How to Treat Soilborne Diseases? A Detailed Guide to Effective Control Methods
Soilborne diseases refer to diseases caused by pathogens such as fungi, bacteria, nematodes and viruses that live in the soil along with diseased plant residues and, when conditions are suitable, attack crops through the roots or stems. So, how do you treat soilborne diseases?
1. How to Treat Soilborne Diseases
1. Eliminate the source of inoculum
Taking advantage of the good sealing performance of greenhouses, when crops are rotated in summer, technical measures such as flooding, burning and high-temperature chamber sealing are used to eradicate residual pathogens in the greenhouse soil, purify the soil, strive to make the greenhouse sterile, and prevent the initial infection of the above various diseases. In greenhouses under continuous cropping year-round, apply 80% ethylicin at 4000g/hectare, that is, 260g/mu, for soil treatment to eliminate residual overwintering bacterial colonies in the soil, or use 50% uric acid soil bactericide-virucide at 500-1000g per mu, which can effectively kill bacteria, fungi and viruses in the soil.
2. Strengthen management
Pay attention to fertilizer sanitation and strictly prevent pathogen-carrying fertilizer from entering the greenhouse; organic fertilizer applied must undergo high-temperature treatment by covering with plastic film in summer and be fully decomposed.
When management personnel enter the greenhouse for management work, they should change shoes, socks and work clothes in the outdoor operation room to prevent clothing, shoes and socks from carrying pathogens into the greenhouse; the floor of the outdoor operation room should be spread with lime powder for disinfection, and shoes, socks and work clothes should be washed and sun-dried frequently for sterilization and disinfection; after personnel enter the greenhouse, they should close the door and lock it behind them, and outsiders, especially management personnel from other greenhouses, must be strictly prohibited from entering, so as to prevent cross-infection of diseases from other greenhouses and invasion of outdoor pathogens into the greenhouse.
3. Implement crop rotation
Worsen the ecological conditions for pathogens and reduce infection; apply more organic fertilizer, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer and trace element fertilizer, adjust the relationship between vegetative growth and reproductive growth of plants, maintain robust plant growth, and improve crop disease resistance.
Once a disease is found, immediately take decisive measures according to the type of disease, apply the right remedy, and resolutely and thoroughly eradicate it. It must never be allowed to multiply and spread.
2. Misconceptions in the Prevention and Treatment of Soilborne Diseases
1. Unclear diagnosis of the disease and random use of pesticides. For example, some farmers mistakenly believe that Chinese cabbage clubroot is caused by nematodes and use nematicides for control. For example, if the diagnosis of bacterial wilt and fusarium wilt is inaccurate, bacterial diseases are mistakenly treated with fungicides, resulting in no remedy for the disease and poor control effects.
2. Not paying attention to early prevention work, and only starting to use pesticides when the disease occurs. As a result, the occurrence of soilborne diseases cannot be well controlled, and may even cause crop yield reduction or total crop failure.