“Prevention is better than cure”, this is a common phrase among human when it relates to our health; however, it is the same thing with plants.
Even when it relates to the healthiest plants, there is a high chance that they could be susceptible to diseases and there is always a need to put in place the proper and most effective preventive and control measures.
The health of plants in gardens is of great priority and gardeners always put in much effort into making sure that the plants in their garden have great and superb health quality.
There are a number of diseases that garden plants are susceptible to; it could be environmental or pathogenic which could have been caused by either bacterium, fungi, virus, and lots more and it is very important to pay attention to them.
Diseases can have a big effect on the health of the plant, the quality of the produce, the aesthetic quality of the plants, etc. so it is very important for gardeners to pay attention to their plant at all times.
Making sure that your garden is in the best shape possible is of great importance and managing your garden well will ensure that the diseases do not prevail and they can be well prevented and controlled if need be.
For most gardeners, ensuring that their plants do not get exposed to plant diseases is very crucial and knowing how to prevent and control (unfortunate) occurrences in the garden are something that they must understand.
Proper management of gardens will make getting rid of diseases through prevention possible; however, in cases when the disease has become prevalent in the garden, making use of a product control will go a long way in keeping the plant in shape.
There are a number of ways through which serious plant diseases can be prevented and controlled in the garden and we will discuss more about them in this article.
How to Prevent Plant Diseases in the Garden
It is important to pay attention to your plant and put in place all necessary practices that can help prevent any kind or form of plant diseases in the garden.
Just like humans, preventing diseases and ailments is a very good way to keep the body and soul together and these preventive measures will definitely ensure that the plant is well protected against disease exposure.
Preventing your garden from diseases involves day to day activities that are carried out on the farm so you must always keep your garden in check always. Below are some preventive measures:
Keep pruning equipment clean:
After carrying out pruning exercises in the garden, it is very important that you keep all the tools and equipment(s) clean.
Pruning shears and other sharp tools can harbor plant disease pathogens and when not properly cleaned can introduce the pathogens to healthy susceptible plants when in use.
Do not over-fertilize:
Your garden should be well-fertilized and this must be done at an optimum level so that they can survive very well.
Adding too much fertilizer to your garden will encourage the growth of numerous weak, vegetative parts that are susceptible to pests and diseases.
Ensure that enough fertilizer that will help the plant to stay healthy at all times is added to the soil.
Water in the morning:
Fungicides are opportunistic organisms that have the ability to grow well in wet environments. Watering should always be carried out in the morning so that the plant environment would have dried before nightfall.
Adding water to plant parts during the day or in the evening encourages disease occurrences as a result of a wet environment which gives fungi the ability to thrive well.
Practice good sanitation:
Keeping your garden free from dead and damaged plant parts will go a long way in preventing plant diseases.
Dried leaves, fallen leaves, and other plant parts that are around the garden should be removed and gotten rid of.
Carrying out proper maintenance from time to time will help prevent disease outbreak. Diseased leaves, stems, and fruits in the garden should be removed as soon as they are noticed to prevent possible spread.
Inspect plants before introducing to the garden:
When getting a new plant for your garden, it is very important that you inspect the plants well.
Plants that look weak, have yellow-colored leaves, and are wilting must be avoided. Make sure that any plant you are introducing to your garden is healthy and free of diseases.
Practice plant rotation:
This is one of the most common practices of preventing plant diseases. This involves growing plants that belong to different plant families interchangeably at a particular spot in the garden to prevent the action of disease pathogens over the years and allowing them to starve to death.
Rotates plants in your garden from time to time and making a chart for about three to four years can serve as an important guide for you.
Mulching:
Adding mulch to the garden soil has a number of benefits which include soil moisture maintenance, prevention of weed growth, manure application, and it can also help to keep your garden disease-free.
This helps to prevent exposure of plant parts to soil-borne diseases that could have been introduced through water splashing on the floor.
How to Control Diseases in the Garden
Before deciding on making use of the preventive measure, there is a need to be assured that the pathogens already has a substantial effect on the aesthetic, yield, and productive capacity of the garden in a negative way.
The disease control products, however, do not work for all plants; therefore, there is always a need for you to know the plant disease well before using them. Below are some of the disease control products there is for garden use:
Bicarbonates:
There are different types of bicarbonates there is and they include potassium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate, and ammonium bicarbonates.
These plant disease control products have been used for years with the sodium bicarbonate being the least used as a result of the need for an additional component for it to work effectively as compared to the others.
These bicarbonate products are used as contact fungicides and they work best for diseases such as the powdery mildew, rusts, anthracnose, leaf spots, and botrytis.
They help to inhibit the growth of the thread-like mycelium and also damage the fungus cell wall.
Copper-based products:
These control products work by damaging pathogens that are present on leave surfaces. They are very effective for their use in controlling various fungal and bacterial pathogens.
These control methods are very effective but can be very toxic and dangerous to human health as well as that of mammals and aquatic animals.
They are perfect control measures for diseases such as bacterial leaf spot, leaf blight, powdery mildew, anthracnose, fire blight, and other ornamental plant diseases.
Bacillus subtilis:
This type of control involves the use of a living organism to combat another living organism and this is a biological fungicide.
This fungicide works by preventing the germination of the fungal spores and it interferes with the ability of the fungi to penetrate into the plant’s foliage.
This control method can also work for certain bacterial pathogens and when they function they do not have any negative impact on birds and other living organisms.
They can be used for diseases such as black spot, anthracnose, early blight, botrytis, and lots more.
Sulfur-based products:
This type of disease control product has been in use in the agricultural sector for thousands of years.
They are preventives that help to prevent spores of different pathogens from taking hold in the garden and these products should never be used when the temperature is above 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
This product can be used for controlling plant diseases such as leaf spot, black spot, powdery mildew, and other fungal diseases.
Neem oil:
This is an extract from the seed and fruit of the neem tree. These control products are usually used as preventives and they can be used for controlling plant diseases such as powdery mildew, rusts, scabs, leaf spot, black spot, and lots more.
You should be cautious when using this product as they tend to be toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms.
Trichoderma harzianum:
This product is derived from a naturally occurring soil fungus and they are known to always parasitize pathogenic fungi thereby preventing plant damages.
They have the ability to suppress soil-borne diseases such as Fusarium, Pythium, and Rhizoctonia.
Conclusion
There are a number of serious plant diseases that can occur in your garden and learning how they can be prevented or controlled will help you a long way in keeping your garden in good shape.
You must know when, how, and for what reason your garden is to be guarded and taken care of at all times. Learn to grow a disease-free garden always!
On behalf of the author, thank you so much for taking the time to read this article !
