Plant Pathology Infobytes

February 19, 1998
Staking and Mulching - Helpful Disease Control Tips for the Spring Garden

Weather officials are forecasting milder, wetter-than-usual conditions for this spring, and wet weather gardening can be a real challenge for even the most dedicated vegetable gardener. Diseases are tough to control when it's wet, so every technique available will be needed to protect the harvest.

For example, there are several ways to cut down on tomato disease problems such as early blight, Septoria leaf spot, and buckeye fruit rot -- all of which are more severe following rainy weather.

Several approaches will help with these diseases. The first involves the use of plant stakes or support cages. Gardeners need to "hang 'em high" within the first few weeks of setting transplants as the first line of defense for tomato leaf diseases and fruit rots.

This control technique is effective since the fungi which cause these diseases live in the soil. Tomato foliage and fruit in contact with the soil surface quickly become disease targets when rain splashes soil particles containing blight and fruit rot fungi onto lower parts of the plant.

So, if you stake, trellis, or cage your plants, this will cut down on disease development in the lower part of the plants. In turn, disease movement up the plant will be slowed.

Along with staking of tomato plants, it's a good idea to use mulch to further reduce the amount of soil splash onto fruit. Mulching is a good idea not only for tomato production but for other vegetable crops as well. Mulching will help with pod rot (anthracnose) of lima beans, belly rot of cucumbers and cantaloupes, and fruit rot of bell peppers. Early-season mulching with plastic, newspaper, pine straw, and similar materials will mean extra work, but the technique works and will allow you to reduce losses from wet weather diseases.

Staking and mulching will help, but it's important to realize that other practices such as carrying out a fungicide application program will also need to be carried out to further cut down on vegetable disease losses. For further information, check with us at the County Extension Office.


Written by the late Dr. Frank Killebrew

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