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One
of the most effective things you can do to stop a plant disease from wiping out
your organic vegetable garden is to prevent it from showing up in the first
place. One of the many benefits of an organic vegetable garden is that it will
inherently be more resistant to disease. So, if you start off with a good
foundation, later on when an insect introduces a fungal spore in your garden, it
has a much better chance of making it through. Using organic compost and
nutritive sprays like seaweed, along with an adequate and resourceful watering
schedule, does wonders in keeping plants and vegetables healthy enough to resist
pesky diseases common on tomatoes, squash, strawberries and grapes. But before
you reach that point, you have to plant your organic vegetable garden.
First, shop around for disease resistant seeds. There are some better seed
catalogs out there. Although you might have to pay more than the seed packets
you'll find at your local hardware store, it will be worth it. Secondly, if you
plant a new garden every year, rotate the location of each crop.
After
your organic garden is newly planted, consider using an organic mulch like wood
chips. Not only will this keep the soil from drying out, which stresses plants
and leaves them more vulnerable to disease, the mulch will limit the splashing
of soil microbes on the plants themselves. If you want to protect against
viruses as well, you may want to use aluminum covered mulch, which reflects
light back to the sky, thus confusing passerby insects, which happen to be the
primary contractors of plant diseases. As mentioned earlier, overly moist
conditions in an organic gardening can help sustain fungi. In order to ensure
your garden plants dry out, especially ground covering vines like cantaloupe and
squash, use wide-spacing trellises for the plants to spread out upon and receive
proper air ventilation/sun exposure.
Still, Mother Nature is the most powerful of all, and no organic vegetable
garden is entirely immune to plant diseases. Leaf blemishes systemic infections
and even viral diseases spread by insects are no strangers to vegetable gardens,
so if and when they do show up, it is up to you, Dr. Greenthumb (yes, that's
you) and provide the remedy before it's too late. And if you do see a plant go
downhill fast or it just simply looks strange and oddly different than the
others, it's likely the plant has a virus, and the safest route is to uproot the
infected plant altogether.
If you are dealing with a fungal outbreak (leaf blemishes, white patches of
powdery mildew), which is common on tomatoes, squash, strawberries and grapes,
the very first thing you should do is prune the affected areas. Be sure to do so
when the sun is out and foliage is dry, for there is a much greater chance of
spreading fungi in wet conditions. Also, be sure to sterilize your pruning
shears afterwards and to not put the diseased clippings in your compost pile.
It's also a good idea to treat your vegetable garden with an organic spray
once a disease shows up. A milk bath solution of 1 cup of milk to two cups of
water is a great disinfectant against fungal spores, while a solution of one
quart of water and one teaspoon of baking soda (a few drops of liquid soap to
help it stick) is also an effective homemade spray. If your garden needs
something a little stronger, there are several organic sprays effective against
plant diseases. Purchased online or in your local gardening supply store, these
include Root Shield, Contans, Soil Gard, Mildew Cure and Serenade.
Source:
Mother Earth News;
Aug/Sept '07;
Barbara Pleasant
Author: Ry
ORGANIC GARDENING TIPS
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