AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION GOES A LONG WAY

Soon our gardens will burst into new life.  Along with emerging plant shoots, insects good and bad will hatch and resume activity and pathogens will be spread by mother nature.  Now is the time to think about how we can prevent or minimize potential problems in our gardens.

If you had a problem with scale or mites last year, you may consider spraying your dormant trees and shrubs with horticultural oil.  The oil will basically smother any insects that might be hatching and crawling out from their winter hideouts.  It is organic and very safe to use, but it may also smother beneficial insects so be sure only to spray if you had a problem.   Again only spray if the plant is still in bud and when the air temperature is consistently about 10 degrees celcius.  Insects will start to become active at this temperature so timing is important.  You want to make contact when they start to hatch and crawl.  You probably won't completely eliminate the pest population, but you will definitely set it back.

If you had a fungal problem last year (i.e. black knot, silver leaf, cedar-hawthorn rust, etc.), a good spring clean up is important.  Remove and destroy any plant debris that might be harboring any spores or pathogens.  Also prune out and destroy any noticeably diseased branches (it is easy to identify black knot this time of year).  Make sure you disinfect (1 part bleach to 9 parts water) your tools after every cut not to spread the disease.  After pruning, spray your woody plants with lime sulphur mixed in with the horticultural oil to help prevent spores from reattaching.  Just make sure that the plants are still in tight bud and not leafed out.  Remember this is only preventative.  If it rains, the lime sulphur may be washed away.  Also fungal problems only explode if the spore is present, the weather conditions are perfect and the specific host is present.

Cleaning up and removing any plant debris will also help to remove or expose pests that might be pupating or hatching in the ground and therefore reduce their populations.

Prevention is probably the first step to keeping your garden healthy.