Fighting Bacteria in the Garden
The bacteria caused disease Salmonellosis is in the news with detectives tracking tainted tomatoes. It’s a serious issue:
In severe cases, the Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics. . .Some people afflicted with Salmonellosis later experience reactive arthritis, which can have long-lasting, disabling effects.
A recent Digg front page item described ways of fighting plant bacteria, including “compost tea,” as well as more obvious methods such as sanitary use of gardening tools and discarding hopelessly infected foliage.
Commenters on Digg were surprised that such an article made it to the front page. “How many Digg-reading web surfers are into this?” (I’m softening the “wtf?” vulgarity of the actual remark.) I’m encouraged that even computer nerds seem to be getting into the food self sufficiency act. Confirms the idea that urban gardening will be a dominant trend.
Another commenter recommended commercial products Dutch Master ZONE and Penetrator, while yet another said that they weren’t so effective in his area.
