For the normal development of plants, a number of useful substances and trace elements are needed. One of the most important is boron. It contributes to the synthesis of nitrogenous components and positively affects the metabolism, increasing the amount of chlorophyll in the foliage. Experts believe that boric acid can be attributed to the most affordable and simplest compounds of this trace element. It is successfully used in complex fertilizers.
The active use of boric acid in a garden or garden has many beneficial effects.
What is this tool? These are colorless, odorless crystals that dissolve quickly in an aqueous medium.
Useful qualities
This tool can be used on various soils. Good results after application give gray and brown forest, sod-podzolic soils. Gardeners also recommend applying this substance to light soils, in black soil. Mandatory use of boric acid for a vegetable garden or orchard on acidic soils, swampy or dark-colored.
This tool perfectly helps to increase the number of ovaries, significantly increases productivity. After applying boric acid to the garden or orchard, the root system and stem of the plant actively develop. The amount of sugar rises, the palatability of fruits improves.
Boron is a “fixed” element in plants. He cannot pass from old fading leaves to young. Therefore, it is necessary for plants throughout the growing season.
Specialists know that all garden crops in different quantities need boron. We will conditionally divide all of them into 3 groups of needs:
- small (strawberries, potatoes, legumes);
- medium (tomatoes, carrots, stone fruits);
- high (fruit trees, beets, cabbage, rutabaga).
Although potatoes and strawberries belong to the group with a low need for this microelement, its deficiency can adversely affect these crops.
Signs of a lack of boron in plants
Not only acidic soils, but also soils with high humidity need additional nutrition of boron. The lack of this substance in plants affects differently. Corn and potatoes practically do not need additional introduction. But if this trace element is not enough, then the leaves begin to turn yellow on the potato, tubers do not develop, and cracks appear on their surface.
A lack of boron in plants can also lead to the development of diseases - brown and dry rot, baktrioz, buplichnost. The following signs indicate a lack of this trace element in the soil:
- the kidneys dry out;
- stalks of plants become curved;
- growth points die off;
- leaves of plants become curly, pale;
- no flowering.
These signs are especially pronounced in the dry seasons. Many amateur gardeners, collecting a small crop, blame it on the lack of moisture, and not the lack of necessary trace elements in the soil.
Ways to use in the garden
The benefits of boric acid are invaluable and quite diverse. But you should be careful with this element, because an overabundance can harm the plant, accumulating in the fruits, like other fertilizers. Therefore, before you get a positive effect from the use of boric acid for the garden or vegetable garden, you should pay attention to the advice of experienced gardeners. The main task is to observe the dosage and apply the drug correctly.
Consider the following methods of using boric acid:
- stimulation of seed germination;
- soil preparation for planting;
- foliar planting;
- top dressing under the root.
Boric acid is actively used to stimulate seed germination. How to breed this product correctly? It is necessary to take 0.2 g of a powdery agent per 1 liter of water. The crystals dissolve quickly. In this solution, the seeds are soaked:
- onions, carrots, beets - for 24 hours;
- cucumbers, cabbage, zucchini - for 12 hours.
How to dilute boric acid to prepare the soil for sowing or planting? All the same: in a proportion of 1 liter of water - 0.2 g of the product. This solution should be shed planting beds. Consumption: 10 liters per 10 m 2 . Then the soil should be loosened and after planting seeds. This method is used when there is a suspicion of a deficiency in the soil of this microelement.
Foliar top dressing with boric acid is very important. Solution concentration: per 1 liter of water - 0.1 g of boric acid. The first spraying is carried out at the stage of bud formation, the second at the flowering stage, the third at the fruiting stage. Sometimes they use other drugs with boric acid. For spraying in this case, take a smaller dose (5-6 g per 10 liters of water).
Foliar top dressing with boric acid must be carried out in cloudy weather. Experienced gardeners always put off this procedure until the evening to avoid sunburn. If you need to spray on hot days, you should first water the plant.
Fertilizing boric acid under the root is rarely used. In this case, you should make sure that this element is really not enough in the soil. Most often, this procedure is used for seedlings of flowering plants that grow on a mixture of peat and sand or sod-podzolic soils. The solution is prepared using 0.1-0.2 g of the drug per 1 liter of water. But for starters, the plant is abundantly watered with plain water to avoid chemical burns.
Remember that boric acid is highly soluble in hot water. First of all, it is necessary to dissolve 1 sachet of the drug in 1 liter of hot water. After this, the solution should be brought to the desired volume, mixing with room temperature water.
Potato processing
The following factors indicate a lack of boron in potatoes:
- general developmental delay;
- fungal scab disease;
- growth point is inhibited;
- leaves turn yellow;
- petioles turn red, become brittle.
The need for potatoes in boron directly depends on the soil, or rather, its acidity. Also, this indicator is affected by temperature and the ratio of minerals contained in the soil. If an amateur summer clerk exceeded the norm during the application of nitrogen and potassium, then the plant's demand for boron increases significantly. If the dose of phosphorus fertilizer has been increased, the need is reduced.
If the first signs of scab damage appear on the potato, it is necessary to use boric acid with the calculation of 6 g per 10 l of water. To prevent this disease, it is necessary to spray potato tubers at the stage of appearance of the first processes.
