[Music]
Hey I'm Nick Volesky with Utah State
University Extensions Integrated Pest
Management Program.
And I'm going to show you guys some garden
clean up strategies that you can do in the
fall to best prevent insect and disease
problems in your gardens next year.
So garden clean up can usually occur in
different phases and it's best to get
after it right when that first frost hits.
The first and most important thing is
removing all of your plant residue from
your site.
If you let plant residue or debris hang
out in your garden you're letting for the
possibility of plant disease or insects
next year.
Rotation is super important to
control diseases like powdery mildew.
Powdery mildew is a fungus that effects
cucurbits, like squashes, pumpkins,
and melons. They over winter on the
fruiting structures of these plants.
When the temperature warms up in the
spring, a secondary spore will release and
then the wind will blow it, effecting new
foliage and spreading the disease that
season.
So most plant material is okay to be
composted.
If you have something large, be sure to
break it down.
If you find plant material that was
diseased or had insect problems, you want
to remove it from your garden and put
it into a trash bag.
This will prevent the insects or disease
from over wintering in your compost pile
which may not get hot enough for it to
kill off. It will also prevent it from
being in your site as well.
Rotting fruit on the ground can attract
vertebrae pests, such as large mammals or
rodents, which might be a problem already
in your garden.
Fall is a good time to complete one final
weeding. Any weeds that are left in the
ground will over winter, seed and become a
problem early on next season.
You also want to remove stakes, trash,
irrigation hose, and twine that might be
left in your garden.
Black plastic mulch and road cover
materials and other inorganic material,
if left in place can provide harboring
sites for over wintering insects.
Crop rotation is one of agriculture's
oldest cultural practices and it can
be applied here in your home
garden as well.
Crop rotation involves rotating crops
of a like family, so like tomatoes,
peppers, and other solanaceae crops.
From one location to a different location
each year.
So crop rotation reduces damage from
insect pests, limits vegetable disease
development, and helps manage soil
fertility.
Vegetables in the same plant family grown
in the same spot annually will provide
insect pests with the reliable food source
and pathogens a continual infection source.
This can allow their populations to build
up and strengthen over time.
For example, eggplants, peppers, potatoes,
and tomatoes are all part of the
solanaceae family.
Early blight is a fungus that can effect
these crops. It survives in plant debris
in the soil, which is it's main source of
inoculum.
And on the seeds.
This disease can be best prevented by
crop rotation.
An example of an insect pest that can
be controlled by crop rotation is the
imported cabbage worm.
Which can cause damage to cold crops
such as broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower
Imported cabbage worm, over winters in
their pupae stage in the soil near plant
debris. So rotate your crops and distant
susceptible host plants as much as
possible.
So soil preparation is another super
important thing that you can
do in the fall.
Soil preparation allows for healthy roots
to grow in and allows nutrient and water
uptake.
A lot of common insect pests over winter
in the soil during their pupae stage.
This can include seed, root, and bulb
maggots and various leaf miner species.
Several caterpillar pests also pupae in
the soil. A rototiller is an excellent
tool for incorporating soil amendments
and organic matter into a vegetable
garden. However, excessive tilling year
from year can damage soil structure and
diminish benefits of organic matter.
Alternative methods include raking, and
evening the surface using a shovel to
turn over the main parts of the surface.
Both of these ways can expose over
wintering pupae.
So before you put your tools away for the
winter, sterilizing and cleaning them
is a great way to prevent any disease
pathogens from spreading across your site
during a season and in between the season.
So one of the best ways is to use a 10%
bleach dilution in water and then take all
your tools, whether it's something you cut
with or like a trowel which you dig with.
You can just dip them in there and
let them soak for at least 30 minutes.
So spending a little bit of time now
doing some fall clean up will save you a
lot of time next season.
If you guys have any questions check out
our website at UtahPests.usu.edu
or connect with us on social media through
Facebook or Instagram.