Listen, no matter how seasoned a gardener you are, you can’t avoid growing problems. It’s part of the game. While some issues are unavoidable, you can get a leg up on common garden pests and diseases by implementing a few preventative strategies. This edition is jam-packed with great growing advice; let’s start with 5 Cool Ways To Get A Head Start On Plant Problems.
Zoom In On Your Plants
What’s up, Sherlock Holmes? It doesn’t get any simpler than getting your hands on an old-fashioned magnifying glass! A simple hand lens is an essential tool all gardeners should have in their growing spaces to check out and diagnose pests and diseases quickly. Getting up close and personal with plants and their potential issues helps growers better identify what they’re dealing with and develop an appropriate action plan. If you don’t have a magnifying glass, try your cellphone camera to zoom in and get a closer look. While you’re at it, download an app specifically designed to help you identify plant diseases. Finally, digital microscopes are also an interesting way to watch for big problems that the naked eye can’t see. They can be affordable, depending on the make and model. On a side note, Garden Culture’s Eric Coulombe touts microscopes as an excellent way to get your kids to stop biting their nails. It’s genius!
Sterilize Your Tools
Reduce the spread of disease in the garden by diligently disinfecting your tools. If you use pruners, trowels, scissors, or a moisture meter, properly clean them afterwards so you don’t accidentally cause a plant epidemic. Dirty tools and pots easily pass disease from infected plants to healthy ones because pathogens like bacteria, fungi, and viruses hang on to their surfaces or tiny pieces of soil. Even if your pruners look clean, wipe them down with a product like rubbing alcohol (70% isopropyl alcohol). This antiseptic is easy to find, affordable, and doesn’t rust metal pieces. Hand sanitizer is another excellent option for small tools. Even if your plants all seem healthy, don’t skip this step. You never know what’s lurking beneath the surface!
DIY Pest Control Projects
We’re all about finding inexpensive, organic, and ingenious ways to control pests in the garden. Plenty of nifty DIY projects can keep you busy on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Did somebody say Sunday afternoon? How about building a beer trap to help control slugs? These critters make quick work of leaves in ornamental and edible plants. Slugs are attracted to yeast, so pour some beer into a cup and slightly bury it beneath your plants. They’ll come crawling in for a drink, fall over the edge, and drown in the beer. Luckily, the same won’t happen to you, so go ahead and enjoy a brewskey yourself after making your trap. Another easy DIY is building a cucumber beetle trap using a yellow plastic cup, petroleum jelly, and clove oil. Cucumber beetles are brutal garden pests and make quick work of staples like cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, melons, pumpkins, and squash. They also transmit bacterial wilt and cucumber mosaic virus, so protecting your plants is crucial. Find these DIY projects and others, including cutworm collars, carrot rust fly screens, and earwig traps, in The Vegetable Garden Peat Handbook by Susan Mulvihill.
Introduce Beneficial Nematodes
There are good and bad nematodes; the good ones are crucial to nutrient cycles and perform many roles in exchanging and converting minerals, plants, and animals into available food for other life forms. Beneficial nematodes find hosts in the soil through the pest’s respiration. They enter the host’s body and infect it with bacteria harmless to humans, animals, birds, and pollinators. The host dies within 48 hours of infection. In this edition, Alex Field writes about common mushroom-growing problems and introducing scariad nematodes to help combat fungus gnats. He says adding the eggs of these microscopic worms into the water and soaking a growing medium with it will help kill the flies and their eggs. It works for houseplants, too! You can purchase beneficial nematodes from garden centers and online suppliers. Be sure to verify which species you are selecting and what pests they are best suited for tackling.
Good Cultural Practices
Good cultural practices have everything to do with the garden’s health. Taking preventative measures gives a crop the best chance at survival. Walking through your garden space daily and checking your plants closely for changes is an excellent start. Plus, it’s therapeutic! Intercropping is beautiful in all its chaos and makes it more challenging for pests to find their desired crop. Mulching reduces soil erosion, locks in moisture, and prevents plants from having direct contact with possible pathogens. Savvy gardeners inspect seedlings for signs of pests or disease before introducing them into the garden space. Good airflow, proper watering practices, and weeding are essential for healthy plants. It might seem like a lot to keep track of, but we promise that implementing good cultural practices is simple, and you’ll end up with a mostly pest-and-disease-free garden, making it all the more enjoyable!
We highly recommend Susan Mulvihill’s The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook and The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook to help you identify and battle pesky bugs in your garden!
