Taiwan enters the typhoon season during summer and fall, and typhoons often brought heavy rain and strong winds which caused serious agricultural damage. Taking vegetables as an example. Flooding caused by heavy rain leads to oxygen deficiency in plant roots, resulting in root rot. Strong winds cause mechanical damage to plant roots, stems, and leaves, impacting nutrient uptake, transportation through stems, and photosynthesis in leaves. To facing the unavoidable natural disasters, taking appropriate preventive measures and doing the replanting work as soon as possible can help crops recovery to normal growth and reduce losses.
I. Preventive measures:
1. Harvesting the crop that have reached the harvesting period as soon as possible.
2. Before typhoons and heavy rains, strengthen drainage measures in the field to ensure efficient water drainage.
3. Strengthen wind protection around fields using protective structures to reduce facility damage.
4. Dwarf vegetables can be covered with a covering (such as plastic net) to prevent the plants from strong wind.
II. Replanting work
1. After the heavy rain or flood, when vegetables reached the harvestable level should be harvested as soon as possible to avoid rapid wilting and rot caused by the sun. If the weather become clear and it is still not possible to harvest should be covered with a black shading net to avoid direct sunlight, slowing down wilting and water loss.
2. After the heavy rain, the water content of the plants increases, and it is common to have water damage. When harvesting, care should be taken to avoid further damage for reduction of rot and loss.
3. Drainage:
Implementing drainage measures after rain, clearing and deepening the ditches to ensure proper water drain. Submersible water pumps can also be used to expedite water removal.
4. Field cleaning:
Remove broken stems and leaves to prevent the spread of diseases.
5. Disease prevention:
Vegetables are susceptible to diseases such as downy mildew, blight, and soft rot. Strengthen disease prevention measures following guidelines from plant protection manuals. After pesticide application, take note of the safe harvest period to prevent excessive pesticide residue on vegetables.
6. Tending work (intertillage and earthing up)：
When soil surface at the suitable moisture levels, perform intertillage work and earthing up soil to straighten the plant, so as to ensure the growth of vegetable.
7. Additional fertilizer or foliar fertilization:
In cases where plant roots are damaged due to heavy rain or flooding, applying fertilizers or foliar fertilizers to promote root growth and recovery.
8. Timely replanting work:
Preparing the field and replant. Choose the shorter growth cycles crops, such as bok choy, chinese cabbage, chinese kale, amaranth, water spinach, and lettuce, allowing quicker return to the regular production. |
