You love your garden and your crops. Like any good farmer, you have probably taken steps to prevent birds and animals from eating all of your plants, and you are eagerly anticipating your harvest. But not all things that threaten your plants are easily seen. Here are a few invisible dangers that you need to be paying attention to.
Fungus
Fungus is nothing to joke about when it comes to your plants. If just one of your plants ends up with a fungus, it can easily spread to the others, completely ruining your garden or your crop. Disease fungi are encouraged by poor drainage, inadequate airflow, and too much moisture. If your plants end up with a disease fungus, it may be possible to save them, but only if you act quickly with a fungicidal spray or dust. It’s better to prevent the growth of fungus than to try and fight it off later.
Transplant Struggles
If you are transplanting any of your crops or plants, you aren’t going to see a 100% success rate. And depending on the quality of the soil and the health of the plant, you could actually see a pretty big loss. This is especially important if you are transplanting trees. You can’t afford to replace every tree that struggles, so you need to make sure that you are doing it right from the beginning. Make sure you are strengthening the soil and that you choose healthy plants to transplant.
Erosion
Erosion is a problem that farmers try to cope with continually. While it is often possible to see the effects of erosion, seeing it as it occurs can be very difficult. There are many different types of erosion including sheet erosion where the force of rain removes topsoil slowly, wind erosion where strong winds blow away fertile topsoil, rill erosion caused by large amounts of water running down a hill, and gully erosion making it hard to get farm machinery into an area. There isn’t much you can do to prevent erosion, but you can use contour farming, create windbreaks, and reduce the amount of tilling to help lessen the effects of erosion.
Climate Change
Changes in the climate are an invisible threat to agriculture and it isn’t something you can do much about. Extreme weather and carbon dioxide can affect what crops grow well in what areas. While you can’t stop climate change, you can be aware of the weather patterns in your area and take whatever precautions you can to protect your plants. It may be helpful to talk with other farmers in your area and see if you can come up with a solution that will help all of you.
Some of these dangers are preventable and some are just a part of being a farmer, but knowing what you are up against is a huge part of the battle. Use your knowledge to prepare for and prevent any problems so you can have a great harvest.
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