| Garden Diseases Prevention Is The Key! Disease control in the garden depends primarily on prevention. Start with disease-resistant plant varieties. In addition, take care of insect problems as soon as they occur. Most mosaics (viruses) and wilts infect through wounds caused by insects; in many cases, the insects carry the disease with them, infecting as they feed. Fungus diseases such as blights, anthracnose and septoria leaf spot do not require a wound to enter; they are spread through the air or by splashing raindrops. Once disease is established, little can be done to control it. Make all-natural Gardens Alive! products part of your prevention and treatment plans for plant diseases. Gardener’s Gold™ Compost Tea and Green Guard™ Plant Growth Enhancer help build immunity to disease before it attacks the plant. Compost Tea provides a barrier of friendly pathogens to help ward off stress and disease bacteria and fungus so they don’t penetrate. Green Guard wakes up the plant’s defenses, telling it it’s being attacked and provoking the plant to resist the onslaught of diseases. Serenade® Solutions™ Biofungicide and our newly introduced Sulfur Guard™ Fungicide have proved very effective for controlling disease once it has already attacked your garden plants. Apples & Pears Apple Scab Cedar-Apple Rust Fire Blight (Apples and Pears) Pear Scab Sooty Blotch and Fly Speck (Apples and Pears) Peaches Bacterial Spot Brown Rot Peach Leaf Curl Tomatoes & Potatoes Anthracnose (Tomatoes) Blossom-End Rot Early Blight Fusarium Root & Crown Rot Fusarium Wilt Gray Mold Late Blight Powdery Mildew Pythium Rot (Damping-Off, Stem Rot) Septoria Leaf Spot Cucurbits (Cucumber, Melons, Squash, Pumpkin, Zucchini) Alternaria Leaf Blight Angular Leaf Spot Anthracnose (Curcurbits) Bacterial Wilt (Cucumbers) Cucumber Bacterial Wilt Downy Mildew Fusarium Wilt Scab Squash Mosaic Virus Onions Downy Mildew Fusarium Basal Rot Neck Rot Soft Rot Beans Anthracnose (beans) Bacterial Brown Spot Common Bacterial Blight Fusarium Root Rot Gray Mold Halo Blight Pythium Root Rot (Damping Off) Rhizoctonia Root Rot Peas & Lettuce Damping-Off (Lettuce) Fusarium Root Rot (Peas) Pythium Wilt (Lettuce) Pythium Root Rot (Damping-off,Seed Rot) Peas Roses Black Spot Downy Mildew Powdery Mildew Rust |
| Nutrient Deficiencies Major Nutrients Most gardeners are familiar with the "N.K.P" in commercial fertilizers: Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K). But these three represent only half of the major nutrients a plant requires in relatively large amounts. The other major nutrients are sulfur, calcium, and magnesium, all are necessary for the kind of strong, healthy growth that results in bountiful crops and beautiful ornamentals. Minor Nutrients Minor nutrients are not really "minor," or unimportant. They are essential--vital to plant growth but needed in lesser amounts than "major" nutrients. Essential minor nutrients are the "secret weapons" of successful gardeners and farmers. But despite the critical importance of minor nutrients, most fertilizers do not include them. (By contrast, our all-natural Perfect Balance™ custom fertilizer restores five minor nutrients to effective levels.) Plants, however, like people, can suffer from too much of a good thing. In humans, vitamin D, necessary for health, can cause disease or even death when too much is consumed. Similarly, too much boron can be toxic to a plant. A soil test will help determine which micronutrients are already abundant, and which ones your soil needs to achieve perfect balance. Boron Calcium Copper Iron Magnesium Manganese Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium Sulfur Zinc |
| Phosphorus is required for cell growth and plant reproduction, and is crucial for flower and fruit formation. Too little phosphorus can result in stunting, but too much can cause bitter flavor in crops. Symptoms of phosphorus deficiency are often mistakenly attributed to viral diseases. |
| Calcium is needed for cell division and plant growth. Its buffering characteristics are critical to soil balance and largely determine the availability of other nutrients. Lack of Calcium results in yellow or pale leaves, and causes blossom-end rot on tomatoes and peppers. A deficiency in beans causes yellow leaves with curling margins, stunted plants, and blackened, dying shoot tips. Deficiency causes brown-tipped leaves on cabbage, forked roots in beets, and unusually small potatoes. |
| Boron is the most widely deficient minor nutrient in vegetable crop soils. It is needed for protein synthesis and increases flower set, crop yield and quality. In combination with adequate phosphorus, boron increases pollination, fruit set and seed development. Boron deficiency causes growth reduction at the growing tips. Plants have small, crinkled, deformed leaves with large areas of discoloration. Boron deficiency is often caused by application of too much lime. While boron is essential for root growth and fruit development, it can become toxic if over-applied. Always test the soil and apply only the recommended amount. |