Beet Processing
The lack of boron in beets provokes the appearance of a wormhole and rot of the core. Often the cause of such lesions is a fungal disease - phomosis. In this case, concentric light brown spots appear on the leaves, in the center of which black dots are placed. After the disease passes to the root crop. At the initial stage, the root tissue in the section has a dark brown color. Subsequently, the affected parts dry out and become rotten.
Before planting, seeds should be soaked in a solution of boric acid. It is also necessary to introduce this microelement into the soil , this prevents the appearance and development of fomosis.
If the soil and seeds are properly prepared, in order to get a good crop, it is enough to spray beets at the stage of 4 leaves 1 time with boric acid. As practice shows, the result will be excellent.
Tomato Processing
The lack of boron in tomatoes also causes various diseases. Young leaves and branches begin to grow only from below, the base blackens and becomes brittle. In other words, a tomato turns into a bush. Brown spots appear on the fruits, the flesh becomes dry. Some summer residents use a solution of boric acid from phytophthora.
For prevention, before planting, the seeds must be soaked in solution. Before planting, this solution is also introduced into the soil. You should take care of foliar dressing before flowering. Boric acid has a positive effect on the ovary of a tomato.
To accelerate the maturation and accumulation of sugar, you can re-spray with boric acid at the green fruit stage.
Cucumber Processing
Boric acid for cucumbers is also actively used. This element helps the plant in flowering and ovary.
During the flowering period, experts recommend foliar top dressing: 5 g of powder per 10 l of water. Sometimes sugar is added to a solution of boric acid for cucumbers, this contributes to better pollination.
To improve the ovary, prevent decay of zucchini and zucchini, a solution is also used: 2 g of the product per 10 liters of water. Plants are sprayed with it.
Use the same solution of boric acid for pepper and eggplant.
Pear and apple processing
Signs of a lack of boron in the pear and apple tree:
- thickening of the leaves;
- darkening and curing of veins;
- leaves warp and fall;
- small leaves at the ends of the shoots are collected in the form of a rosette;
- the top of the tree dies.
These signs contribute to the rapid drying of flowers, deformation of the fruit, on which traces of affected tissues appear.
Light spots appear in the pulp of apples, which gradually turn brown and turn into a sponge.
Foliar top dressing (10-20 g per 10 l of water) will help renew the lack of boron. Spray evenly the entire crown. The first time - during the opening of the buds, the second - in a week.
Grape processing
Chlorotic spots between the veins on the leaf, lack of good ovaries indicate a lack of boron. On soils with a minimal amount of this microelement, new seedlings die within 1.5 years.
Specialists recommend processing grapes at least 1 time during the formation of buds. It is advisable to add zinc salts to the solution, which also positively affect the quality of the crop.
Strawberry Processing
With a lack of this element, strawberry leaves become dry. To improve the quality of the crop in early spring, you should pour a solution of boric acid and potassium permanganate (10 g of water for 1 g of each drug) for planting.
Before flowering, it is also advisable to carry out foliar top dressing with a solution: 2 g of boron, 2 g of manganese and 1 cup of sifted ash in 10 l of water.
Processing of ornamental plants
This trace element contributes to the rapid absorption of calcium and the abundant formation of buds. Therefore, experienced gardeners actively use this tool to obtain a beautiful, flowering garden. During the formation of buds and flowering, foliar treatment is carried out (10 l of water per 10 g of the drug).
Cuttings of roses are immersed for several minutes in a solution of boron for the prevention of fungal diseases.
Drug overdose
Boric acid is classified as the lowest, 4th, hazard class of harmful substances. If it comes into contact with the skin, this medicine does not harm human health. The danger is that this element accumulates in the body, because it is slowly excreted by the kidneys.
Boron can be a panacea, and can be poison for plants. After all, an excess of this drug provokes a burn of leaves. They dry up, die off and fall off. Symptoms of an excess of boron in the soil are yellowing of the leaves, folding of their edges. Often leaves take a circular shape.
The high content of this substance in fodder plants provokes the development of serious diseases in animals.
Insect control
Boric acid is not only a useful tool for plants. This drug allows you to fight harmful insects. Dry mixes with boric acid from ants in the garden are often used. In the body of insects, this element accumulates and negatively affects their vital functions, which subsequently leads to death.
Boron acts on the ant nervous system, causing paralysis and further death. When eating the corpses of their brethren, other ants also die. Therefore, to get rid of ants in the garden, boric acid needs very little.
In order to remove these insects completely, it is necessary to use such a mixture within 1 month.
Ant bait recipe
There are many recipes using this drug that help get rid of insects. We will consider the most popular:
- Cook 2 eggs for 30 minutes. Remove the yolks and grind them with 0.5 teaspoon of boric acid powder. Scatter the resulting balls near the anthill or on the ants path.
- 5 g of the above drug is dissolved in 100 ml of hot water. Add 10 g of honey, 40 g of sugar. Stir everything and pour into a jar. Cover with small openings. Put the dishes near the anthill.
- 1 teaspoon of sugar, 3 egg yolks (boiled), 10 g of dry boric acid, 3 boiled potatoes. Grind and mix everything. Make small balls and put near the anthill.