How to treat a greenhouse in the fall against pests and diseases

If you want to continue enjoying a high-quality harvest next season, prepare your greenhouses in the fall. During this period, you can decide where you'll plant next year and, of course, treat the greenhouse for pests and diseases before the winter.

The soil must be saturated with beneficial solutions containing antiparasitic substances.

How do you do this correctly? First, remove any remaining vegetation from the soil surface and dig it up. The frame must be treated with an antiseptic solution. You can learn more about this in the article.

Where to start?

When cultivating a greenhouse, the first step is to remove plant debris from the surface. Failure to do so will result in soil loss. Plant debris is covered in numerous pests and their larvae, which can potentially cause diseases in future crops.

Some gardeners express the opinion that plants removed from the ground can be collected in a pile to obtain a natural fertilizer – compost.

However, this advice can have negative consequences. After all, the process of plant decay produces numerous dangerous bacteria that can be detrimental to the harvest.

In the fall, be sure to treat all the ropes used to support plants in the greenhouse to prevent diseases and pests. This can be done with lime or special disinfectant solutions.

Soil cultivation

After you've cleared away all unnecessary debris from the greenhouse, you need to treat the soil. It should also be treated with antiparasitic compounds. Here are some examples:

1. Karbofos This substance will help kill dangerous insects such as blacklegs and root-knot nematodes. To treat one cubic meter of soil in a greenhouse in the fall, you will need a solution of 10 liters of water and 90 grams of malathion. After treatment, the soil must be dug over to ensure the substance penetrates as deeply as possible.
2. Sulfur This will help combat spider mites. To do this, fumigate the area with sulfur by burning it in coals. If the pest is already bothering you, use 150 grams of the substance per 1 m³. For prevention, use three times less sulfur. During the treatment, the greenhouse should be sealed. The walls and frame should be treated with water—then they will be most susceptible to the sulfur. Wear a gas mask when fumigating the area. You can also fumigate the greenhouse with a smoke bomb, which can be purchased at any specialty store.
3. Chlorine – another way to get rid of pests in a greenhouse. This method should be reserved for last resort if you can't control the insects any other way. Bleaching powder will help you get rid of blackleg, clubroot, white rot, and root-knot nematodes. Moreover, in the fall, you can use more lime for treatment than in the spring. Spraying plants with a bleach-based solution is useful. This helps combat diseases. You will need 300 grams of bleach per 10 liters of water.
4. Copper sulfate – You'll need it to treat your greenhouse in the fall against diseases and pests if you've been growing vegetables there for many years. It will eliminate many types of fungi and bacteria in the soil and on the surface. However, you should only treat your greenhouse with copper sulfate once every five years. Excess copper can hinder plant growth and development.
5. Bordeaux mixture – has been used to treat greenhouses since the late 19th century. It consists of copper sulfate, quicklime, and water. In its pure form, copper sulfate can kill plants. The calcium in the solution acts as a binding agent, minimizing the negative impact of copper.
6. Formalin Formaldehyde is another substance used by gardeners to combat pests. It's not safe, but it's quite effective. Small trenches are dug in the greenhouse and a formalin solution is poured into them. The trenches are then covered with soil. The greenhouse is then carefully sealed for 1-3 days. Scotch tape can be used for this purpose. Afterwards, the room is ventilated for 2-3 weeks, and the soil inside is dug up.

Preventative measures to protect your greenhouse from pests and diseases in the fall can only be taken when the indoor temperature is at least 10 degrees Celsius. Failure to observe this requirement will result in your efforts being ineffective.

There's another way to disinfect your greenhouse: steaming. It's the most environmentally friendly of all the options. Here's how:

• the soil in the greenhouse is watered with boiling water in proportions of 1-3 liters per cubic meter;
• Immediately after treatment, the soil is covered with film for several days.

For effectiveness, steaming is repeated several times. It should be noted that this method of treatment has a significant drawback: earthworms will not thrive in steamed soil. Yet these insects are what make the soil fertile.

Eco-friendly infusions

Experienced gardener Galina Kizima recommends preparing a plant-based poison for treating soil in the fall against diseases and pests. This solution consists of an infusion of weeds and water, in a 1:5 ratio. Tansy, wormwood, dandelion, and citrus peels are all suitable for this purpose. The scent of the infusion will repel harmful insects. They will be reluctant to lay eggs or larvae in the soil with its unpleasant odor. As a result, the insects will seek a safer location.

Infusions for processing are prepared as follows:

1. Pour 10 liters of hot water over five liters of onion peels. Let the solution sit covered for two days. Afterward, strain it and spray the greenhouse.
2. Pour 10 liters of water over a kilogram of tansy and simmer for 15 minutes over low heat. Then, cool and strain the infusion.
3. Soak a kilogram of citrus peels, grind them through a meat grinder, add 3 liters of water, and let steep in a dark place, covered, for 5 days. Then strain the infusion, squeeze it well, and pour it into containers. Use as needed, dissolving 100 grams in 10 liters of water.

Preparing the frame for winter

The solution for treating the frame must be prepared in advance. Typically, this is done 4 months before use.

To prepare it, mix a bucket of water with 400 grams of lime. This mixture should be applied to the soil, the greenhouse frame, and any items you use for work.

The walls of polycarbonate greenhouses are very susceptible to aggressive substances. Therefore, when preparing them for winter, avoid using products containing strong chemicals. Furthermore, do not use sharp objects on the greenhouse walls.

The wooden components of the frame can be treated with either bleach or copper sulfate.

To prevent your greenhouse from collapsing under the weight of snow during the winter, be sure to reinforce its frame. This can be done by installing additional arches or constructing T-shaped supports.

If you carry out all the necessary greenhouse treatments in the fall, pests will not overwinter there and will not be able to negatively impact soil fertility inside. Diseases will also bypass your harvest!

Video:

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