As beautiful and healthy we want our plants to be, there is always a chance of irregularities in operations or some physiological factors which could cause the occurrence of diseases on foliage, fruits, or plants.
Even in the most well organized and managed gardens, there is always a possibility of disease occurrence or plague which could either be caused by a fungi, bacterial, protozoan, or virus and there could be troubles resulting from environmental irregularities.
Diseases in gardens can occur through several means all depending on the type of disease that the plants are prone to, the gardening environment, and also the nature of the plant in check.
Diseases affects the overall health of the plant and you do not want that to occur in your garden, so you must learn how to prevent diseases from having access into your garden and in cases where you have a diseased plant – what are the right steps to take to ensure that such a disease is eradicated and the plants are freed.
It is natural to want to get rid of diseases that strike your garden; however, you have to be careful in your approach and must make sure that you are well acquainted with your plants (and garden at large).
Taking a preventive measure ahead of plants’ disease prone season will go a long way in helping you in avoiding the occurrence of these diseases and even if peradventure the worst happens then it will be much easier to control.
Are you having challenges on your garden and you are looking for the perfect solution? Do you need help in preventing that unfortunate occurrence from taking charge of your garden the coming year?
Then this is the right place for you to be. If you want to know more on how you can easily prevent and control plant diseases in your garden, then you have to read further as it will be explicitly discussed in this article.
When is the right time to Prevent or Control Diseases in the Garden?
Before going to the steps involved in preventing or getting rid of diseases in your garden, you must firstly know the right time for these operations to be carried out.
There are different diseases that affect plants and giving them a chance to create a space in the garden can be very disastrous, so, all preventive measures that you want to put in place must be considered even before planting.
The proper protection of your crops, vegetables, flowers, and other edibles before planting will give you a chance to reduce their occurrence to the barest minimum.
However, if you notice the occurrence of any kind of disease – bacterial, fungal, and viral, then you must make sure to control it as early as the observation is made.
Also, you must make sure that the control of such diseases is carried out as soon as you can and you must not give it a chance to spread before controlling it.
HINT: planting disease-resistant varieties will go a long way in preventing diseases.
How to prevent and Control plant diseases in the Garden
An old saying goes does, “prevention is better than cure”, as true this is to the human health, so is it to the health of the plants that we grow out our backyards (in gardens).
There are so many different ways through which we can prevent and control the occurrence of plant diseases and some of them will be well discussed in the subsequent parts of this article, so read further to learn more.
Practice good sanitation:
Keeping your garden clean at all times can be a very good way to avoid the occurrence of diseases in your garden.
This involves trimming away dying and unhealthy branches and stems, picking dead leaves, and regular weeding.
If you notice a diseased plant and you get rid of it, the remnant from the plant must be packed and disposed to avoid having to deal with the same disease in the coming season.
Proper fertilization of soil:
The soil is the layer of growth of plants in the garden and properly fertilizing your garden will go a long way to keep the plants healthy.
Make sure that you add the optimum amount of nutrient needed by the soil as over-fertilization can lead to the growth of unhealthy plant part that can entice diseases.
You can make use of organic fertilizers like compost which will help the plants stay healthy and capable of withstanding diseases.
Inspect new plants well:
If you plan on adding some new plants to your garden, then you have to be at alert. In order not to bring in diseased plants into the garden, it is important that you inspect the plant very well and ensure that they are healthy.
If you notice any sort of irregularities, then you must not purchase such plants as they can spread diseases.
Plant when the soil is warm:
The activities of micro-organisms can be at its peak when the soil is cold, so you have to be watchful when planting.
Plants are usually stressed when they are to be transplanted and you want them to be able to fight off diseases but cold soil will negate that.
You must make sure that you plant during spring when the soil must have warmed up a bit and a small thermometer can be the right gadget to determine the perfect/right time to plant.
Some people also recommend phenology; a traditional practice in which you can know the particular time to grow plants from nature.
Practice Crop Rotation:
This is by far one of the best way through which we can easily prevent plant diseases in gardens.
Planting crops that belongs to the same family on a single plot of land over several season increases the exposure of the plant to diseases, however, if crop rotation can be practiced specific diseases can be easily controlled.
This is one of the oldest disease control methods and the knowledge and understanding of the plants family will ensure that the disease is avoided.
Early morning watering:
This is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of soil borne diseases and to make sure that the plant is dry at all time.
Providing water to the plants will ensure that the plants dry off as wet foliage increases the rate at which fungal diseases operates in gardens.
As an addition, if irrigation systems are going to be put to use, the drip system is going to work perfectly well.
Mulching:
This practice is known to work perfectly well in preventing and controlling plant diseases.
Mulch helps to maintain soil moisture and inhibit the growth of weeds in gardens and they are known to have the ability to prevent the splashing of infected soil on leaves.
Soil rich in soil borne diseases can be avoided from reaching plant surfaces when the surrounding of plants is well mulched.
Plant resistant varieties:
This is a modern way of preventing diseases; seeds are genetically modified so that they can withstand certain diseases.
There are several seeds that have been developed to withstand diseases from time to time and prevent them from diseases of sort. Make sure that other things are put in place to ensure better productivity.
Give access to good air circulation:
For a very good and efficient growth plants needs to have the right access to air. When plants are planted in close proximity or close to the wall, it is possible that there will be inadequate air in circulation and this can lead to the occurrence of fungal diseases such as powdery mildew, downy mildew, leaf spots, etc.
If your plant is experiencing such problem, you should prune the excess branches or you move such plants to places where they will get a better air circulation.
Get rid of Insect pests:
Some insect pest serves as pathogens for plant diseases, so you might want to get rid of them. The best way to get rid of these insects is to kill them as soon as you see them.
Avoid the use of chemicals as this can have an adverse effect on the plant, you, and other organisms in the garden.
Remove diseased stems, foliage, and fruits:
Keeping diseased plants in the garden will ensure the spread of the disease to other healthy but susceptible plants so you must not leave anything to chance.
The presence of leaf spots on leaves of plants, powdery mildew on foliage, etc. should trigger immediate removal of the plant.
Make sure that the diseased plant or plant part is removed and discarded so as to prevent its spread.
Conclusion
The above mentioned steps will help to prevent the plants at all times and this will definitely ensue that your plant stays healthy and disease-free.
You must try as much as possible to know your plant and every other thing about your garden so that you can easily know when you need to be at alert and to prevent diseases in your precious garden. Have a disease-free garden experience.
On behalf of the author, thank you so much for taking the time to read this article !
