killing soil diseases with bleach
lisa-regina
15 years ago
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wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
15 years agoronnywil
15 years agoRelated Discussions
Healthy Soil - Disease
Comments (27)I haven't had it tested for awhile, but a couple of years into it (probably at least 10 yrs ago now) I had the garden and lawn soil tested. Everything came out very high in the garden as a result of the compost I was adding, but the lawn soil was deficient in P. This explained why the dwarf fruit trees were not blooming. I used bone meal and when I (occasionally - like every 2 years) fertilize the lawn I use 12-12-12 instead of 29-3-3 to boost up the P. It worked and now we get fruit. It was a former farm field so it was pretty worn out. The garden was pH 7 - 7.5 as I recall, and I discontinued putting ash into the compost because I was worried about it getting too high. I don't use much fertilizer on the garden but this year the peppers were so stunted that I put soluble 10-30-20 on them a couple weeks in a row and sprinkled some high N granular around them. They greened up nicely, grew very well for the last month or so and now are producing peppers despite the brutal heat. So I think the nearby tree roots are just robbing more nitrogen than I can put in there with my limited compost. I have friends who do much less tinkering and soil building and have much better gardens with less disease. You think I should have it tested again?...See MoreRe-using soil that had tree with Bacterial leaf disease in it
Comments (7)Wow. You are so right. I just read about how it spreads...twigs, leaves and fruit. You just have to get rid of the affected leaves that fall on the soil. What was I thinking? You don't throw away the soil from a plant that gets mold or mildew....just the leaves. Thanks for the heads up. "The bacterium Xanthomonas pruni overwinters in twigs that are infected late in the season about the time leaves are shed. The following spring, when environmental conditions are favorable, bacteria ooze out onto the surface of these twigs. The bacteria are then spread by windblown or splashing rain and can result in new infections throughout the growing season. The bacteria come in contact with healthy leaves, fruit and current-year twigs and enter the tissues through stomata or lenticels when surface moisture is present. Once inside healthy tissues, the bacteria multiply and disease develops. Warm temperatures (70-85 degrees F, 2l-29 degrees C) with light rains, heavy dews or fogs and windy weather are most conducive for disease development and spread. The disease makes little progress when weather is hot and dry."...See Morebleach killed mint
Comments (4)It will eventually leach away from the bed y the natural process of getting rain and you watering. You can hose it down to speed the process. Good air circulation will also help. Felix...See Moresolarizing to kill pathogens in the soil
Comments (5)"I've had some concerns that soil-borne diseases might be responsible for the death of some of my tomato plants." John, I think it would be worthwhile for you to attempt to identify your problem first. Without knowing what it is, hard to say if solarization would be of any benefit. Also, the article you're referencing isn't really accurate. From the article: If you're using soil in beds it will have to be sterilized. Pathogens that wouldn't hurt many of the newer hybrid varieties will quickly kill off heirloom varieties with no resistance. Nonsense. The author obviously doesn't know very much about open pollinated varieties (and not just necessarily "heirlooms") and how resistances (the correct term is really tolerance) don't really buy the home gardener much time. And even then, the tolerance must be of the same kind that the gardeners soil is affected with -- if it is even affected. Also, the article looks like a thinly disguised attempt to sell an e-booklet. However, the solarization instructions sound about right. You would need to do it during the summer and for at least a month. You'd also want to keep the area moist. But again, hard to say if it would be of any benefit to you without knowing what your problem is....See Morejimster
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