Caring for plants may not be such an easy task for beginners. Inexperience and even excessive care can damage seedlings. Thinking about helping those who want to save that withered plant, Adelson dos Santos Fernandes, a registered gardener at GetNinjasapplication for contracting services, offers some guidelines.
1. Attention to the leaves
Just by taking a look, you can already see if a plant is healthy or not because of its leaves. According to Adelson, a healthy plant is one that has bright green leaves. However, when the leaves look faded, withered, yellowed and brittle, it is necessary to light a warning sign.
According to the professional, numerous factors can trigger these signs. “It might be the lack or even excess waterinappropriate location, too little or too much light. Everything depends, first of all, on the type of plant we are dealing with”, comments the gardener. Therefore, the recommendation is to study the specimen in question and test small changes in the routine.
2. Lack of nutrients
If changes such as the amount of water, change of location/space do not work, it is interesting to investigate whether the plant is suffering from nutrient shortages.
“Plants with nutrient deficiencies (calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium) have slow growth and yellow leaves. Furthermore, the lack of such substances also inhibits flowering and fruit abortion”, explains Adelson.
To solve some of these shortcomings, it may be interesting to invest in fertilizationeither with organic fertilizers or mineral fertilizers.
3. Pests
According to Adelson, the most common pests are leaf-cutting ants (also known as ants), slugs/snails, caterpillars, aphids and mealybugs. The identification of the pests can be done during the analysis of the leaves, since such pests usually leave a trail of destruction of the little plants.
The professional explains that the cut leaves are signs of ants, snails and caterpillars. When the leaves have spots, the villain is the aphid. Finally, the characteristic that reveals the presence of mealybugs is the whitish appearance of the leaves. To deal with such pests, it is interesting to invest in use of industrialized or homemade insecticides.
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2 Liter Plastic Watering Can – Amazon R$20.00: click and check it out!
* The generated links may yield some type of remuneration for Editora Abril. Prices and products were quoted in January 2023 and may be subject to change and availability.