Garden Talk: End Of Summer Gardening

Air Date:
Heard On The Larry Meiller Show
Bacterial leaf spot.
Scot Nelson (CC-BY-SA-2.0)

Summer has brought a ton of rain to the state, which has also brought diseases to our plants. Larry Meiller and his guest talk about garden cleanup for the rest of the growing season.

Featured in this Show

  • Horticulturist Says To Check Plants Before Bringing Them Inside

    As temperatures drop and summer gardening comes to an end, it’s time for many in Wisconsin to start moving some of those house plants back indoors.

    But before transferring them all at once, there are a few steps of planning to take to ensure the plants will continue to thrive in a new environment.

    Diana Alfuth, the horticulture educator for the University of Wisconsin-Extension in Pierce County, said it’s important to inspect plants prior to transporting them to the house. There has been heavy rain throughout the state this summer, which has brought in a lot of moisture — good for gardens and good for disease.

    “It’s hard to find a plant that doesn’t have spotted leaves or blotches on leaves or something fuzzy or gray growing on it because the fungus among us has been really, really happy with all of this moisture,” Alfuth said.

    Insects, too, can latch onto plants, she said. There’s always a possibility that insect eggs of some kind are on the underside of leaves.

    “You want to make sure any house plants or anything else you’ve been summering out in the patio for the year gets a good going over before it comes in,” Alfuth said.

    If there are signs of spotting or blotches on plants, isolating them from the rest of the houseplants will prevent the disease from being spread, she said.

    Depending on what disease it is, there a few methods to controlling the problem. UW-Extension offers fact sheets on various diseases to help identify and control many plant diseases.

    If more assistance is needed in diagnosis, the Plant Disease Diagnostics Clinic accepts samples to help identify diseases.

Episode Credits

  • Larry Meiller Host
  • Cheyenne Lentz Producer
  • Diana Alfuth Guest

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