ABSTRACT
Cultural practices represent the main principles in integrated pest and disease management, and they are even more important in organic production. A common characteristic of cultural practices is that they aim at creating conditions that are unfavourable for the pathogen and favourable for the host plant, and that they are mostly preventative. Some of the most crucial measures taken to control the epidemic are elimination of potential hosts, killing off of accidental and self-sown overwintering hosts, removal of all infected vegetation, surgical removal of infected tissue from plants and cultural practices that involve the elimination of culled plant materials, and trashes. Crop rotation is very important in reducing losses to vegetable diseases. Continuous plantings of the same plant family of vegetables in the same spot provide opportunities for pathogen buildup. Many plant diseases can be seed-borne. If seeds are to be saved, consult seed saving guides for information on which plant species or cultivars are appropriate.
