Maximum Yield USA August/September 2019 | Page 54

Help Your Plants Help Themselves: Enhancing Natural Defenses by Chris Bond Though they don’t have the option of fight or flight like animals do, plants are not helpless creatures. They have their own natural defense systems that you, as their primary caregiver, can enhance. P lants have evolved their own natural defense systems. They kind of had to; after all, they don’t have the option of fight or flight. Still, though your plants have the built-in capa- bility to protect themselves, there are some things you can do to enhance those natural defenses and help your plants fight off the bad guys. No, this is not an endorsement to teach them “tree kwan do” or “corn fu.” Again, that would be hard due to the lack-of-fight-or-flight thing. Instead, here are several much more useful steps that you, as the plants’ primary caregiver, can do to make sure they are as equipped and prepared as possible to handle any challenge. 54 Maximum Yield