Vegetable garden disease management
This weekend, I worked in my raised vegetable beds. The size of the raised beds is not overwhelming so I enjoy the chores. Plus, it is very rewarding when I can harvest vine ripe tomatoes, peppers, squash and beans.
When I was done planting my seeds and transplants, I was going to water everything in and thought I could do so lightly with a nozzle and garden hose. At my place, I have great water pressure. I realized that if I went that route, I would be soaking everything too much. My goal was to keep plant foliage dry to reduce potential disease issues right off the bat in my garden. I decided to soak the soil with a gallon jug filled over and over with water. It took a little time, but I got the water right where I wanted it and kept transplants dry.
Plant diseases and the issues they can cause in a home vegetable cause are high on the list of problems for Georgia vegetable gardeners. Today, I will be sharing information by way of a UGA publication by Elizabeth Little, UGA Home Garden/ Small Farm Plant Pathologist, that can reduce your garden disease issues this vegetable gardening season.
Most vegetables are susceptible to at least a few diseases. Diseases can be more of an issue when the weather is warm and wet. There are four types of organisms that you may hear called plant parasites or pathogens that will cause plant diseases. How we management our gardens can reduce our problems with fungi, bacteria, nematode and virus pathogens. I mention site selection as important in many of my articles and this can be especially true when choosing a site for your vegetable garden.
Ideally, the spot needs to be in full sun and the area open plus well-ventilated. I know at times gardeners are limited on space options, but the area needs to be well draining of excess water. If the soil in the garden stays too wet, you can have more seedling, root and crown diseases. If the garden is planted in a shade environment or has a lot of dense vegetation around the garden, you can have more humidity. Most pathogens enjoy humid areas. When you plant in full sun, the sunshine will dry plant foliage off quicker and thus will reduce incidence of foliar diseases.
Keep planting records and use crop rotation in your growing efforts. If you plant the same plant family of vegetables in the same spot in the garden every year, you will have pathogen buildup. The rule-of-thumb is to only grow the same type of vegetable or closely related vegetables in the same soil once every three to five years. This practice can starve out pathogens that cause stem and leaf diseases.
You will need longer rotations and maybe other management methods if you are having more soil-borne disease problem. Keeping records of where you plant items in a garden site can help you with crop rotation decisions. Plus, we can provide you with a chart of common garden vegetables and their plant families by email or regular mail.
Note that many plant diseases are seed-borne. It is recommended that if seeds are going to be saved for future planting that you consult a seed saving guide for info on which species and cultivars are acceptable. You should only save seed from healthy plants. Keep in mind that certain diseases can contaminate the seed of the host plant. When contaminated seed is planted the next growing season, the new plant can be susceptible to infection from the additional source of disease.
Your commercially available seed many times is produced in the arid western United States where seed borne disease issues are less. Again, if you save seed, only do so from healthy plants or buy seed from a reputable seed companies. Also, seed companies will many times apply fungicide to protect seed while germinating and emerging. These treatments normally do not provide protection after the seedling stage.
Using disease-resistant varieties can be a great way to manage for vegetable diseases. Remember That resistance is a relative term. Resistant varieties can be either totally immune or only partially resistant depending on the disease type and the variety. Also, following proper planting date recommendations can be helpful in regards to disease. For example, planting seed when the soil is the wrong temperature for proper germination can increase seed and seedling diseases.
Mulch not only can conserve moisture and reduce weeds, but can prevent soil from splashing on to plants and can keep plant fruit from touching soil. This is important since pathogens can survive in the soil. This mulch barrier can help. Finally, some sort of drip irrigation can get water at the soil level while also keeping foliage dry. This can reduce chances of foliar diseases.