How to kill verticillium in soil
Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 6:33 pm
Last year, I lost my filbert tree to verticillium wilt. It wasn't a huge loss, since the tree was old and not very productive. I miss the shade it gave, but I'm starting with a clean slate in the yard and I'm planting things that I want now.
My problem is that verticillium is so infectious that now I cannot have most of the plants that I want to have. It's been difficult for me to get answers to simple questions as well, so I'm turning here for advice. I need to know how far from the original diseased tree the verticillium might exist? I have a small yard, so I have to assume it's everywhere, but how do I know for sure? Mostly though, I want to know how to kill it. I can't continue to be hampered by restrictions on what to plant! Just today I was at my local garden store and they are selling some bareroot dwarf cherry trees that would be perfect. I've wanted cherry trees for so long! And it breaks my heart to think I can't have them.
I am mostly opposed to considering poisons, and it seems like they're not recommended anyway. Honestly though, I'd probably use poison if there was a hope that it would work and make it so I could plant whatever I want. But what other options do I have? I'm just a city dweller on a small lot, so I can't get a commercial soil steamer, and I don't have five years to cover my ground with black plastic. I have other things growing in the area anyway, so plastic would be difficult to apply.
Can I pour boiling water all over the ground? Would that work? What about vinegar? It's only a small corner of a small yard, so it's not totally impractical to imagine me filling the tea kettle 50 times and pouring boiling water all over the area.
And what about natural enemies? Everything in nature is eaten by something...what eats verticillium?
My problem is that verticillium is so infectious that now I cannot have most of the plants that I want to have. It's been difficult for me to get answers to simple questions as well, so I'm turning here for advice. I need to know how far from the original diseased tree the verticillium might exist? I have a small yard, so I have to assume it's everywhere, but how do I know for sure? Mostly though, I want to know how to kill it. I can't continue to be hampered by restrictions on what to plant! Just today I was at my local garden store and they are selling some bareroot dwarf cherry trees that would be perfect. I've wanted cherry trees for so long! And it breaks my heart to think I can't have them.
I am mostly opposed to considering poisons, and it seems like they're not recommended anyway. Honestly though, I'd probably use poison if there was a hope that it would work and make it so I could plant whatever I want. But what other options do I have? I'm just a city dweller on a small lot, so I can't get a commercial soil steamer, and I don't have five years to cover my ground with black plastic. I have other things growing in the area anyway, so plastic would be difficult to apply.
Can I pour boiling water all over the ground? Would that work? What about vinegar? It's only a small corner of a small yard, so it's not totally impractical to imagine me filling the tea kettle 50 times and pouring boiling water all over the area.
And what about natural enemies? Everything in nature is eaten by something...what eats verticillium?