Weeds Is not a specific plant species. In nature, they have equal rights with all other representatives of the flora. So they are called by those who groom and cherish vegetables, berries, flowers and fruits. All foreign plants in the garden are enemies for them. If you ask any gardener if weeds are needed in the garden, then everyone will answer - no, and he will be right.
But not everything is so simple. Outside the garden, weeds can not only bring tangible benefits, but also be a medicine for both people and plants. Some of them help to successfully fight various pests that annoy garden crops. They give signals about the acidity and fertility of the soil. Many can serve as mulch and even fertilizer. In a word, the functions of weeds many. But let's first figure out what kind of harm they do.
Weed damage
What harm do weeds bring to crops, animals and humans?
- They take food from cultivated species, preventing them from developing... Plants, which we call weeds, are taught by nature itself to develop without human intervention, ensuring their existence in all possible ways. In terms of water consumption and nutrition, most of them are far ahead of cultivated plants. Tall weeds, shading cultivated plants, impede their photosynthesis process, which can even lead to the death of vegetable plants. Weed control for better living conditions is depleting crop species. According to statistics, crop losses in agriculture due to weeds can reach a quarter, and with their strong distribution, half or more. Of course, on his personal plot, the gardener will not allow such an outrage of weeds and remove them in time. Remove weeds in the germination phase. An unbranched root will not sprout. If the root of the weed plant begins to branch out, the weed will surely grow back.
- They can serve as carriers of dangerous diseases, even if they themselves do not get sick. Wheatgrass and nettles can infect cereals with rust. The same wheatgrass transfers the pathogen of ergot and powdery mildew to cultivated plants. Together with bristle grass and wild oats, they infect garden crops with root rot. Nightshade carries potato cancer, and wild cruciferous plants are a source of downy mildew. Many viruses that infect cultivated plants first appear on weeds and from there are transferred by sucking insects to vegetables or cereals. Wheatgrass is a weed that is very difficult to remove from the garden. Even a 1 cm long piece of root can sprout. Dig up the soil with a pitchfork that does not cut the wheatgrass roots into pieces, carefully selecting even small pieces of roots.
- They give shelter to various pests of garden crops... Bindweed and sow thistle are the places where the winter moth lay eggs. Its caterpillars feed on plants of the cereal family. They are also affected by flies - Swedish and Hessian, they lay eggs on the roots of cereal weeds. On wild cruciferous plants, pests of cultivated species of this family breed: cabbage moths, fleas, cabbage.
- The meadow moth lay eggs on bindweed and wormwood, and its caterpillars harm many garden crops. Where wheatgrass is, there is always a lot of wireworm, it promotes its reproduction. Even if there are no weeds in the beds, but they rage in nearby areas, pests very easily move to cultivated plants. Mow grass on roadsides, along fences, or in your garden to prevent pests from breeding.
- Weeds can parasitize cultivated plants, sucking out nutrients from them.This is the difference between dodders and broomrape - parasitic plants.
- Falling into forage grasses, can cause poisoning in animals... If weed seeds enter the grain, the flour not only loses its taste, but can also become poisonous.
- Wild plants can be cross-pollinated with cultivated species, impairing their varietal qualities... This phenomenon is observed in cereals and crucifers. When growing cabbage seed plants, be careful not to grow rape, mustard and other wild cruciferous plants in the vicinity.
- Ambrosia is a weed that causes severe allergic reactions in humans.
Attention! During the flowering time of ragweed, all allergy sufferers need to take antihistamines so that the allergy does not worsen.
This is the behavior of weeds in fields and beds. Of course, they don't belong there. But all these plants are found in areas not developed by humans. Collected there they can serve a person well.
Weed use
How to use weeds for the benefit of humans and crops? The use of these plants is very diverse, and the benefits of weeds are not questioned.
- Food use. Surprisingly, many weeds can be successfully used as food plants. When cooked correctly, they are not only healthy, but also delicious. It turns out that soggy can be added to soups and salads, and even fermented like cabbage.