| Potassium activates plant enzymes and keeps cell fluid movement in balance. Potassium regulates water loss through stomata (tiny pores) on the leaves, and it is necessary for root formation and food storage in the plant. Severe deficiencies in vegetables can appear as deformed, stunted or yellow leaves, weak stems and premature fruit drop. |
| This corn shows severe potassium deficiency in the stunted, yellowed leaves. Stalks lack strength and fall over late in the season. |
| Poor flesh development in the two tomatoes on the left is caused by potassium deficiency. The two fruits on the right show normal development. |
| Potassium deficiency in young tomato plants results in deformed stems and leaves, browning in older leaves, ripe fruit falls off vines. |
| Most soils are deficient in copper. Some gardeners believe that copper is toxic to plants and should be kept out of the garden. Indeed, too much copper can be toxic to roots and leaves, but a small amount is a necessary component of plant growth. Copper should not be applied, however, before having the soil professionally tested. Copper increases flavor and sugar content of vegetables and fruits. It also increases color intensity and yield of carrots, spinach, onions, corn and cabbage. Soils with high organic matter form a tight hold on copper and can thus cause copper deficiencies in plants. As a result, soils high in organic content are more likely to respond to copper application. An early sign of copper deficiency is the uniform, light green color of young leaves. Deficient plants produce small or yellowing leaves and may be particularly susceptible to airborne fungal diseases. |
| Iron is essential for plants to make chlorophyll, plays a role in the synthesis of plant proteins, and helps plants “fix” nitrogen. A deficiency causes young yellow leaves with green veins, symptoms that are often confused with nitrogen deficiency. Iron deficiency often appears in soils with pH above 6.8; at neutral or high pH, the iron that may be in the soil is not readily available to plants. |
| Iron deficiency in beans causes yellowing between veins on older leaves, overall yellowing in the young ones |
| Magnesium (often confused with Manganese, a minor nutrient) is an essential element of chlorophyll. A deficiency generally appears as yellowing leaves. Affected carrots may be poor in flavor and color, and tops die prematurely. When Calcium and Magnesium levels are not in balance, the availability of many other nutrients is affected adversely. Minor nutrients generally produce best results when the Calcium/Magnesium ratio is close to 68:12. |
| Manganese accelerates seed germination and hastens fruiting and ripening of crops. Deficiencies result in yellowing, cupping and/or spotting of leaves, stunted growth and reduced crops. |
| Manganese deficiency in potato; Left: Mild cupping of leaves. Center: Cupping, yellowing and brown to black spotting. Right: All of the above plus stunted growth. |
| Nitrogen is the element that soils require in greatest amounts. It is the most important-yet the most often deficient-element in plant growth worldwide. Nitrogen is highly volatile, so it escapes to the air, and leaches away in run-off water. Nitrogen should be applied more often than most nutrients, especially if the organic content of the soil is low. Nitrogen is essential to the photosynthesis and healthy cell growth and reproduction. It is vital in producing chlorophyll (which gives the leaves good green color) and amino acids. It also promotes shoot and leaf growth. |
| Nitrogen deficiency in corn causes yellowing of older leaves, progressing upward. In young corn plants, nitrogen deficiency causes the whole plant to be pale yellowish green with spindly stalks |
| Sulfur increases the protein content of crops and stimulates more rapid root development during early periods of growth. A lack of adequate sulfur is almost always a limiting factor in garden soils. Visible symptoms include a uniform yellowing and mild upward curling of leaves on deficient plants. (Nitrogen deficiency shows confusingly similar symptoms.) A moderate to high level of sulfur is especially required for potatoes. |
| Degrees of sulfur deficiency in potato foliage: The most deficient, with characteristic yellowing and curling, is on the right. |
| Zinc aids in moisture absorption and in the production of chlorophyll. A deficiency is indicated in tomatoes by small, narrow leaves with black spots in yellow areas; plants may be stunted. Right: Rosetting of leaves on an apple shoot caused by zinc deficiency. Left: Healthy leaves. |
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