I know it's possible to have healthy plants without spraying but not sure about disease free. I think little things always pop up due to weather conditions.

Maybe in an environmentally controlled dome. :)

Seriously, even in the greenhouse we get pests and disease issues. Not as badly as outside of course but it isn't pest or disease free. Even hydroponic growers have to contend with pest and diseases when they have eliminated one of the primary sources - soil. But air and insect vectored issues remain.

The weather alone this year has so many gardeners down in the dumps and dealing with chronic issues we have been able to avoid or at least control in the past that we are all looking for any light at the end of the tunnel it seems.

Dave

No, not where I live.

Yes, but not 100 %. There always will be diseases and pests and insects. It is important to remember that Mother Nature is astonishing in her wisdom of creation. Some forms are created to eat and provide food for higher forms, Human is a top of the chain. We are just now trying to figure out what our soil biology has and to what purpose it serves. So there always will be something, it is matter it does not take over. Just as healthy body always produces cancer cells but it does have triggers that regulate this process and does not allow it become overwhelming. So it is matter of future not to poison body with killing radiation and chemo but find out how to regulate that trigger that keeps process in check. Immuno oncology is likely to be future medicine, not new chemo drugs. Same with plants, we will have to move to not using poisons to produce our food and have healthy yield too.

Dave, have you seen Harley Smith presentation on hydroponics where he describes totally computer controlled miles and miles of greenhouses- Texas? modeled after Netherlands, where tiniest changes in sun, humidity and light are immediately modified by computers and respond with different adjustments in nutrition made?

This is from my favorite gardener guru Phil, Smiling gardener, who helped me to learn.

"When I first started studying organic gardening, I was blown away with how different the organic viewpoint is from the conventional viewpoint about the whole gardening experience.

For example, with organic vegetable gardening, seasoned organic gardeners don't look at aphids on their potatoes or melons as mere pests.

Instead, they're seen as a clue to a nutritional imbalance in those plants.

The aphids are actually helping you out by telling you which plants need some attention. All you need to do is figure out what they need, which takes some knowledge, but can be done."

I guess it's my reward for living in zone 2...I've only had late blight one year (2010)...I might have the odd tomato leaf that turns yellow, but my plants are normally trouble-free. I have never had a tomato horn worm eat my plants. I did have a fusarium wilt on a couple of tomatoes a couple years ago. I think people who live in high humidity areas have more issues than us on the prairies.

“I am too much of a skeptic to deny the possibility of anything.”
(originally said by T.H. Huxley)

OK, let me put it this way:

What measures can a gardener take to reduce as much as possible, the risk to have pests / diseases ?

it is possible to have trouble-free garden IF it is planted in the new location well away from the established gardens. It may be 95 or 99% disease and pest free, but only for the first year of gardening. As an example I had new garden three years ago and it was a bumper crop of everything, especially tomatoes, and no disease problems without spraying. This year my next door neighbor planted her tomato garden for the first time and she has beautiful tomatoes and very healthy looking plants and she does not spray or even prune them.

antmary, I'd like to see a picture of your neibor's "jungle."

I like to see "jungles": support / trellis, vines' length, etc.

<What measures can a gardener take to reduce as much as possible, the risk to have pests / diseases ?>

Since the pest and disease problems vary for crop type covering all the possibilities in any garden would be impossible. For tomato plants IMO:

1. grow under cover - either enclosures or at least row cover/insect barriers.

2. regular use of fungicides for diseases from day 1.

3. excellent soil prep and amending prior to planting. That would include soil testing, amending with at least 1/4 volume of garden with highly active, multi-component compost, and dare I say tilling to destroy soil-dwelling pests for at least a couple of years.

4. close and careful monitoring (no such thing as plant-and-forget gardening)

5. avoid all use of any broad-spectrum insecticides and pesticides and any herbicides to protect beneficials.

6. supplement beneficial insects as needed.

7. do NOT, at all costs, over-water plants and learn how to determine the REAL soil moisture needs

8. do not try to grow in small containers - Bigger is always better. No indeterminates in less than 10 gallons and no determinates in less than 7 gallons and no dwarfs in less than 5 gallons.

9. supplement nutrients as the need is indicated by the plants

10. cross your fingers and toes and pray.

Dave

I know that the gist of the thread is toward preventing and managing disease, but if you'd make an allowance for another perspective...

There's also the measure of the gardener's tolerance for disease.

Commercial growers will, of course, see this differently, but a lot of posts on the forums are about the tiniest things! Like 1 small hole - in 1 leaf - on one plant among many.

Sure, these things are alerts to what could grow to be bigger problems, but it can be unreasonable to expect to achieve a disease free environment. The Earth just does not work that way at this time.

The real question, for me anyway, is how do I recognize the difference between a relatively benign leaf spotting, from a catastrophic infection.

