ledum, elderberry, and juniper were also suitable for insecticidal treatment of homes.

Much later, chemists realized that this same spirit was hydrocyanic acid, a volatile poison. The volatile substances were called phytoncides. We know them from walks in the pine forest.

This weapon is very formidable, animals don’t have anything like it. Plants are protected from bacteria with the help of phytoncides. Phytoncides are released by all parts: the roots in the soil stand guard, the flowers, and the leaves. There doesn’t have to be a wound on the plant; even a whole sprout is capable of fighting invaders.

How do plants protect themselves? with the help of phytoncides? They made them. Few enemies are making their way through it; tannins, resins, thorns, and thorns are already fighting them.

Birds have learned to use the methods of plants: shrikes make nests from wormwood stems, and ticks cannot stand its smell, and sparrows and eagles all carry wormwood to their nests. If there is no wormwood, they pull garlic from the beds!

Plants know how to defend themselves. And people, in their ignorance, still consider them defenseless, so they poison them with chemicals.

It's a pity. Let ours become clean and our products environmentally friendly. That's why the land was given to us.

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Pet owners have to look for information on various sites on how to protect flowers from cats. The material below describes the most available methods scaring your pet away from plants. They should be used with caution so as not to harm either the flowers or the animal itself.

Pepper and orange peel on plant protection

The easiest way to protect flowers from cats is to simply sprinkle black or red pepper on the windowsill and in pots with plants. The fragrant peppery smell is poorly tolerated by animals, so the cat will avoid undesirable places side.

However, this method has its own side effects– a person may begin to sneeze when approaching a window. And for children, air with spicy aromas can be harmful. Therefore, as a more convenient alternative, it is better to use the peels of freshly peeled oranges: they are also laid out on the windowsill. But they will have to be changed quite often - the citrus aroma quickly disappears.

Essential oils to protect flowers

This fragrant remedy can be made independently at home based on essential oils any citrus and lavender. You can also use eucalyptus and mint. And the presence of the smell of citrus must be mandatory - after all, it is this that can protect indoor flowers from a cat.

The sequence of actions is as follows:

  • Take a container for a spray bottle (or a bottle where cologne used to be) and rinse thoroughly.
  • Add 3 tablespoons of water and 2 drops of each of these oils to it.
  • Mix all ingredients thoroughly and spray onto the ground in the pot.

Erecting obstacles

If the animal does not chew leaves, but simply digs the ground and bites the roots, you can simply place large pebbles, crushed stone and other heavy stones on the surface of the soil. However, it will be necessary to loosen the soil more often, otherwise the flower will begin to develop worse due to the lack of oxygen reaching the roots.

There are other methods of protection:

  • You can simply put the plants in a hard-to-reach place: this is the most effective protection of flowers from cats, although, unfortunately, it is not always possible in a city apartment.
  • If space allows, you can make a small flower garden: fence off all the plants by erecting glass partitions. With the help of effective lighting, such a “room” will decorate the house well and fit into almost any interior.
  • Interestingly, some flowers can also be hidden in a special glass flask (purchased in a special store). As a rule, cacti are protected in this way. A small stone is poured onto the ground, which creates the impression that the flower is growing in an “aquarium”.

Using foil and tape

Placing foil or tape on the ground (sticky side up) will make your cat feel uncomfortable when she steps on it. The foil rustles unpleasantly, and the paws begin to stick to the surface of the tape. Therefore, next time the desire to approach the flowers will disappear.

However, this method has a drawback: foil, tape and other similar materials significantly spoil the appearance of pots with plants. And during watering, you have to constantly remove the ribbons so that the water reaches the roots. Another drawback is that the foil gets very hot in the sun and can overheat the flower.

Use of special tools

You can buy it at a pet store special drugs that help protect flowers from cats:

  • "Antigadin";
  • "Anti-gryzin";
  • "Cat fernhalte."

As a rule, the preparations are sold in the form of a spray, which is sprayed onto the surface of the soil and next to the pot where the flowers grow. If the animal is already old, it is better to use other methods so as not to provoke allergies, painful reactions from the bronchi, etc.

The use of substances with a pungent odor (acetic essence, medical alcohol, vodka, etc.) is also undesirable. This poses a threat to both the health of the cat and the growth of flowers.

Raising a pet

There is a longer one, although it is enough effective method: the cat just needs to be trained so that it doesn’t climb on the windowsill and especially not go near the flowers. They use a fairly strong stimulus that creates a negative conditioned reflex. For example, as soon as the cat approaches the flower, turn on the vacuum cleaner at full power: the animal will get scared and immediately run away.

Some owners resort to more tough measures: they hit the pet on the head or body, but this method has a bad effect on further communication with the cat. She may become unsure of herself, become depressed, and even start acting out. If an animal digs the ground too often and bites flowers, despite punishment, this is with high probability indicates that the cat is under severe stress.

Protect your cat from flowers

The question of how to protect a cat from poisoning by poisonous plants is also important.:

  • philodendron;
  • spurge;
  • all types of begonia;
  • hydrangea;
  • crocus;
  • spathiphyllum;
  • Dieffenbachia;
  • English ivy and many others.

Pots with such flowers are placed in places inaccessible to the cat - on shelves, flower pots, containers hanging from the wall, etc. If it was not possible to save your pet from eating dangerous greens, and signs of poisoning are noticeable, it is better to immediately contact a veterinarian.

Thus, there are quite a lot of means that will help scare a cat away from plants in the house or in the garden. It is useful to know about measures to prevent such phenomena. To use them, it is better to understand the reason why the cat began to love house flowers. Perhaps he simply does not have enough vitamins - then it is better to buy grass for cats or regularly take special medications.