Which Garden Plants Should Not Be Planted Nearby? Allelopathy. Photo

2023 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:58

Before planting some kind of fruit and berry crop on the site, you need to assess the potential compatibility of the tree or shrub with other "inhabitants" of the area. Plants can be outwardly absolutely harmless, but due to the presence of common diseases and pests, as well as due to natural quarrelsomeness, they simply cannot coexist comfortably in the same area. The individual characteristics of a particular culture also affect - the release of toxic substances into the soil by roots, poisonous leaves falling off in autumn (the poison from which penetrates the soil), the ability of neighboring plants to literally intertwine with each other and others. What plants can not be planted nearby in any case, we will tell in this article.

Content:

• A successful neighborhood is the key to a comfortable coexistence of plants
• Correct neighborhood as prevention of certain diseases
• What cannot and what can be planted nearby?

A successful neighborhood is the key to a comfortable coexistence of plants

It is simply impossible to plant plants that suffer from the same diseases and suffer from the same pests close to each other, probably, everyone understands. Of course, if you step back three or four meters from a tree, this will not save you 100% of outbreaks of infection, but it will help to reduce its risk significantly. True, in small areas it is almost impossible to maintain a distance of 3-4 meters. Therefore, when planting plants, you need to avoid neighbors who are "friends" with the same problems.

But when choosing neighbors on the site who, it would seem, do not have common enemies (diseases and pests), you may also have other negative consequences from their coexistence. At a minimum, oppression of plants by each other. And it arises not only due to the wrong agricultural techniques for the care of crops. For example, when crop rotation is completely ignored, both in the garden and in the garden. That is, when the same plants are planted next year in the place of harvested, uprooted vegetable crops or fruit trees on depleted and already infected soil.

Some plants can oppress others, releasing chemical compounds harmful to the latter into the soil. That is, plant allelopathy may take place (literally from ancient Greek - "mutual suffering"). Thus, in nature, there is a struggle of plants for their place under the sun.

As a result of allelopathy, plants can, despite good care, wither and slow down in development, constantly being exposed to one or another disease, although all, as a rule, effective methods of prevention were used on time.

True, experts also note positive allelopathy: harmful substances secreted by the roots of some plants and supposedly "intended" for rival plants can be neutral or even useful for others.

Correct neighborhood as prevention of certain diseases

As you know, there are diseases and pests that affect not only one particular plant, but also attack the whole family, or are considered almost omnivorous, destroying most of the plants growing on the site. An example is the causative agent of tubercular and cytosporous necrosis of deciduous plants - they harm literally all deciduous plants, and nothing can be done about it.

But there are also more "selective" diseases. For example, rust caused by a fungus. The development cycle of this fungus is very complex. As many as three stages he needs to go through, and at each of them, being on a plant, he is able to grow and spread his spores in the wind.

The very first stage takes place in the spring, when eciospores develop, then urediniospores appear in the summer, and finally, in the autumn, the most dangerous are formed - basidiospores and teliospores. These various spores in fungi of different owners ripen on completely different plants, sometimes changing two or even three hosts.

And the most interesting thing is that even if one of the plants on which the first, second or third stages of rust can develop is not on the site, then the disease itself will not arise. So, for example, it has been proven that if barberry does not grow next to grain crops, then rust cannot infect grain crops. Barberry is an intermediate host of a fungus that causes rust in cereals; if destroyed, it is almost guaranteed to protect crops from rust.

What cannot and what can be planted nearby?

Apple tree

Bad neighbors for the apple tree

At the beginning of the 20th century in the United States, apple orchards began to massively produce substandard crops - apples are completely wormy. And every year their quality got worse. It turned out that apples are affected by the mountain ash moth, more precisely, its caterpillars. And the planting of mountain ash is to blame for this, which at that time began to be planted around the apple plantings. Gardens, next to which they did not have time or did not want to plant rowan, this pest ignored. Since then, it has been known that rowan trees cannot be planted with an apple tree next to me.

Viburnum consumes a large amount of moisture from the soil, pulling it off, and the apple tree suffers from this. In addition, a huge number of aphids often settle on the viburnum, which, accordingly, spreads to the apple tree.

