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.
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