Have you ever happily watched your garden growing,
only one day to discover some plants acting strangely,
and then watched sadly as they stopped growing and died?
This happens fairly often in family gardens, and sometimes
the affected family of plants can’t be grown in that spot
successfully for many years afterwards.
There are many plant diseases that are virulent and
destructive to vegetables and fruits.
Fungus diseases
such as Powdery Mildew and Verticillium Wilt,
viral
diseases like Tobacco Mosaic, and even
bacterial diseases
such as Bacterial Wilt, all take their toll.
Pictures of some common
plant diseases and their symptoms
can be found
here.
Books on the control of these diseases fill shelves in
libraries all over the world, and research is constantly
being done to find ways to stop them – mostly with
limited success.
Given this situation, what chance does the small family
gardener have to grow plants to maturity successfully
on a continuing, or sustainable basis?
Actually, with a little knowledge of how these diseases
get started, what they look like, and how to minimize
the damage they cause, and by following a sustainable gardening
procedure known as the
Mittleider Method, you stand a
very good chance of growing a successful garden,
free of diseases and other problems.
Fungus diseases most often start in damp conditions,
such as where plant leaves are thick, This is one
reason we teach people to prune excess plant leaves,
especially the leaves touching the ground. Pruning
excess leaves also allows more light to reach the fruit,
hastening maturity.
Another way to prevent fungus disease is to refrain
from placing compost, bark, or other organic materials
on the ground around growing garden plants, as these
tend to create the kind of dark, damp environment in
which fungus diseases thrive.
Bacterial diseases enter a plant by contact through a
cut or break; therefore, an open wound is an invitation
to infection. Fortunately bacterial diseases seldom
migrate from an infected plant to adjacent healthy ones
unless they, too, have wounds and contact is made.
When pruning your plants use a clean knife or scissors,
and wash your hands before starting. Also, avoid getting
dirt on the cut or break.
If you find an infected plant, remove it from your garden
area quickly and completely, and never handle any other
plants until after thoroughly washing your hands.
As with any disease, prevention is far, far better than
control or cure. Therefore, you need to keep a garden
that is inhospitable to the conditions that harbor
disease. Following are some suggestions:
- Weeds in or near your garden plants can provide the
environment that diseases and pests need, so a
completely weed-free garden is a must. This includes
beds, aisles, and a border around the garden. Since
many plant diseases are transmitted by insects, our
objective with the Mittleider Method is to make
sure that everything but the actual planting area is
like the Sahara Desert – a place where nothing can
grow, and so uninviting that pests won't even venture
across it.
- Many times diseases are introduced into a garden by
the use of infected seedlings or seeds obtained from a
non-certified source. No matter how good the plant may
be, if it brings a disease into your garden it could
cost you many times that value in lost plants for many
years. Growing your own clean, healthy seedlings, or
buying them from a certified-clean grower, is one
of the best ways to prevent diseases from getting
started in the first place.
- Make sure you are using clean water whenever
possible, and avoid using water that has run through
someone else’s garden – it could be bringing disease
with it.
- And finally, harvesting at peak maturity, and never
leaving plants to get old in the garden, will also help
prevent disease infestation.
Remember: disease prevention is much easier and better
than cure. Follow these tips to keep the diseases out
for a truly sustainable garden!
Jim Kennard
Jim Kennard
is President of the
Food For Everyone
Foundation, a non-profit organization with the
mission of "Teaching the world to grow food one
family at a time". You'll find many free vegetable
gardening resources, including a gardening ebook,
greenhouse plans, automated watering plans, and
a free chapter from each of the great gardening
books and software CD's Jim offers, at the
website:
www.foodforeveryone.org
