Simple tips for keeping diseases at bay

Every year, gardeners lose produce, sleep, hair and have their general happiness eroded through the onslaught of a range of diseases that sicken their plants and undermine their efforts to create a beautiful and productive yard and garden.

When it comes to diseases, there are three basic requirements in order for disease to occur.  Without all three, you won't get disease.  The level of each combines to create the overall severity of the disease.  The first is a susceptible host.  The second is a pathogen.  The third are conditions that favour the development of the disease.

While you can’t always fix every problem, there are a few things that you can do to try and minimize the impact due to disease.

• Start clean – It is critical to start with the best plant material that you can.  Just because something is cheap doesn’t mean you should purchase and plant it.  Select plants that are healthy, free from disease, and that are actively growing (if that is what you want).  At the same time, make sure that the location that you have selected is good enough to give the plants a chance to get established and give them a head start on any attackers.  The same conditions will help the plant stay ahead of any attacks (hopefully). 
•  Accept defeat (temporarily) – Some diseases will come back year after year and some diseases have very specific hosts.  If you get a disease that needs a certain host, consider not growing that plant for a couple of years, or if you have the space, don’t plant in that location.  It might mean sacrificing the taste of a favourite veggie for a short time, but in the long run, breaking the disease cycle will hopefully mean fewer headaches in the long run. 
• Don’t over water or overfeed – It is possible to kill with kindness, especially in the garden.  Don’t succumb to the temptation to keep throwing water and fertilizer at the plants. Healthy plants are more resistant to disease (generally), whereas plant gluttons are lush, soft and overgrown: a.k.a. easy targets. 
• Drainage – Plants generally aren’t adapted to growing in water and react accordingly when subjected to saturated or overly moist conditions.  Too much water will usually result in poor, weak growth and an increase in both root rots and other diseases.  Over watering can actually look like the early stages of drought stress, but there is no nighttime recovery or positive response to adding more water. 
•  Let the air flow – Stagnant air or poor air flow results in higher humidity and the potential for more foliar diseases.  Don’t put plants too close together, either in beds, between or within rows.  Ensure that perennials are pruned properly and don’t create a completely enclosed, over-sheltered environment. 
• Encourage drying – Most diseases thrive in moist conditions.  The longer leaves and plants stay wet, the easier and more quickly diseases can develop.  Consider watering in the morning, when plants will dry out more quickly.  Consider watering the soil surface, not the foliage. 
•  Notice and rogue (remove) the rogues – If something looks weird or abnormal, take a closer look and see what is going on.  Consider taking anything that is abnormal OUT, in case it spreads to other plants. 
•  Remove and bury – Another way to break the disease cycle it to get rid of infected material.  If something is aggressively moving through a planting, do your best to contain it.  When the season is done, encourage a rapid breakdown of the diseased material by burying it or removing it entirely from the site.

These few steps can help keep the diseases at bay and maybe cut down on the mental trauma that can come from gardening.  Good luck.

Meadow Spittle Bugs

There are literally thousands of things that surround us on a daily basis that we walk past without a second glance (or often even a first one).  However, if something is brought to our attention, we tend to notice them over and over, even if we’ve never seen them before.

Many insect and diseases are like that.  One afternoon last week, I got an email from someone asking if I knew if people were noticing a particular pest in their strawberries.  It is a very minor pest, which I’d heard of but had never set eyes on before.  Imagine my surprise (and delight, I will admit to it) when the very next morning, as I was weeding my flower bed, I came across this very insect.  Within an hour, I found it again and again in my strawberries.  It makes picking strawberries that much more interesting, since I am “eager” (yeah, I’ll admit to that), in a weird way, to find this little critter again.

Spittle mass on Creeping Bellflower (weed)

So, let me share with you this little insect that is the “proud” possessor of a fairly disgusting reputation but is, in fact, pretty fascinating.  The insect that I am referring to is the Meadow Spittle Bug.

The Meadow Spittle Bug (Philaenus spumarius) is found a number of different host plants, such as strawberry, clover, alfalfa, a number of grasses, various weeds and some ornamental plant species and is generally considered to be a minor nuisance pest in Alberta.  It is lists about 400 plant species as hosts and is considered to be a general feeder.  It can be damaging in some regions and on some crops, but not on the Canadian Prairies.

Most likely you’ll find (and recognize) MSB more by touch than sight most of the time and, odds are, MSB will be there but you won’t see it.

Frothy spittle "gift"

The first (and predominant) sign of spittle bugs is a subtle-ish frothy or foam mass on the stems, leaves, or perhaps the fruit of the host plant.  Spittle masses can range in size, but are often upwards of ½ an inch or more in diameter.  In my experience, masses can be found pretty much anywhere in the plant canopy but are most often in the lower parts of the canopy.  As you move strawberry leaves aside to find and pick the fruit, you’ll get a wet/slimy feeling and find your fingers with a bit of wetness or foam on them.  Not overly pleasant, but bearable.  You might also catch a glimpse of a mass on an upper leaf surface.

Spittle mass on upper leaf surface of a strawberry

Closer view of spittle bug mass - note individual bubbles

Spittle bugs feed by piercing and sucking.  MSBs don’t tend to cause yellowing, but if there are lots and lots of spittle bugs on the plant, you might see some stunting or perhaps wilting of the plant.

MSBs look a bit like large aphids (a bit egg or pear-shaped), but adults are mottled and winged and can hop and fly (aphids just sort of mosey slowly or park, for the most part).  They are approximately 7 mm in length.  The nymphs are what you will find inside the spittle mass.  They range from orange-yellow to green (depending on the instar (growth stage)) and can stay inside the masses for up to a month while they mature.  Unlike aphids, they can really move when they are motivated.

Spittle bug nymph (probably later instar)

Spittle bug nymph (side view)

MSBs overwinter as egg masses that are laid on lower plant parts.  Nymphs hatch and emerge in late spring.  Once the nymphs hatch they start feeding and produce a frothy mass of little bubbles.  After close examination, I can safely say that they essentially blow the bubbles out of their nether regions, which extends to look a little like a short elephant trunk that waves back and forth, side to side, depositing a bubble one at a time.  In a short time (2-3 minutes), they can produce enough bubbles to equal half their body size.  The spittle masses protect the MSB nymphs from predators and desiccation.

Meadow Spittle Bug nymph - note the slightly distended rear end (where the bubbles come from)

Spittle bug nymph blowing bubbles out of its nether regions

Some sources lead me to believe that spittle bugs are more of an issue in humid regions, which would suggest that MSB might be more of an issue in more humid years.  It certainly jives with the tendency of the MSBs to put their spittle masses in the lower canopy, where the humidity is higher.

While the MSB is gross (people hate to put a hand in the masses), it generally doesn’t merit any sort of control measures.  Weedy areas/fields tend to have more MSBs, so controlling weeds can cut down on hosts and keep populations to a minimum.  Chemical applications (if they are made) for other pests may coincidentally control the MSB, however the spittle masses also protect the nymphs for the most part.

While I am not an “insect guy”, you have to admit that insects can be pretty interesting.  So, keep an eye open.