What can be done about plant diseases?

Infected leaves and fruit (looks burnt!)

After my post up-dating the fact that I actually started the garden and its progress, a friend ask if I was having problems with diseases on my cucumbers and what I was doing to treat it.

Infected squash leaves

While my garden looks nice and lush in the post from two weeks ago, there were a bunch of leaves that had powdery mildew on them. And since that post, there still is a bunch of powdery mildew on my squash and cucumber plants. I really hate the idea of just getting rid of the entire plant all together, so I do my best to treat the disease as best as I can. When I searched and asked about eliminating the fungus, there did not seem to be any fail safe method other than getting disease resistant plants. Powdery mildew is one disease that is a common problem and persists as long as there are hot days and relatively cool nights (humidity doesn't seem to be an issue).

Last year, when I had a problem with blight on my tomatoes, I used a copper based fungicide that is approved for organic gardening (which I try to use whenever possible). However, the copper fungicide is not something that you're really supposed to use when the plants are fruiting (oh and it's not really effective against the powdery mildew I have this year). 

Blight on last years tomatoes (above)

Removed infected leaves and fruit

Neem oil (below)

The local garden center (Merrifield Garden Center) recommended neem oil. It doesn't eradicate the fungus but it seems to kill of some of it and at least slow it down.  You have to make sure your plants are really well watered before you apply it. I was warned several times when buying the bottle that it could burn the plants if they were not well hydrated. And it can only be applied every 5-7 days, so diligent treatment is a must.

Other things that I have done, removed yellowed/dying leaves and fruits. This seems to help, especially since gray/brown leaves will probably be covered in spores, which only spreads the fungus. A bunch of the websites sites that I read suggested that the more air movement there is among the plants is also helpful in preventing fungal spread. After removing the leaves, they should go directly in the trash and not be composted.

There are a few methods that I haven't tried yet. One is sulfur dust or spray, the biggest earning is (again) burning the plants. I didn't seem to be able to locate any at the Home Deport or the garden centers, so I might have to order it on Amazon. The other method that Growing a Greener World and Growing Real Food have mentioned is spraying the plants with diluted milk. It sounds very interesting and would be a bit more economical than ordering sulfur dust, so I will probably try that method next.

Regardless of the diseases the plants have, I've been able to harvest cucumbers and squash.

Progress and set backs

Tomatoes and peppers, early last week. 

 

Early last week, I was able to get out to the garden and take a couple photos on its progress. This was after I had realized that I had neglected my garden for a couple of weeks and had let weeds grow all over the walk ways and sides of the beds. I had also found a few slugs (possible suspects for the near death of one of my bean plants and numerous squash flowers) that were also removed from the garden. But after all the unwanted vegetation was removed I was able to see that there had been some progress in veggie production

Here are a few specimens from the garden.

Beans coming soon!

Romas - starting to come in. 

First successful bell pepper

First tomato!

Zucchini... no looking so good

But, not all has been a success. I've already had to prematurely remove two peppers and a couple of zucchinis because they were infected with something. There were soft spots on them and I removed them in hopes that the infection would not spread. 

Erly blight on tomato plant *sad face*

Tomatoes as of this morning

It has also been raining here plenty, which is both a blessing and a curse. I haven't had to spend time in the morning making sure that my plants have had a healthy dose of agua before the heat of the day; however, high humidity and heat make for ideal conditions for fungal growth. And lo and behold... the blight has already beseiged my indeterminate tomato plants! I've gone through and picked off infected leaves and sprayed with a copper based fungicide. Only time will tell if I get more than one tomato from all four plants. I've seen some signs of it on my Romas, but I'm hoping that early enough treatment will help stem the spread. Since this is my first time growing tomatoes, I'll admit that I had not thoroughly read into growing tomatoes beyond planing them pretty deep into the ground to provide a strong root system for the plants. Had I continued to do more reading on how to tend to them as they grew, I might have done a different staking system and monitored them more carefully. (This video has some great suggestions http://youtu.be/pZWRfLGqH1M, which I will try to implement next year). 

Squash, benas, and corn

Butternut squash!

In regards to the rest of the plants, they seem to be doing alright. But, I think I burned a few beans with too much fertilizer. I was using a fertilizer that was supposed to be added with water but ran out of that when got to the beans and used a different one. I don't think I applied it correctly because some of the leaves have yellowed. However, where the little white buds first appeared last week have small beans on them. I'm hoping that they'll be ready to pick in a few days. 

The male flowers on the corn are up, and earlier I saw set of female flowers on my corn. So, there will be at least one ear of corn (but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more) 

Also, I have noticed that I have winter squash already growing nicely! 

On another note, the hubs found a little snake in our yard. The little thing was about eight-inches in length and hiding in the mulch near the mail box. He moved it on to the side walk so I could get a better shot of it. We let it go afterwards because we didn't think it would be a threat to Puck. 

S-s-seee you later!!