As for coniferous crops, such as, for example, fir, it can greatly acidify the soil over time; in the course of its life, it releases many resins into the soil that pollute the ground. Usually, you need to wait about three years before planting an apple tree in the place of any coniferous plant.

Lilac literally attracts various pests and diseases, which later move to the apple tree.

Neighborhood with peach and cherry for the apple tree is also fraught with trouble, these two types of plants grow very actively, consume a lot of nutrients from the soil and often give a large mass of root shoots, which greatly oppresses the apple tree.

The apple tree and the cherry tree will not be friends with each other either, it has been proven that the roots of the cherry tree literally displace the roots of the apple tree from the surface layer of the soil to the lower ones, where there is a minimum of fertility and moisture, and this makes the apple tree wither.

The hawthorn is also a bad neighbor - it attracts literally all the pests that are found on the apple tree.

If you plant junipers next to the apple tree, then the very rust will appear in the garden, which will be extremely difficult to get rid of.

It is undesirable to keep thickets of weeds near apple orchards, among which there may be bitter wormwood, aphids reproduce very well on it, which happily move to the apple tree when young leaves and shoots grow on it.

It is also not advisable to plant potatoes in the aisles of a young apple orchard, as some do. The fact is that potatoes consume a huge amount of nutrients from the soil, greatly depleting it, and the apple trees will actually suffer from hunger, especially those areas where the soil is rarely fertilized, rare watering is carried out and the apple tree is planted on dwarf rootstocks with a weak root system.

Good neighbors for the apple tree

The south side of the apple tree plantings can be planted with tomatoes. Tomatoes are disgusting for moth butterflies, and such a neighborhood is considered a good prevention against this pest.

"Friends" with apple and raspberry. The thing is that the raspberry root system is able to fix nitrogen, which the apple tree can use, while at the same time the raspberry root system increases the air and water permeability of the earth. Gardeners often observe a positive effect from the contact of the shoots of these plants - the special properties of raspberries help protect the apple tree from such a dangerous disease as scab, and the apple tree, in turn, protects raspberries from a disease no less dangerous for this berry culture - gray rot.

Also, a friend of the apple tree is the ash-leaved maple, it deftly relieves this fruit crop from the moth - it simply does not appear on the apple tree. It turns out that the phytoncides that this maple variety secretes affect the moth. At the same time, it is not at all necessary to allow the maple to grow to a great height, to reduce the growth of the maple, there are many options for pruning and it can be maintained in a fairly modest size, for example, a meter or one and a half meters in height. If you want the maximum amount of phytoncides in the air around the apple tree, then once a day you can go out into the garden and gently crumple maple leaves.

Crops such as apple and honeysuckle are considered conditionally compatible, but it is better to plant honeysuckle around the apple orchard, but do not alternate these crops in rows. For the apple tree, the goldfish can be dangerous, which causes irreparable damage and honeysuckle. Also, a leafworm can spread from honeysuckle to an apple tree.

Pear

Bad neighbors for the pear

The pear is in solidarity with the apple tree in terms of dislike of the same plants, and even with such crops as beech, barberry and all stone fruits, it simply will not live, because beech has a powerful root system and a huge aboveground mass, and barberry has many similar pear of diseases and pests. You should not plant junipers near a pear garden (all because of the same notorious rust).

Do not forget about allelopathy - pear root secretions are also toxic, especially cherries suffer from them.

Good neighbors for pears

But with whom the pear will be friends is with an oak, a mountain ash, a poplar and, especially, a black poplar. Although the oak has a powerful root system, its roots go much deeper than that of a pear, so the tree is not its competitor. The rowan tree consumes small amounts of nutrients and moisture and can even fertilize the soil with an abundance of leaves and berries if not harvested. Poplar, when planted from the north side, can protect the pear from the winter cold.

Cherry

Bad neighbors for cherries

Apricots, black currants, raspberries and the vast majority of early apple varieties will become bad neighbors for cherries.

The secretions of the apricot root system are believed to be toxic to cherries - slowly killing the plant.

Cherries and black currants should not be planted next to each other, firstly, for the reason that it will be impossible to process a particular crop, since the timing of their vegetation will not coincide, and black currant roots can play the role of weed roots, actively absorbing moisture and nutrients from the soil.

