Leaf spot on strawberry plants - should I destroy th lot?

 


Sorry, I'm kind of new to gardening. I have some newly prepared beds
to plant vegetables in. A friend has offered me a load of free
strawberry plants, after she thinned out her own crop on her
allotment.

The trouble is, they all have leaf spot. Some of the smaller leaves
have no visible infection, but they are few. Should I destroy the lot?
I don;t want the ionfection to spread to other vegetables and fruit
trees etc. Is it likely to?

I'm not all that mad on strawberries anyway....

Many thanks

JD

 


Rain and wet conditions emplify the problem, the disease, if deseased,
spreads quicker. The fungi will spread to the smaller leaves (it
enters via the stomata - the underside of the leaves and eventually
gets to the crown and rot the lot). You'll still get some flowers next
year, and some fruits, but hardly anything and your bed will look
poorly. Also spots can be a sign of sress - the plants got too dry,
then water logged. I don't use fungicides - and now is the wrong time
to do anything about it, like asking your friend on her allotment to
move her strawberries! Finally, people forget to rotate their
strawberries - by that I mean crop rotation and they keep a strawberry
bed for years when they shouldn't for more than 3 or 4 years. Like
with any other crops, if you keep growing the same food stuff in the
same place year after year, deseases will occur, settle and spread.

I would take out and burn all the affected leaves, and plant
individually the little plants in pot of compost and leave them out,
in a frost free place. See how they develop. If the desease spreads,
burn the lot. If not, plant them out and away you go.

 

On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 09:32:01 -0700, helene@urbed.coop wrote:


Ah - that sounds like a good idea - thank you!

I have already planted what was left after cutting off all affected
leaves. But I could dig them up again and pot in a planter as you
suggested.

I did notice that the leaf spot had not affected any of my friend's
other vegetables at her alotment. Perhaps that strain of fungus (if
that's what it was) is very selective.

Do you think it is safe to put the affected leaves in my compost bin?

Thanks,

JD

 


I wouldn't just in case. It's almost time for bonfire night ;o)

 

On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 09:32:01 -0700, helene@urbed.coop wrote:


I always cut most of the leaves off my strawberries, usually in
Aug/Sept, but this year in October!
Then in Spring they make healthy new growth.
If you don't want them, I'm sure you will not have much difficulty
finding someone who does.

It is a similar thing with Hellebores.  The old leaves often get leaf
spot, and it is usual to cut off all the old leaves at the end of the
year, so that the flowers, followed by new leaves, can come up
unimpeded.

Pam in Bristol