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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Plant disease

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "Liz" <liz@allslash.org>
  • To: <birdwalk@frontiernet.net>, "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Plant disease
  • Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2009 18:31:23 -0400

my squash gets this major mildew thing every year

WHAT can I treat it with?


Is it white? That's probably powdery mildew. Black or dark-colored spots are likely downy mildew. The standard recommendation is to treat with a fungicide. If you don't want to do that, make sure you completely clear out the diseased plants at the end of each season and destroy them, because the fungus spores will hang around otherwise and infect next year's crop. You can also try several plantings in succession, so as each planting becames infected, you can get your squash from it and then destroy the plants themselves. You're removing the host plants, so hopefully that may result in less source of infection in subsequent years.

Also you might want to look at where you're planting any cucurbit. A full day of sun will help to keep the leaves dried off and less friendly to mildew spores. If you can let them grow up a trellis, you'll keep them more open and provide fewer damp places.

and this year the tomatoes are rotting at the stem as they turn ripe...
whats up with that?

The tomato rot sounds like botrytis. Did you have a lot of rain as the tomatoes were developing? Botrytis is another of the fungal diseases that's worse in years with late cool rainy springs.

I think there are some organic fungicides (look for something by Safer) that you could use, and I've been told that neem oil will also work. Lucky here so far--I was so late getting my garden started that this year's late spring monsoon was over with by the time I got anything in the ground.

Liz
http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com




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