After working so hard on your garden, isn't it heartbreaking to see your favorite plants wilting and dying despite taking all the precautionary measures? As a grower or gardener, you must not only focus on your plants' well-being but should also stay vigilant because diseases can attack them anytime, any day. Like garden pests that destroy all the plants you have grown with tireless efforts, plant diseases also damage your plants. One of the diseases that you must keep an eye out for is verticillium wilt.

Some diseases are airborne, soil-borne, or transmitted through insects. Verticillium wilt is a soil-borne plant disease that can destroy your garden right in front of your eyes. It targets every single plant that you have in your garden. Anything with roots is an easy target for this disease. As far as we know, almost every plant has roots, meaning that all of your plants can contract it. The earlier you detect it, the higher are the chances of saving your plants instead of having to grow them from scratch.

This article will cover all the required information that can help you diagnose and prevent your plants from contracting this disease.

Understanding Verticillium Wilt

Verticillium disease is a fungal disease that affects your plants, especially the roots causing them to wilt. The most common type of this disease is Verticillium Dahilae. Other than this type, there are five more species present in the same genus that cause wilts. They include Verticillium Albo-atrum and Verticilliumtricorpus. These are the species of diseases that also cause your plants to wilt and affect your plants' health. The disease can exist throughout every temperature range and topical zones present globally. Are you wondering about how it damages your plants? Read ahead to find your answer.

How Verticillium wilt damages plants

The target area of Verticillium wilt is the roots and underground stems. It begins spreading from there and then progresses towards the vascular tissues, i.e., xylem and phloem and branches. The disease leads to blocking the plants' nutrients and water uptake as roots are the primary parts of this job. If a plant is not getting enough nutrients and water, it will result in nutrients and water deficiency. The blockage causes changes in leaves color from dark green to yellow. Eventually, dark brown leaves cause the plants to wither and wilt. Once the affected leaves fall off the branches, the branches also start getting affected. If you wish to notice the sign early, look for the plants' parts in the shade which are not getting enough sunlight. The plant parts facing the sun can stand the damage longer, and the signs are not visible instantly on them.

In some plants, the discoloration appears in some patches before it spreads in your entire garden. You will also notice the general wilting and the eventual death of the plant. In some cases, you might not see any disease symptoms other than during the plant's flowering stage, when the plant may collapse suddenly. If you analyze the plant cross-sectionally for the presence of disease, you might see a brown streaking or discoloration. During the day's peak hot time, the wilting becomes evident on plants' parts that are under the shade and away from the sun. Although the disease spares no plant, some species can resist the damage, such as asparagus, celery, citrus, lettuce, beans, and peas.

Causes of Verticillium wil

' Multiple factors can contribute to the inception of verticillium wilt, but the most common of all causes is inadequate growing conditions. Low-quality soil can easily house this wilt as it loves heavily alkaline soil. Other than these factors, these fungus's spores can be brought into your garden by wind, rain, insects, or unfortunately you yourself without knowing it!

Is Verticillium wilt different than fusarium wilt?

Often gardeners and growers confuse this wilt from fusarium wilt due to the similarity of symptoms and the type of fungus. The following are the key differences that you can consider while identifying the wilt symptoms.

• Verticillium wilt is more common in humid and cool environments, whereas the fusarium wilt thrives in hot and dry conditions.
• Plants growing in alkaline soil are more prone to getting verticillium than those growing in a non-alkaline medium. The fusarium wilt, however, attacks the plants growing in acidic medium/soil.
• Fusarium wilt spreads more quickly in sandy soil, and verticillium wilt loves heavy soil.
• Verticillium wilt progresses through roots, but fusarium wilt can infest seeds.

How to prevent Verticillium wilt?

Since the fungus resides in soil, it is impossible to have it under full control, but you can take actions to prevent its spread. Healthy plants have fewer chances of getting infected with this disease. You can increase the vigor of your plants by feeding well-balanced nutrients. Use a well-rounded plant nutrient package containing both micronutrients and secondary nutrients essential for your plants' health. The way you handle your plants can have a significant impact on their growth and vigor.
• When you transplant your plants, ensure to avoid any injury to the roots or stem, which can give enough room to verticillium wilt for infiltration.
• Consider rotating your plants during growing cycles to avoid planting the same plant at the same spot.
• Another way to prevent this disease's infiltration in your garden is to plant varieties of wilt-resistant vegetables, fruits, ornamental and woody plants.
• If you add new plants to your garden, assess them carefully, and monitor them for a few days in isolation before introducing them to your garden.
• Ensure that runoff evaporates before sundown by watering your plants early in the morning. Moist soil is a favorable ground for molds and fungi.
• Keeping good drainage in your soil can also lessen the chances of diseases in your plants.
• One of the best ways to prevent verticillium wilt is to add organic fertilizers, enhancing the root's capability to fight off fungi and other diseases.
• Amend your garden soil by adding healthy dry amendments.

Controlling Verticillium wilt

If you still see the wilt being persistent in your garden despite taking preventive measures, don't worry! The following instructions can help you regain control of your garden. Using fungicide in this wilt may not work as it resides deep in the soil. Eradicating all of it through root drenches can be tricky. If you cannot eliminate this disease from your plants, you can take some corrective measures to delay its impact. Try implementing pruning and cut off the infected leaves. If the infection has spread throughout the plant, cut off the entire plant as soon as you notice the signs of infection and remove them from the growing space. If you have a recurring problem of verticillium wilt in your garden every two years or so, double the growing space to prevent it from jumping from one plant to another.

Solarization control

It refers to a non-pesticide method for controlling the spread of diseases in plants. This simple technique involves exposing your garden to direct sunlight for 5 to 6 weeks and letting UV lights handle the fungus for you. Dig your soil to the extent that a few feet of the ground can face the sun directly. After exposing it to the sun, wet the ground and use a plastic tarp to cover it. Watering the soil before cover serves as the best disinfectant method against the disease. It diminishes the chances of the spread of all types of wilts.

Removing infected plants

If your plants have become a target of diseases and infections, pull them from the ground and remove them as quickly as possible. While removing the plants, remember that disturbing your root zone too frequently can lead to the shedding of fungal spores, so be careful with removing your infected plants.

Choose hydroponics

Losing your entire crop to this soil-borne disease can make it difficult for your garden to bounce back. If you want to grow your plants without soil, your best option is to shift to hydroponics systems. It helps prevent many plant diseases since this growing medium does not involve soil. It is also one of the dirt-free and the most efficient way of growing your plants. Are you curious to learn more about it visit the hydroponics section at Groindoor.com!