How to Grow: Vegetable and Flower Diseases

Learn about some common vegetable and flower diseases in this video. The first steps are prevention. Crop rotation, interplanting and spacing plants further apart helps stop the spread of fungal diseases during wet weather. Some specific diseases to watch for during rainy periods are wilts, blights and powdery mildew. Wilts cause vines and flower stems to rot and die due to lack of oxygen in the soil and the growth of soil born diseases. Remove infected stems and mulch and cultivate around the plants to dry out the soil.

Blights, such as early blight on tomatoes, can be prevented by pruning up bottom leaves and infected leaves and mulching under the plants to prevent the disease spread. Powdery mildew and downy mildew are best prevented by growing disease resistant flower varieties. Sprays, such as Serenade organic fungicide and baking soda, can help prevent powdery mildew disease from spreading onto healthy leaves.

Check out this video for more on diseases.