ABSTRACT
Cultural practices for growing plants include soil preparation methods, propagation techniques, fertilization and irrigation regimes, where or how seeds or transplants are planted, and how plants are harvested. Each cultural practice may influence the amount of disease that occurs during the growing season. Sometimes, cultural practices can be chosen or modified in ways that reduce the amount of disease. To be effective, a cultural control practice must fit into the production system used by the farmer or the system must be modified to accommodate the practice. Because changing a cultural practice can be expensive or time-consuming, it must be effective enough in suppressing disease to justify its use. In other words, the cost of a cultural control practice has to be recovered through an increase in yield or a suppression of crop loss. In that sense, cultural control practices are no different than using chemicals or biological controls. An advantage of cultural controls is that they may reduce or eliminate the need for other types of control measures. The pros and cons of each cultural practice selected must be weighed, not only in terms of their expense and ease of implementation, but also in terms of how they will influence the most important pathogens that could affect the crop.