You should not plant tomatoes, bell peppers and strawberries in the row spacing of cherries: the latter, for example, often attracts a nematode, from which all crops without exception can suffer.

The Solanaceae family should be protected from cherries due to the active spread of Verticillium desiccation (wilt) by nightshades. This is a dangerous disease (we wrote about it in due time), it leads to a very early death of wood on cherries. Such a picture is often observed - immediately after flowering, the cherry wilts.

Good neighbors for cherries

But plum and sweet cherry will become good friends for cherries - their root system is located almost at the same depth, the height of the plants is almost identical and the ripening time of the crop is close, so you can water, fertilize, carry out treatments without fear of harming neighboring plants. In addition, some cherry varieties are good cherry pollinators.

Plum

Bad neighbors for the plum

If you decide to plant a plum on the site, then plant it as far as possible from pears, raspberries, black currants and apple trees. All diseases and pests they have in common, among other things, they consume the same substances from the soil and will be serious competitors.

Good neighbors for the plum

Black elderberry is not only a medicinal culture for humans, but also can save the plum from the invasion of aphids. Maple, only Canadian, but not American, which is considered the most dangerous weed tree in Russia, will have a good effect on the growth and development of the plum and its yield. As you know, Canadian maple reaches large sizes, therefore, if you decide to plant it next to a plum, then you need to take care of controlling its growth in height by annual pruning.

Apricots

The "enemies" of apricot, due to common diseases, pests and elements consumed from the soil, are apples, pears, plums, peaches, cherries, mountain ash, sweet cherries, and naturally, all types of nuts with their poisonous foliage.

You shouldn't plant raspberries and currants next to apricots, they also have many common pests. It is best to give the apricot a separate place, away from other crops.

Peach

A peach will not be friends with apples and pears, because there is a possibility of being infected with similar diseases or being affected by the same pests, and the amounts of substances they consume are the same. It has been scientifically proven that the root system of a peach, entering the zone of location of the roots of apple and pear trees, can cause death over time and complete death of the latter. Of course, you can plant them in one area, but you will have to retreat four or, for greater fidelity, five meters.

It is noticed that if you plant a cherry or sweet cherry in the immediate vicinity, then the peach will try to grow in the opposite direction from them, and the side located to these plants will gradually lose foliage and the shoots on it will begin to dry out. This is due to the increased sensitivity of the peach to light, it needs a large amount of light and does not tolerate any shadow. If you do not take any measures, then after a couple of years the peach may die completely.

Barberry

If you don't want some fruit and berry bush to be constantly sick, do not plant barberry next to it, it will not affect only hawthorn, American maple, irgu, but other crops can be oppressed, and this even applies to fruit plants.

From fruit, barberry can only get along with a plum, which has a powerful root system and does not have common enemies, and from early berry - with honeysuckle. But all these cultures have one common and serious enemy - the juniper, which spreads rust everywhere.

Barberry is very quarrelsome with plants, because it releases a large amount of a toxic substance - berberine into the soil, this negatively affects other plants, suppressing their growth and development.

Red currants

Red currants can only get along with rose hips, since they do not have common diseases and pests with them, and there are no signs of allelopathy between them, but you will have to fight an abundance of rose hips annually, but currants will not grow well with raspberries, because they have a common dangerous pest is the gooseberry moth.

If you want to protect currants from kidney mites, then plant onions in the aisles of this culture.

Black currant

Black currant - the main thing is to plant it away from the bird cherry, because the glass, the worst enemy of the currant, winters on the bird cherry. Do not plant currants and gooseberries next to them: they have a huge number of common diseases and pests.

Golden currant

In golden currant, allelopathy is expressed, perhaps, as clearly as possible. Moreover, she herself grows beautifully next to any plants, but strongly oppresses the neighboring ones.

Sea buckthorn

Sea buckthorn is a real aggressor plant that clogs other plants with its shoots. In principle, sea buckthorn can only be combined with garden strawberries, but do not forget about the presence of common diseases and pests in these crops.

Conclusion. Of course, in small areas where you want to plant as many fruit trees and bushes as possible, you can hardly maintain the required distance between the plants. We hope that our article will help you organize the right neighborhood for the "residents" of your garden. We will be glad to read your observations about the favorable or not very close proximity of plants in the comments.