Released November 12, 2009
SALINA, Kan – Chip Miller tends to promote a “take-it-easy” approach to gardening, to ensure the activity remains enjoyable for life. But, his advice doesn’t include skipping fall cleanup chores.
“There are some solid reasons why so many gardening articles suggest removing dead plant debris in fall. The most important is probably the fact that many insect pests and plant diseases can survive the winter, if sheltered by debris,” said Miller, a horticulturist with Kansas State University Research and Extension.
Typically, such problem-causers stay in, with or near the plants they attacked during the growing season.
“You need to rake up all debris damaged by insects or disease and remove it from the garden. Unless your compost pile gets really hot, just put the material out with the trash,” he said.
Fallen leaves, rotten fruit and residual stems can all be good havens for disease pathogens, Miller said. Insects in all stages of development can be in the same places. As the weather gets colder, however, many of the insects will move underground.
Among the array of diseases the pathogens cause are rose blackspot, peony leaf blotch (also called “measles”), iris leaf spot, Septoria and Alternaria leaf spot (on tomatoes), peach tree brown rot, grape black rot and strawberry leaf spot.
Insect pests that will spend the entire winter in debris include the cucumber beetle, flea beetle, European corn borer, tomato hornworm, squash bug and grasshopper.
“Another¿reason to remove some of fall’s debris is that it constitutes a fire hazard. An obvious example of that would be a thick, dry clump of ornamental grass, next to a building,” Miller said.
Farther away from buildings, however, ornamental grasses can be a reason to leave some dead plant material in place. They add to winter landscape interest, he said. Cold-killed stems and leaves also can provide some protection for a semi-hardy plant’s growth zone. That’s why some gardeners wait until spring to clean up their mum plantings.
“As for the rest of the good debris, fall can be a great time to transform it into a soil improvement, without composting. You just add about 2 inches of mowed garden debris at a time and till it in as you prepare next year’s vegetable garden or flowering annual beds. It will be compost by spring,” Miller said.
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http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/news/story/briefs111209.aspx
Editor: Elaine Edwards, elainee@ksu.edu
