A few old age ago , I decided to last give Swiss chard a chance .
I had always avoided grow this leafy green veggie in my garden because I was n’t certain that I would like its taste . After realize that there was n’t a leafy green I had tried yet and disliked – from kale to arugula , lettuce to Spinacia oleracea , I love them all ! – I finally decide to give it a go .
Growing Swiss chard is advantageous for several grounds . It can be grown in warmer weather than many other leafy green vegetables and is considered a superfood , high in vitamins like C , A , and K.
Of course , its colorful show makes it a wonderful cosmetic industrial plant to mix into your landscape gardening , too .
It ’s also a mostly trouble - innocent crop . It is not prone to many diseases or pests , but of course , like any plant , it does have its fair share of troublemakers .
If you decide to give rise Swiss chard a try , these are some pests and diseases you will have to watch out for .
How to Grow Swiss Chard
A fellow member of the beet family , Swiss chard is more closely related to those bright imperial etymon veggies than it is to other leafy vegetables , like cabbage .
It is best make out for its colorful stems , usable in a variety of hues including cerise , orangish , pink , chickenhearted , and white .
Although Swiss chard is typically grown as a cool - season crop , since it grows speedily and easy during the colder temperature of autumn and spring , it can also stick out quick conditions . Its ontogeny slows in the summertime but it can still be grown as a salad green once the mercury begins to rise – an advantage that it has over many other salad leafy vegetable .
you may find a full guide togrowing Swiss chard herebut here are a few quick tips to help you get started .
First , know that the good time to plant this veggie is about 2 - 3 week before the last spring frost . you may sow in seeds directly into the footing but you should attempt to soak them in body of water for about 24 hours before you plant .
you’re able to continue constitute seeds every 10 days for a month if you ’d like a cut - and - get - again craw .
The planting site should be fertile and located in partial to full sunshine . The soil should be at a 6.0 - 7.0 pH with seeds spaced ½-1 - inch cryptic .
Water evenly and consistently to help the plant produce and mulch to husband moisture and suppress weeds . snub your plant regularly to ensure fresh , tender development .
Most Common Swiss Chard Pests and Diseases
Growing Swiss chard is mostly an uncomplicated process . However , there are a few disease and pest that you will need to keep an eye out for . Here are peak on how to manage them in your veg garden .
1. Aphids
Unless you are 100 % brand - Modern to horticulture , there ’s a good fortune that you ’ve already issue forth across aphids before . There are hundreds of different species of aphids , each of which seeks out individual case of plant .
Bean aphid and peach aphid are the most probable to go after Swiss chard . These pests can be a dark to blench unripened .
Though they are n’t staggeringly damaging in belittled numbers , they can be annoying to deal with . If you just notice 1 or 2 , you may blast these sap - sucking pests off your industrial plant with a strong blast of water from your hose .
However , at mellow populations , they can be dangerous . Not only do they lead behind a sticky substance , honeydew , that can attract ants , but their voracious feeding habits can boil down plant vigor . Not to mention the holes they leave in plants can cause the leave to yellow and reduce your overall yields !
Aphids can also spread disease , so if you notice them on plants , it ’s wise to get disembarrass of them . seek to forefend using pesticides , as these can pop good worm . Instead , use an insecticidal soap spraythat is more born .
2. Spinach Leafminers
The spinach leafminer is another unwashed pestilence . It is not the adult version of this pestilence that you need to be on the lookout for but the larvae . These pallid white maggots look like miniature cultivated carrot .
These blighter will damage the leaves of your Swiss chard so gravely that they wo n’t be worth eating . you could prevent them by covering your plants with fine mesh veiling or cheesecloth . lifelike insecticidal max spraying or pyrethrin - establish spray can work well , too .
3. Armyworms
Several types of armyworms will establish an all - out onset on your Swiss chard plants – the Beta vulgaris armyworm , the fall armyworm , the Western yellow - striped armyworm , and the bertha armyworm .
These pests will nibble hungrily through the plant foliage , leaving behind ragged hole or even amply skeletonized leaves .
UsingBacillus thuringiensisis one of the most good manner to get free of these pests .
4. Flea Beetles
Finally , the last cuss to determine out for is the flea beetle . These lilliputian pests are arduous to detect since they are so small but you’re able to catch and then supervise them by using sticky tape .
You ’ll know it ’s flea beetles cause wrong if you acknowledge that your leaves wilt suddenly or have a “ shot hole”- like visual aspect . Occasionally , you might notice these teeny - diminutive pests on the plants themselves , too . They can be inglorious , blue , gray , bronze , or striped in color .
5. Leaf Spot
There are a few diseases that affect Swiss chard that are n’t fungal . Leaf smudge , also screw as Cercospora folio dapple , is a vulgar Swiss chard disease – and it is a fungal disease . Leaf spot pretend the lower leaves of the plant first and have browned to grey or even black spots with purple halos to seem .
It is most common in warm , wet weather , as is the case with most fungous problem . you may foreclose it by go out sight of blank space between your plants when you constitute them . This will provide adequate air circulation that will make it harder for fungal spores to affect nearby plants .
test to water only when needed . For the most part , Swiss chard is a plant that only need to be watered when it is hot and dry . dilute your flora can help prevent and control the spread of this disease as well .
6. Downy Mildew
Another fungal disease to watch out for is downy mildew . fortuitously , all the steps you will take above to prevent and check the spread of leaf spot can also be followed in the prevention and discourse ofdowny mold .
The other piece of good tidings about this disease is that it is seldom fatal . It can , however , make your leaves fabulously unappetizing to depend at and exhaust . It causes white powdery growths to mould on plant leaves .
7. Mystery Fungus
This disease is nominate “ enigma ” fungus because it is often ill-defined why it touch specific plants or else of the whole craw .
It occurs most often when the weather is wet and cold , conk out after plant life leave rather than the entire plant . The disease appears as blotches rather than circular spot , as is the case with many other fungal diseases . It is best treated with environmental controller ( such as managing humidness ) and using a fungicide to get disembarrass of it .
8. Cucumber Mosaic Virus
Last but not least is thecucumber mosaic computer virus . This disease can stunt the growth of your works , causing them to grow extremely slow .
It can affect just 1 or 2 plants rather of the entire crop , causing them to develop fainter mottling than you might recover on healthy leafage .
There ’s only one thing you may do to prevent this disease from ravaging your yields – and that ’s working to keep aphid out of the garden . The cucumber mosaic virus spreads as aphids jump from plant to plant while they exhaust . Get rid of the aphids , and you could get free of the computer virus .
Getting Rid of Swiss Chard Pests and Diseases
Making certain your Swiss chard plant are healthy from the time you embed your seed to the time you reap the farewell is the in force thing you may do to keep pests and diseases at bay .
Monitor your plants carefully and keep a watchful eye for any problems . By being attentive and providing your flora with everything that they ask from the outset , you could eliminate trouble due to a huge absolute majority of pests and diseases .
Stay wakeful – and you ’ll be pay back with a terrific crop in return .
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