Diseases typically attack plants that are either not growing in the proper conditions or that are not appropriate for your garden. Before you even grow a garden, you should work your soil with plenty of organic compost to balance pH, improve drainage, and provide the nutrients your plants will need. Learn more about working the soil at the Compost Guide.
Next, research the plants you’d like to grow so that you plant them in the correct place and under the right conditions. Also, educate yourself about the common diseases that may affect your plants. This way you’ll be able to quickly identity and deal with the problem. Diseases have a variety of sources: fungus, bacteria, viruses, etc. You can deal with some plant diseases quickly and easily by simply changing the way you water, correcting the soil conditions, giving your plant more or less light, and adding mulch.
This site from Texas A&M has a list a common garden plants and the diseases they may affect them, plus a list a solutions.
Here are a few other tips for avoiding and treating diseases in your Texas garden:
1. Keep the foliage of your plants dry.
2. Remove any dead and diseased plants from your garden. Don’t compost them!
3. Keep your garden clean by removing garden debris frequently.
4. Keep your garden tools clean.
5. Use natural products that will help deal with common plant diseases, such as horticultural cornmeal.
June 28th, 2008 at 10:53 am
This is not a reply buy a question. Do you have any idea why my liropi is turning brown and dying out? It seems to move from clump to clump.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
It could be Leaf & Crown Rot, a fungal disease that behaves as you have described. Poor drainage and overwatering are said to be contributing factors. Several websites recommend sprinkling cornmeal around the base of the plants, as this seems to inhibit the spread of the disease.