How to Control Disease In Your Greenhouse
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Disease is one of the most worrying things for the greenhouse gardener. How do you fix the problem without destroying the balance you are so carefully trying to maintain, and how do you determine what the root cause of the problrem is?.
Apart from the diseases specific to the plants you are growing in your greenhouse, there are six main diseases that are general.
Greenhouse supply companies, nurseries, and garden centers will always give advice about specific problems you may be having
Damping Off In The Greenhouse
Damping Off is the most likely problem to be faced by the new greenhouse gardener. Young plants, usually seedlings, just topple over and die, though sometimes this fungal disease shows itself as a blackened area at the base of the stem. The first thing you know about it is when your young healthy seedlings just keel over and die. The plants are already dead, so there can be no cure. You can, however, prevent the disease. The desease can be soil bound, so do not reuse any soil in which you have seen this. Clean and steralise your trays and pots after use. Raising the temperature in the greenhouse can help, as can sowing more thinly, and watering less.Some gardeners add fungicide to watering to stop the spread if they have encountered this problem.
Botrytis In The Greenhouse
The more common name for this disease is grey mould. It is quite a common fungal disease and symtoms are a dirty-white or grey-brown mould on leaves and stems. This often also occurs in garden plants, so you may well have encountered it before.Poor Ventilation and low temperature are common causes of botrytis. Affected parts should be removed, since they will not recocer.Infected parts should be burned and never put on the compost. You should the improve the greenhouse ventilation, and turn up the heat.
Mildew In The Greenhouse
Mildew causes distotion of leaves, and shows as a powdery white coating. Affected leaves will not recover, so remove them as son as you see affected leaves and burn them. The disease will spread if you leave infected leaves in the greenhouse. Mildew is more common in very dry conditions, So keeping your plants well watered will help control it. Adding dispersible sulpfer or copper fungicide when watering will help to contain any widespread mildew infection.
Blight In The Greenhouse
Blight is shown as brown marks on fruit and leaves. These marks can spread and later turn black. Remove and burn affected parts of the plant immediately. If the disease persists, spray with copper fungicide.
Leaf Mould In The Greenhouse
Brown mould and yellow spots on leaves are indications of laef mould. It is caused by poor ventilation. Improve ventilation by adjusting vents, and give your plants much more space.
Virus Diseases In The Greenhouse
Virus Disease afects many plants including tomatoes and cucumbers. They exhibit a number of symptoms including a “fern-like” appearance, or yellow mottling of the leaves. Sometimes leaves will appear to wilt, then recover and do it again regularly. Affected plants will lose vigour and will crop poorly.
It is terminal! Affected plants should be removed and burned. If virus attacks tomatoes, grow them in grow bags the next year. You need to be extra vigilant about hygene, since virus diseases are spred by insects, garden tools and also by hand.
Diseases in the Greenhouse may seem daunting, and most of us will sufer from them from time to time. However, if you look at your plants regularly, you will spot the symptoms early and will be able to take the measuires necessary to prevent widespread attacks. Most of these diseases are preventable by the right watering and ventilation and this really only comes with experience. So just deal with problems as they occur, Enjoy your greenhouse gardening, and don’t be over concerned.
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