Wednesday 9 March 2016

Problem Area - Plant Diseases ... Damping Off!

Good Morning!
Plant disease is a fungal, bacterial or viral organism which interferes with the normal growth rate of plants, producing visible symptoms that reduce economic or aesthetic quality.

The focus of today's post is a Fungal Disease and these have visible symptoms such as -
Leaves producing spots, wilting & curled leaves, dieback, enlargements (galls) and stunted / dead plants. Some fungi's produce other visible signs such as rusts, mildew & sooty moulds.

DAMPING OFF
Damping off is an extremely common problem during the upcoming weeks as gardeners start their seed sowings! Damping off can affect most seedlings and is caused by several soil-borne Fungis.
Photo from Google

SYMPTOMS
Here are a few things you can look out for ...

- Attacks young seedlings, specially those grown under glass. This is particularly common if the seedlings are in areas of high humidity and poor ventilation, along with thick amounts of sowings.

- Failure of seeds germinating.

- Seedlings collapse, often white fungal growth is visable.

PREVENTION 
Here are a few things you can do to help prevent this ...

- Ensure seed sowing compost is fresh and of a good quality. Also make sure that any seed trays or pots are cleaned before use and hasn't been used with sowings that have succumbed to damping off before.

- Sow your seeds thinly.

- Use mains water when possible to water seedlings and do not over water.

- Enusre seedlings have good ventilation to reduce humidity.

I hope you have found this helpful.
HAPPY GROWING!
XXX

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