Common garden diseases often spur gardeners to purchase and apply fungicides, some of which may be harmful to other organisms in the garden. The...
Common garden diseases often spur gardeners to purchase and apply fungicides, some of which may be harmful to other organisms in the garden. The...
View Organic Gardening RSS feedCommon garden diseases often spur gardeners to purchase and apply fungicides, some of which may be harmful to other organisms in the garden. The good news is that there are organic solutions for the most common garden diseases.
Plant diseases can sneak up on you. By checking your plants regularly for signs of trouble, you can catch any disease problems before they infect your entire plant, or, worse, start spreading to other plants in your garden. Here are the two most common plant diseases, as well as instructions for how to eliminate them in an eco-friendly way.
Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that results in a white, powdery coating on the leaves, and sometimes the fruit, of many common garden plants. The plants most susceptible to powdery mildew include:
Preventing powdery mildew in the first place is much easier than treating it once it's struck your plants. First, choose mildew-resistant or mildew-tolerant varieties of plants. Site the plants in an area that gets good air circulation as well as plenty of direct sunlight, as both of these will inhibit the germination of fungal spores.
The first step towards treating powdery mildew is to remove any infected leaves or fruit and throw them in the trash. Do not compost them! Once you've removed the infected areas, there are two simple, inexpensive treatments for treating and preventing the spread of powdery mildew. The first is to make a solution of milk and water. A ratio of one part milk to nine parts water will prevent the spread of powdery mildew. The lactic acid in the milk interferes with the fungal spores and leaves them unable to germinate. Simply mix the milk and water and use a garden sprayer to spray the leaves, stems and fruit of the plant.
Another treatment is to mix one teaspoon of baking soda and a few drops of normal dish detergent with a quart of water and spray that on your plants as described above.
To prevent the fungal strains from becoming resistant to these treatments, it is a good idea to switch back and forth between the two types of treatment. For example, use the milk spray method, and then, approximately two weeks later, apply the baking soda spray.
Black spot is the bane of rose growers. It is a fungal disease that starts out as a small black spot on the foliage of the plant. In time, the leaf turns yellow and drops off the plant. If the infection is bad enough, it can kill the plant.
To prevent black spot, make sure that your plants have plenty of air circulation. This may entail pruning some of the canes or branches in order to open the plant up a little. Never get the foliage wet when you water, and remove any infected leaves as soon as you see them. It is also a good idea to clean up any leaves that have fallen off of the plant and to add a layer of mulch to the soil. Black spot spores can be splashed up onto the plant from the soil, and keeping this area clean and mulched will go a long way toward preventing the problem from spreading.
To treat black spot, apply a spray of two tablespoons of baking soda, one gallon of water, and a few drops of dish detergent to the entire plant at least once per week, and up to twice a week in the hot, humid weather in which black spot thrives.
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When it comes to home prices, location matters. Consider this: a $210,000 home in Atlanta, GA would be worth $1.4 million in Beverly Hills. The same home would be worth $509,000 in Washington D.C. and $207,000 in Phoenix. Find out how much homes might be worth in different cities in this home price comparison.
An open letter to all of the lawmakers and taxpayers who think a mortgage bailout is what we need to solve the housing crisis.
A national survey found that Stamford, Connecticut has most expensive rents among other U.S. cities. Residents need a household wage of $31.58 to afford fair market rent on a two-bedroom rental unit. Find out which other metro areas and states have high housing costs.
To get borrowers to leave a house--and leave it in good condition--mortgage lenders around the nation have begun offering cash for keys. Some lenders are paying out upwards of $3,000.
Republicans and Democrats are working on a new measure inappropriately named ''The Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008''. This legislation is being billed as help for homeowners, but homebuilders and the mortgage industry are the true beneficiaries.