For most people, the word "mustard" is associated with the seasoning that housewives add to culinary dishes; it is used in folk medicine in the treatment of colds, in everyday life, cosmetology, etc. However, she is also an excellent assistant at the summer cottage.

In the process of constant exploitation, the garden land is depleted, its composition becomes poorer. This leads to a deterioration in the development of cultivated plants, a decrease in the quantity and quality of vitamins, minerals and trace elements contained in fruits, berries and vegetables. The use of irrigation water also helps to wash out nutrients from the soil.

Mustard white

Therefore, to restore the qualitative composition of the soil, various chemical and organic fertilizers are used.

Mustard for the garden how to use

Mustard in the garden and in the garden is used as fertilizer, disinfectant and pest control.

Two varieties are used as fertilizer: white and gray.

White mustard perfectly restores depleted soils. It has the ability to accumulate in the stem and leaves mineral compounds that are in the soil in a poorly soluble form, and converts them into compounds readily assimilated by plants. After the green manure grows up, they dig up the area along with the grown plants.

In the process of plant growth, special substances are released into the ground that inhibit the development of moldy fungi, bacteria, etc.

Sowing seeds is carried out in mid-April or in late August-early September on free areas of the garden. Seedlings appear within a week. During flowering (4 weeks after planting), it is necessary to mow the planting and leave the cut plants on the site. During this time, the mustard stalks do not have time to coarse, so they lend themselves well to processing. If the planting of green manure was carried out in the fall, then you can not dig the site.

Advantages of using mustard

Garlic husk for the garden or garden - application

Due to its long roots, mustard can extract nutrients from deeper depths than many garden plants. Nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus accumulated in the stems and leaves, after mowing the green manure, pass into the soil, and in an easily digestible form.

Such fertilizer:

  • ennobles the soil;
  • disinfects the site, cleans it of phytophthora, scab, etc.;
  • enriches the earth with trace elements, nitrogen and phosphorus;
  • improves soil structure;
  • creates a mulching layer that protects the soil from freezing;
  • prevents weeds from growing.

Using mustard as a sederate

This plant is unpretentious and undemanding to the composition of the soil, it can withstand slight frosts.

You need to sow seeds according to the following scheme: 10-15 cm between seeds and 20 cm between rows. Planting depth - 1-1.5 cm. Seedlings appear in 3-5 days.

Attention! Since mustard belongs to the cruciferous family, the area where it is planned to grow cabbage, radish, lettuce, etc. cannot be pre-sown with siderat.

It is not recommended to plant the main crop earlier than half a month after digging, since the process of plant decay can slow down the development of vegetable plantings.

If the site has been intensively exploited for a long time, then there may be an insufficient number of microorganisms necessary for the decomposition of the mown green manure. In this case, appropriate additives are additionally introduced into the soil in the form of vermicultivated compost, which is rich in rapidly multiplying worms.

When growing vegetables using the greenhouse method, problems with crop rotation arise. If the greenhouse is intended for growing tomatoes or cucumbers, then after the garden season, bacteria that are dangerous for this culture accumulate in the ground. When tomatoes are planted the next year in the same greenhouse, early damage to seedlings and adult bushes with severe infectious diseases is possible. To disinfect the soil, you can plant mustard in the fall, after harvesting, which will destroy these harmful microorganisms. In this case, you can again plant tomato seedlings in the greenhouse next year.

Mustard in the greenhouse

To enrich the garden land with micro- and macronutrients, it is better to use several different green manures together.

Using mustard against garden pests

Eggshell fertilizer for the vegetable garden

The plant is an excellent natural insecticide, so mustard can be used to protect the garden and vegetable garden from harmful microorganisms, fungi and insects.

In the garden, mustard is effectively used to protect trees and shrubs from the following pests:

  • fire flames;
  • sawyer;
  • aphids;
  • moths;
  • thrips, etc.

Fire in the garden

Treating trees and shrubs from pests is usually carried out using spraying. To prepare the infusion, take 100 gr. powdered mustard and pour it with a bucket (10 liters) of boiling water. The resulting mustard composition is kept for a day. Then a soap solution is added to it in a 1: 1 ratio. For its manufacture, take 40-50 gr. laundry soap, rub it on a grater and fill it with a bucket of water.

Soap in solution is necessary for the mustard to adhere better and stay on the leaves longer.

Fruit trees and shrubs are treated with the finished solution. Processing is carried out after the end of flowering, in early summer. Many gardeners carry out repeated spraying with a break of 2-3 weeks. The first is carried out 10-15 days after the end of flowering, the last – 2 weeks before harvest.

Mustard versus Colorado potato beetle

Colorado beetles bring a lot of trouble to gardeners, which destroy not only potato plantings, but also tomatoes, eggplants, etc.

Therefore, in order to obtain a good harvest, it is necessary to protect the potato plot from this insect. The greatest danger to planting is not even so much the adults as the larvae. The difficulty for gardeners is that beetles and larvae tend to get used to certain pesticides. Therefore, if last year a certain drug proved to be excellent against pests, this does not mean that this same drug will also fight well against them.

Colorado potato beetle on a potato leaf

Attention! Beetles cannot be addicted to mustard solution.

The principle of action of the drug is that insects do not tolerate the mustard smell. Therefore, the area treated with mustard is avoided by the beetles.