I have a small plot of tomatoes in new ground. That does give me an advantage. However, I have a few spots on some lower leaves, and they get removed within a reasonable time. But, again - for me - trying to achieve a completely disease-free garden isn't worth the headaches.

Of interest, imo: What are your Top 5/10 advice for a newbie ?

<There's also the measure of the gardener's tolerance for disease.

Commercial growers will, of course, see this differently, but a lot of posts on the forums are about the tiniest things! Like 1 small hole - in 1 leaf - on one plant among many.

Sure, these things are alerts to what could grow to be bigger problems, but it can be unreasonable to expect to achieve a disease free environment. The Earth just does not work that way at this time.>

Excellent point rgreen! :)

Dave

Is it possible to have a 100% disease-FREE garden ?

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

No ! I don't think so.

We can talk about scientific statistical probability. And therefore there won't be a 100% probability of having a disease free garden. Maybe a 10% , 20% .. but NEVER 100%

JMO

Sey

OK sey.

Now, in your opinion, what measures can a gardener take to reduce as much as possible, the risk to have pests / diseases ?

Daniel, That is totally a different subject.
We can always try to improve our odds, reduce our risks. One is what you advocate a lot: Fungicide. But even that is not a guarantee but certainly can improve our odds.
Lets say that most gardens in you neighborhood, in Lon Island is infested wit Late Bligh and you get a lot of rain and winds.. What are the chances that you can keep your garden disease free ? .50% ?

Sey

There many things available if one wants to learn. My favorite learning came from Phil Nauta and his website Smilinggardener.com http://www.smilinggardener.com/. He also has free ebook with short lessons and blog with lots of great ideas.

also books by Jeff Lowenfels Teaming with microbes and Teaming with nutrients are great discovery road

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94RD7bFBkZ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKTcbLbb2Wc

googling terms like biodynamic farming/ gardening will open lots of new opportunities, permaculture gardens

One straw revolution book, written by Masanobu Fukuoka, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft0ylk4sU5M

sey, I agree it's a different subject, but somehow related, imo.

> What are the chances that you can keep your garden disease free ? .50% ?

sey, is that 0.5 % ? If yes, yeah, I agree, it's a reasonable percentage.

Late Blight has no cure, so surrounded by LB, only if I'm extremely lucky, my plants will survive.

I always said, that, if my tomatoes get LB, I prefer to remove all my plants, but NOT to use Daconil. But, that's... me.

Yes, Daconil CAN delay the ugly LB, and one can have a decent crop, but still, can not cure the disease. JMO.

Early Blight, on the other hand, is much easier to fight.

> What are the chances that you can keep your garden disease free ? .50% ?
^^^^^
Daniel, It was just a number but I meant 50/50, a toss up.

Nothing in life and in the garden is guaranteed. But it does not mean that one has to give up. IMO.

Sey

imo, chances are less than 5 %; more like 1%. JMO.

there is NOTHING one can do against wind and rain !

even if you cover the plants, you will uncover them sooner or later, and BAM...!

If you have a greenhouse, chances are higher, but not by much. JMO.

"What measures can a gardener take to reduce as much as possible, the risk to have pests / diseases ?"

All the above are excellent suggestions from a variety of perspectives. I would add,
don't ever lose patience, always experiment with new ideas and study your results, taking notes on your attempts for each plant if necessary, and don't take a dismissive attitude towards old faithful varieties with plain names, or hybrids with resistances to the major problems in your area. Many exotic or sexy variety names are a crock of marketing or just designed to distract your attention like squeaky wheels from the basics.
Cheers!
PC

What measures can a gardener take to reduce as much as possible, the risk to have pests / diseases ?

Probably the usual thing that is read or heard or said or written, and that we try to abide by if possible:

* crop rotation

* companion planting

* avoiding monocultures

* providing well-drained soil with

* as much compost as we can muster

* planting things in exactly the place that they prefer

* protection from wind and

* protection from cold pockets (allow the cold air to drain down a slope)

* using clean things, such as pots and tools.

But we are fighting always the human condition of, oh, this is good enough.

And then there are the practices of how we water and when we water. In the morning is better for vegetables. And we should never let the plants be stressed, so never wait until they are dry.

A well set up drip system would be great.

Thank you, antmary.

Pretty short cages.

I grew all my own transplants this year and it seems to have made a huge difference. I also bought certified seed potatoes. The only thing I bought from a non reputable source was my garlic and it developed white mold. But the garlic I bought from Home Depot last year grew about the size of a couple blades of grass... and the potatoes I bought from HD last year were riddled with fungal and what looked like viral disease.

I agree a blemish free garden is not realistic.

So true, antmary.

I have a feeling that the answer to OP's question is... NO !!!