- Burdock roots are quite edible when boiled and fried. In Japan, this plant is grown as a cultivated plant, not a single variety of it is bred there. Many dishes are prepared from Siberian hogweed... From the roots of wheatgrass, grinding it in a meat grinder, you can make cutlets. Dandelion leaves and young clover and plantain leaves are added to the salad. And wood lice mixed with other herbs can serve as an excellent filling for pies.
The leaves of wild primrose contain a record amount of vitamin C, which is very important in the spring, when salads are made from it. Dandelion contains a lot of beta-carotene. Well, young nettle soup is just a classic. You can even make a dessert from weeds, for example, make delicious and healthy dandelion jam. When using wild plants for food, remember not to pick them near busy highways. Plants tend to absorb the pollutants emitted from car exhaust fumes.
- Many weeds are also medicinal... Their list is very large, and they often treat diseases more effectively than the usual medicines. Suffice it to recall yarrow, dandelion, nettle, clover, coltsfoot, St. John's wort, which can cure many diseases. The same wheatgrass helps with joint pain, kidney and respiratory tract diseases. There are plants that even help to cope with oncology. These are hemlock and aconite. Simple burdock is an excellent prophylactic agent against cancer. The rubbery molecules contained in its roots are similar to cancer cells. Once in the human body, they force it to produce special immune cells for their destruction. At the same time, all other atypical cells, including cancerous ones, are destroyed.
Japan is famous for its nutritional programs, in which the consumption of burdock is prominent. No wonder the Japanese are the healthiest nation in the world. Even the best medicinal plants have contraindications for their use. Consider this when planning to use herbal medicine. - Even in the garden beds, they can be useful. Timely weeded out and piled in a compost heap, they will be of invaluable benefit to gardeners who, with their help, will enrich the soil with organic matter and many useful substances... Most plants are rich in nitrogen, dandelion and sorrel leaves are rich in phosphorus, and chamomile, yarrow and nettle are sources of potassium. Horsetail will enrich the compost with silicon. There are also trace elements in weeds.If the cultivated plants have already gained strength, the control of weeds, especially annuals, can be slightly weakened. Covering the soil with a green carpet, they protect it from overheating. Left for the winter, they will enrich the soil with organic matter, their dead roots will become food for earthworms. Do not let the plants left on the beds inseminate, so that next season you will not have to fight them with a vengeance.
- Rich mineral composition of weeds allows you to prepare from them a fertilizer that is very useful for garden plants... The richer the herbal composition of such a fertilizer, the more benefits it will be for garden crops. Its preparation technology is very simple. A ¾ container is filled with chopped herbs and filled with water. During fermentation, the water is enriched with nutrients. After a week, the solution can be used for feeding, diluting it ten times with water. This green elixir is not suitable only for onions and garlic. All other garden plants respond to such feeding with increased growth. Do not use metal utensils to prepare this fertilizer. An undesirable oxidation process can occur in it.
- Weeds also help in pest control... Plants containing phytoncides such as wormwood, tansy, dandelion serve as natural insecticides in the fight against leaf-eating insects, ticks and many other pests. Decoctions and infusions from them are a mild and effective remedy. Unlike chemicals, natural ones are safe for humans, so their use is preferable.
- Weeds can be indicators that signal soil conditions... Horsetail, cinquefoil, three-horned violet, buttercup indicate that the soil is too acidic and it is time to lime it. If a large number of white marines have settled on a potato allotment, the site is depleted, and it is time to change it. If there is a lot of chamomile in the garden, the soil is too dense and needs to be loosened more often. And the spread of weeds from the cruciferous family indicates an excess of potassium in the soil.
- Weeds can also perform another very important function for gardeners - they can be used to create an excellent mulch layer that will help reduce the number of irrigations, prevent the soil from overheating, and increase its fertility. There are plants that mulch can prevent plant diseases. For example, a layer of nettle under the tomatoes will be a prophylactic agent against late blight.
Weeds that have already acquired seeds cannot be used for mulching, otherwise you can scatter them around the garden with your own hands.
Conclusion
There is nothing superfluous in nature. Weeds have the same right to exist as cultivated species. And to maintain a balance between the number of different plants is a human business.
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