Cleaning up garden now will pay off big in 2001
October 14, 2001
Before the weather gets too cool, plan now to reduce
diseases in the garden. A little bit of fall housekeeping now will pay off in
produce next year.
The removal of dead and diseased plant material in the
landscape is a good way to manage diseases in the home garden or orchard.
Sanitation methods are the most practical method of integrated pest management (IPM).
Other proven management practices are to use resistant
varieties and disease free seed and transplants; rotate crops; control weeds and
insects; disinfest garden tools and shears; treat seed; diagnose disease
problems; and properly use labeled fungicide sprays and dusts.
When walking through your garden or orchard, you might see
blighted tomatoes, wilted eggplants, scabby apples and moldy raspberries. Not
only are these unsightly, they can harbor disease-causing microorganisms that
emerge next spring to create diseases in your garden or orchard. These
microscopic germs such as bacteria, nematodes, viruses and fungi go dormant at
the end of the growing season and take cover in dead plant materials whose
demise they likely caused.
Clean out your garden and orchard by removing dead and
diseased plant materials. In the vegetable garden, remove and destroy all old
tomato plants, cucumber vines, corn stalks and other dead vegetation. This will
eliminate next year's sources of blights, leaf spots and stem decays. And don't
forget vegetable plant roots; gently lift them with a spading fork and destroy.
This is especially important to deplete root knot nematodes left in the soil.
You also can get rid of most dead or diseased plant
materials by composting them without fear of re-contamination by adhering to
recommended compost practices and applying materials only after they have
completely decomposed into humus.
If left on the ground near plants, diseased tree and shrub
leaves can be a disease source next year. For example, maple or oak trees with
anthracnose, roses with black spot, or apples with scab will get these diseases
next year from fungi overwintering in fallen leaves. So rake up and destroy
diseased leaves this fall. And don't forget to pick off and destroy all old,
rotten fruit left hanging on trees.
Closely examine dormant twigs and branches on trees and
shrubs, looking for dead twig and branch tips or diseased and dead areas on
limbs. Prune off and destroy all dead plant material. By pruning, you can remove
fire blight of apple, pear, cotoneaster and pyracantha as well as twig blights
of sycamore, redbud, pine, juniper and blueberry.
So, you see, a handy pair of pruning sheers is a valuable sanitation
tool. Judiciously use shears this year to reduce diseases in your garden and
orchard next year.
Much of the information about composting can be found at the website: http://www.ca.uky.edu. By typing in HO-75 under the link for the search engine, a link for the online version of the composting publication can be found. Links to building plans for creating composting bins can also be found by typing the word compost into this search engine.
For information on home composting, building compost bins
and related information, contact your Franklin County Cooperative Extension
Service at 695-9035.
Educational programs of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability, or national origin.