Benedict T. Palen, Jr - Ways To Keep Your Plants Disease-Free And Fit

One of the most puzzling things that can occur in your garden is when a plant gets a disease. The most important thing to know about disease prevention is something known as the disease triangle. Disease can only come about when three things match: you have a plant that can get ill, a pathogen that can attack the plant, and environmental conditions that promote the disease. If any one of these things is not there, the disease will not take place, so prevention includes knocking out at least one side of the triangle. Instead of waiting for a problem to pop up in your garden, think about the best defense against disease to be an excellent offense. Here are the ways you can get rid of at least one side of the disease triangle and keep your plants fit.

• Not all components in a compost pile decay at the same rate. Some materials might have degraded adequately to be put in the garden, while others have not. Methodical composting generates high temperatures for comprehensive lengths of time, which in fact kill any pathogens in the substance. Infected plant debris that has not gone through this process will reintroduce prospective diseases into your garden. If you are not sure of the situation of your compost pile, you should avoid using yard waste as mulch under responsive plants and avoid including possibly contaminated debris in your pile.
• The simplest way to limit disease in your garden is to stay away from introducing it in the first place. Getting a malady with a new plant is not the kind of plus that any of us wants. One of the difficult things to learn is what a healthy plant should look like, making it hard to know if the one you want is ailing. It is a good idea to gather a few books, catalogs, and magazines that show what a healthy sample looks like. Do not take home a plant with rotted stems, dead spots, or insects. These issues can spread to your healthy plants easily and are at times hard to get rid of once recognized. Apart from checking the tops of plants, always examine the root quality. One does not frequently see customers doing this in a garden center, but it should be a general sight. Put your hand on the soil surface with the plant stem between your fingers. Invert the pot gently and shake the plant loose. You might have to strike the edge of the pot against a solid surface to release the roots from the pot. Roots should be solid, usually white, and spaced all over the root-ball. Mushy or dark roots are not a good sign. Even when the tops appear healthy, it is just a matter of time before a rotted root system damages a plant.
• It is always better to clean out the garden in the fall, even if you reside in a moderate climate. This is not only an efficient prevention to disease but also a good way to control diseases already in your garden. Diseases can overwinter on debris and dead leaves and attack the new leaves as they grow in spring.

Benedict T. Palen, Jr., has three decades of knowledge working in management, operations, and agricultural investments. Right now, Benedict T.Palen, Jr., serves as co-proprietor and manager for Great Plains Farms, LLC, administering all from the appraisal of farmland to offering proposal on operator training and irrigation development.