RADIO TRANSCRIPT
Date:  May 13, 2021
Agent:  Donna Teasley

Hello, this is Donna Teasley, horticulture agent with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Burke Center.

Now that gardens are up and growing the hard part starts! You have to keep it all alive and relatively free of weeds long enough to get some food out of it. With this year’s frequent rains and day after day of cloudy, overcast skies diseases are on the rise in vegetable gardens and you have to be on the lookout for them. The earlier the problems are recognized the more successful you are at controlling the problem. I’m already seeing powdery mildew on squash, cucumbers and pumpkins and if this weather trend continues we’re sure to see more.

Powdery mildew can be identified as a gray mold-like layer on the tops of the leaves. Daconil does a pretty good job of controlling powdery mildew on these plants but remember that once we have a heavy rain the plant is no longer protected  and should be sprayed again according to the label directions. This is also true for insecticides.

Continue to watch and treat tomatoes with products containing Mancozeb for early blight. It’s out there, believe me. Make a note of varieties tht are worst hit and think about replacing them with more resistant cultivars  next year. It’s important to remember that you can’t cure diseases but you can prevent and control them. This takes planning and close attention to the garden.

This is Donna Teasley with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Burke Center. If you would like more information about this program you can call us at 439-4460.