If you’re an outdoor, semi-outdoor, or greenhouse grower then wildlife getting involved with your plants is inevitable. As far as the animal kingdom is concerned, the roots, stems, leaves, fruits, and flowers of your horticultural handiwork are absolutely fair game. Try telling them ‘no.’ See how far you get.
This can be a cause of anxiety for both new growers and those who more accustomed to indoor growing. And that’s understandable. When you’ve invested time, effort, and money in your plants there’s a natural instinct to lock things down and seal things up in order to prevent anything from getting in.
But this isn’t going to work, and it’s not for the best. Instead, you need to open up your space and your mind to greater possibilities. Here’s a little guide to why, how, and where AutoPot fits in.
What not ‘shut up shop’?
A closed environment without proper airflow or pollinating insects is rarely conducive to good plant health or yield. Sure, by hauling up the drawbridge you might prevent pests from getting in for a bit. But when they do penetrate your defences they are going to THRIVE on weaker plants grown in an over-heated, under-ventilated space that has no natural predators.
What pests might get in?
To be honest, anything and everything. Aphids, thrips, mites, whiteflies, greenflies, blackflies, slugs, snails, caterpillars – a veritable rogues gallery. Upsetting enough just to contemplate, they make you want to completely bubble your plants.
But you have to remember that all of the above are past-masters at getting into any space, open or closed. And, once inside, they will do infinitely better if that space is sealed up, probably damp, and overheating from lack of ventilation. Your best option is to open up and attract yield-enhancing pollinators and plant-defending predators.
on a cucumber in an easy2grow module – what exquisite taste he has!
What are pollinators?
Pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and moths carry pollen from the male parts of plant flowers to the female parts. In doing so they fertilise the plant, enabling the production of fruit or veg. About 75% of all crops are pollinated in this way, largely by insects.
True, there are many, commonly grown varieties of fruit and veg that are ‘wind-pollinated’ or ‘self-pollinating’ and not reliant on insects. But even those varieties benefit immensely from the presence of pollinators ‘putting it about a bit.’
The good news is that pollinators are easily wooed. Open up your space, and the flowers of your crops will be a natural magnet to them. You can also turbocharge the pollinator-pull of your space by ‘companion planting.’ All this simple trick involves is growing plants that pollinators love in-between your crops. Purple coneflowers, lavender, and borage are excellent choices.
By leaving your space open to pollinators you do also leave it open to pests. But don’t forget, pests are likely to get in anyway. And with an ‘open-door policy’ you can entice natural predators – the most effective and ecologically sound way of dealing with pests.
What are ‘natural predators’?
When it comes to plant pests, natural predators are your ‘enemy’s enemy’ – and therefore your friend. As is the way with the insect world, predators will do disgusting things to plant pests. Depending on your disposition, you can either choose to ignore their methods or revel in their (literal) inhumanity.
Crawling with caterpillars? Ally yourself with parasitic wasps. They’ll lay eggs inside the pests that hatch, keep the hosts alive for a week or two, control their minds, and finally eat their way out. They’ve no aversion to sucking on live whitefly larvae either.
Threatened by Thrips? Lacewing will impale the critters on their projecting jaws, squirt them with paralysing goo and digest live. Scourged by slugs and snails? Ground beetles will literally tear chunks off them with their hoary horns.
Ladybirds admittedly go about their business in a prettier way, but are fearsomely effective when it comes to playing Pac-Man with aphids. All of these predators are ready and willing, you just need to lure them in.
How do you attract natural predators?
Obviously the first step is to allow natural predators free access to your plants. Again, companion planting can also help in boosting the presence of beneficial insects. French marigolds, fennel, coriander, dill, and parsley are all ludicrously lovely to parasitic wasps, lacewings, and ladybirds. Keeping your wider environment chemical free, providing shelter, and retaining grassy margins are all excellent ways of encouraging ground beetles.
Where does AutoPot fit in?
It’d be a stretch to say that AutoPot offers direct benefits when it comes to attracting pollinators and predators. However, there are certainly a few interesting features that can, indirectly, give you a big advantage.
In an AutoPot Watering System, each plant is irrigated and fed according to its individual rate of uptake. That means it’s easy to have a thriving mix of plants all hooked up in a single system with a single reservoir. You can have marigolds, lavender, and herbs on the same system as tomatoes, peppers, and chillies with every plant automatically getting exactly what it needs.
Responsive, on-demand watering like this also means more flowers, which means more pollinators and more fruit. It also means healthier plants that are better suited to semi-open conditions when the weather is right.
Finally, unlike watering cans or dripper systems, AutoPot waters from beneath the pot via an enclosed tray. This means there’s less in the way of wet surface grow media. If the surface grow media is drier it’s far less attractive to pests, meaning it is safer to leave your growing space open to attract pollinators and predators. An added advantage of watering from beneath is that flowers and foliage don’t suffer water damage, maximising their appeal to pollinators.
Where do I begin?
Now is probably not the time to start optimising your greenhouse, semi-outdoor, or outdoor space for pollinators and predators – unless it’s spring/summertime where you are. But, if you’re anything like us, your mind will never be far from the coming season and how you’ll go one better next time around. Opening up and embracing the natural world is a great place to start.