Ever noticed a fast-growing white fuzz on your pea leaves? Mysterious wilting on your hard-fought tomato plants? Dark spots on your pepper plants’ leaves? While each of these diseases impact your plants a bit differently, they all have one thing in common: their root cause is fungus.
Fungus can turn a thriving garden to a struggling wasteland in a matter of days, and it can send your pricey houseplants right to the garbage. Gardeners and houseplant enthusiasts are right to fear it, and often that fear leads to desperation and the use of toxic fungicides. Unfortunately, this approach can harm your community’s groundwater, impact pollinators, and put your pets and family at risk. In this guide, gain an understanding of fungus and learn how to prevent plant fungus and tackle it in an earth-friendly, safe way.
What Is Fungicide?
Fungicide is a type of pesticide you can apply to your indoor and outdoor plants to prevent and treat fungal diseases. In the search for the best fungicide for plants, many gardeners look for natural fungicides free from toxic chemicals that can still offer reliable plant disease prevention.
Common Plant Fungus
Unfortunately, ideal conditions for many plants overlap with conditions for fungal growth. Fungus prefers the moist, warm environments that many garden favorites also thrive in.
In the garden, the most common fungus types include powdery mildew, fungal wilt, gray mold, fire blight, and bacterial spot. Each type of fungus presents unique symptoms. For example, you can identify powdery mildew by the white, powdery substance that spreads across a plant’s leaves. On the other hand, bacterial spot’s telltale sign is brown or black splotches on leaves.
Houseplants can also fall victim to plant fungus. In most climates, powdery mildew is the most common houseplant fungus, and root rot can rear its ugly head when overwatering or improper drainage comes into play. You might also notice mold growing on your soil, especially on plants that require constant moisture.
Plant disease prevention is an essential aspect of gardening and caring for houseplants, not only because plant fungus is unsightly (especially inside the home), but also because these issues can impact the long-term health of your plants and the yield of your garden.
Risks of Traditional Plant Disease Prevention
As you dig into how to prevent plant fungus, you’ll likely encounter various options that include toxic ingredients. Especially when not used properly, fungicides can cause long-term health problems and pose dangers to pets and children. For example, researchers have linked 2,4-D, a common fungicide, with lymphoma and sarcoma. Copper fungicides can cause irritation with simple contact, and effects like liver and kidney damage if accidentally consumed by pets or people.
On top of the long and short-term health risks to gardeners, children, and pets, many fungicides also harm pollinators. Common ingredients like captan and mancozeb kill bees on contact, harming your local ecosystem and undermining your eco-friendly gardening efforts. You need natural fungicide for plant disease prevention that doesn’t compromise your health or your organic gardening goals.
Best Fungicide for Plants
The best fungicide for plants is BugHut’s organic and natural Fungicide. Made with thyme oil instead of toxic chemicals that can ruin the health of your ecosystem and your family, BugHut Fungicide is the best organic gardening product for plant disease prevention. You don’t have to choose between healthy plants and safe practices. With BugHut, you can have both!
How to Prevent Plant Fungus with BugHut Fungicide
Since Fungicide works best as a preventative, your first step is to ensure there are no existing signs of fungus on your plants. If you’ve already noticed signs of disease, trim each plant to remove the entire impacted area to prevent the fungus from spreading. Then, use Fungicide as directed to keep your plants fungus-free.
BugHut squeeze bottles make it easy to prevent plant fungus with natural Fungicide. To apply it, choose a time of day when temperatures are mild, ideally between 41° and 85° F. If temperatures are above 90°F, save your application for a cooler day! You’ll also see best results if your plants aren’t under stress – you can use De-Stressor to boost antioxidants and protect your plants from the stress that temperature swings and drought can otherwise cause!
Once you’ve determined the best time to apply the natural Fungicide, remove the two protective seals in the bottle of Fungicide. Then, shake your bottle thoroughly and take the lid off of the small chamber of the bottle. Squeeze the bottle to fill the chamber to ¼ oz, then mix this amount into a 32oz spray bottle filled with water. Shake the spray bottle to combine the water with the Fungicide.
For thorough plant disease prevention and treatment, spray the entire plant and the surrounding soil. Repeat the process every 7-10 days to keep your plants disease-free!
BugHut has everything you need to make your organic gardening dreams come true. Get the best results when you combine BugHut products, and save big when you buy Organic Fungicide in the Plant Protection Bundle.