The advantages of using a mustard solution from the Colorado potato beetle on potatoes also include the fact that mustard powder is compatible with various pesticides, so the potatoes can be processed with other drugs simultaneously with spraying with mustard composition.

So that the folk recipe has a stronger effect, and the mustard does not wash off the leaves of the plant longer, laundry soap is also added to the solution (50 grams per bucket of water).

In addition, you can add 100 grams to the product. acetic acid. In this case, the vinegar, penetrating inside the larva, destroys it, burning the internal organs of the bug.

Be sure to strain it before pouring the solution into the spray bottle.

Also, dry mustard in the garden and vegetable garden can be used to protect green spaces. It is used when there is no desire to start preparing a solution and spraying the area. In this case, the potato leaves are simply sprinkled with dry mustard on top.

Another option for protection – planting potatoes with a number of mustard.

Gardeners may not even doubt whether or not they can plant mustard and potatoes. If a mustard bed is arranged between the rows of potatoes, then good protection of the potato bushes will be organized, since the smell of fresh mustard affects insects in the same way as the smell of dry powder.

Mustard versus wireworm

Another of the enemies of the potato that you can fight with this plant is the wireworm. This pest is a click beetle larva.

Wireworm-damaged potatoes

If there is a large amount of pest in the ground of the summer cottage, then mustard can be used when cleaning the area from the wireworm.

To protect the site, you can plant a plant in the aisles of tomatoes or potatoes. In this case, the specific smell will scare off pests, and the roots of mustard will simultaneously loosen the top layer of the soil.

You can also irrigate garden plants or water the beds with mustard.

Since the wireworm moves in the soil and infects the potato tuber, gardeners pour dry mustard powder into the hole to repel the pest.

Mustard from wireworm on potatoes, used in the form of green manure, has proven itself well.

The best planting time is spring (April) or autumn (after harvest). After the plants are embedded in the soil, it is saturated with mustard oil. After that, the site will be ready for planting potatoes.

Mustard from aphids on currants

If currant bushes grow in the garden, then its leaves often suffer from the invasion of aphids. This leads to inhibition of plant development, deterioration in the quality and quantity of the crop.

Red currants are affected by hairy and red-gall aphids. In places of defeat, red swellings appear on the leaves. Black currant suffers from the shoot gooseberry aphid. In this case, the leaves are rolled into a tube.

Aphids on currants

The pest reproduces best in dry and hot weather.

For preventive and therapeutic purposes, gardeners use mustard from aphids. Before spraying the bush, prepare the following solution: 100 gr. powder is dissolved in 10 liters of hot water and infused for 24 hours. Next, the infusion is diluted with another 10 liters of water and 1/3 of a bar of grated laundry soap is added to the liquid.

This composition is sprayed with a disease bush. Processing should be carried out no earlier than 2 weeks after flowering. For the convenience of work, a sprayer or sprinkler can be used.

Using mustard for slugs

These pests love moist soil, thickened plantings. Slug damages strawberries and strawberries.

To destroy them, prepare a solution of 150 grams. dry mustard powder and 10 liters of water. Next, the affected bushes are treated from above with a sprayer.

You can also sow mustard between rows.

Slug

Folk recipes for using mustard

Grass fertilizer with water: how to apply

Some more ways to use mustard at their summer cottage:

  • 1/2 cup of iodized salt and the same amount of dry mustard are diluted in a bucket of water and poured on onions with this mixture. Such a solution can be used to prevent onion damage with powdery mildew and onion fly;
  • 100 g mustard powder and salt are dissolved in 10 liters of warm water. It is useful to water the beet plantings with this solution. Watering is carried out 2 times per season: 1 time - in the phase of the appearance of the first true leaves, 2 times - two weeks before harvesting;
  • 1 tbsp. a spoonful of mustard powder and 70% vinegar are diluted in 1 bucket of water. Perfectly helps in the fight against flea that affects radishes, radishes or cabbage.

The use of mustard cake

After squeezing the mustard oil, there remains a cake, which can also be used in gardening.

Part of the oil is squeezed out, and partly mustard remains in the cake.Therefore, the substance is rich in protein, essential oils and trace elements. Summer residents use it in feeding and disinfecting the site.

Mustard cake

It is best to apply the cake in the fall, since it will take at least 3 months for complete decay. If added in the spring, then it will act as a disinfectant, mulch and an agent that improves the structure of the soil.

Noticed. After applying the cake to the soil, the wireworm disappears after about 10 days or even earlier.

It is recommended to add from 100 to 1000 gr. substances per 1 m2. After that, the site is dug up.

Rules for the use of mustard solution

In order to use the drug most effectively, you need to adhere to the following rules:

  1. Spraying is best done in the evening, then the risk of sunburn for garden plants will be minimal;
  2. The weather should be warm and calm;
  3. The maximum benefit from processing will be if the potato leaves are abundantly moistened with a solution. The deterrent effect lasts about 4 days;
  4. It is recommended to spray the potatoes for the last time about 20 days before harvest.

Mustard powder is easily washed off with rainwater, does not accumulate in berries and fruits, does not harm leaves and young shoots. Therefore, the treatment of pests with mustard can be recommended to everyone who loves truck farming and gardening. Thanks to this plant, your summer cottage will be free from many pests without the use of pesticides.

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