Plant Diseases and Fertilizers

Dealing with Plant Diseases

• Dealing with plant diseases through spraying only suppresses symptoms, but does not address the root cause.
• A healthy plant can naturally resist most diseases.
• The use of fertilizers has led to the increased use of pesticides, which has negative consequences.

Improving the Soil

• The key to healthy plant growth is improving the soil, which requires a partnership between plants, fungi, and bacteria.
• This partnership is based on trading products, with fungi and bacteria supplying nutrients and plants providing sugars in the form of glucose.

The Plant-Fungi-Bacteria System

• Fungi and bacteria supply nutrients from the soil that would be hard for plants to access.
• Plants supply sugars in the form of glucose in exchange for these nutrients.

Plant Limitations

• Plants have limited root capacity, with fine absorption roots that only use 4 to 7% of the soil volume and have a short lifespan of only one to three weeks.

Plants Need Help

• Plants need external help to overcome their limitations, and they form partnerships with fungi and bacteria to achieve this.
• If plants cannot find partners, they will die, but if they succeed, it marks the start of a beautiful symbiotic relationship.

Rhizobia Bacteria

• Rhizobia bacteria are specialized in releasing phosphate from the soil, which is essential for plant growth.
• They also carry out other important tasks, including forming a natural defense system around the roots to prevent disease-causing bacteria from entering.
• This defense system is mutually beneficial, as the plant provides the bacteria with food in return.

Learn about the negative effects of using fertilizers and pesticides on plant health and how to break the vicious cycle of over-fertilization.