The pests and diseases that can wreak havoc on your spinach. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
If you’ve tried growing spinach before you’re plants have probably come under attack by a number of different pests and diseases. Some pests causing only slight damage while others are complete crop killers. Aphids, Army Worms, Cabbage Loopers, to name a few. Most people don’t think of grasshoppers as destructive, but these little insects eat up to half their body weight in plant matter each day. Fortunately, there are many natural ways to handle these pests before they become a huge problem.
Spinach may also find trouble by several diseases, most of them fungal in nature. The ones to watch out for: Anthracnose, Downey Mildew, Fusarium Wilt, and White Rust. Good gardening practices like watering at the soil level, spacing plants appropriate, and planting them somewhere they get lots of morning sun goes a long way towards keeping these problems at bay in the first place.
Listen to Cathy Isom’s This Land of Ours program here.