Posted 12.01.05 - As the 2005 gardening year draws to a close, now is the time to help
ensure a successful gardening season next year.Sanitation is a
cornerstone of integrated pest management and essential for good plant
health management. Removing diseased plant material this fall will help
prevent disease problems next spring.
Inoculum or disease-causing organisms can survive the winter in infected plant debris. Plowing or tilling under crop debris also can help prevent over-wintering of plant disease, causing organisms and insects.
Good gardening integrated pest management also includes careful weed control. Weeds can serve as alternate hosts for viruses and harbor inoculum, particularly perennial weeds like dandelion, nightshade and plantain. Weeds competing with nearby plants for nutrients and water reduce plant vigor.
As your sanitation program begins, bring out your notebook to record what did and did not work. Write down what needs dividing in the spring and what needs to be moved to a different site.
Make notes about problems and research potential solutions over the winter. If your gardening consists of annuals and vegetables, evaluate which varieties did well and which you should consider replacing.
Much breeding work has been done to select plants resistant to powdery mildew and many tomato diseases. Explore the new varieties while the temperature are too cold to plant, looking for ones that will make you a more successful gardener.
Once you have filled up several pages of notes, it is time to put down the notebook and get dirty. Clean up leaves, crop residues and weeds from all gardens. Pull up and dispose of plant material, including roots. Compost all disease-free tender annuals. Do not compost diseased plants, but dispose of them by bagging or burying. Do not forget to rake and compost fallen leaves.
After removing any material left over that serves as inoculum for next year's crop, till or turn the soil to a depth of 6-8 inches.
Tilling buries any remaining infested plant debris and will be consumed by other soil microorganisms. You can encourage this process by amending the soil with compost.
Compost introduces billions of microorganisms that are eager to eat plant pathogens. It also improves the soil structure and nutrient profile of your soil.
Practice crop rotation to 2 percent.
Source: http://www.kinston.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=32260&Section=Society
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