1. 2017 Gardens Summit February 18, 2017
Tools for tackling the Top 10 Pests, Diseases and Weeds in a Community Garden
2017 Gardens Summit
February 18, 2017

2. Introductions
Jill Schneider, Troy Community Gardens
Annette Nekola, Atwood Community Gardens

3. Which leads to what? Background
Community gardens offer a unique growing environment
Concentration of plots
Lack of gardening experience by some
Everyone growing the same crops
Which leads to what?

5. Background Long-term community gardeners frustrated at Troy
Gardens Coalition Top 10 Work Group form in July 2016
Goal: Create brief, one-page information sheets
Surveyed Dane County community garden leaders
Master Garden Volunteers (MGVs) help enlisted to research each pest, weed and disease
THANK YOU MGVs !!
Work Group met with Lisa Johnson to brainstorm on pests
Received 21 responses representing 18 community gardens
16 MGVs helped

6. Diseases (10) Early Blight & Septoria Leaf Spot Late Blight
Bacterial Speck & Spot
Downy Mildew
Powdery Mildew
Blossom End Rot
Bacterial Wilt on Cucurbits
Allium Rust
Verticillium Wilt
Aster Yellows
Have gardeners refer to the Handout called “Information Sheets for Top “10” Diseases, insects, Animals and Weeds.

7. Insects (11) Flea Beetles Squash Bugs Colorado Potato Beetles
Squash Vine Borers
Cucumber Beetles
Bean Leaf Beetles
Japanese Beetles
Cutworms
Root Maggots
Earwigs
Cabbageworms

8. Animals (9) Rabbit Woodchuck/Groundhog Vole or Meadow Mouse
Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel
Rats, Brown and Black
White-tailed Deer
Chipmunk
Squirrel, Eastern Grey
Raccoon

9. Weeds (11) Field Bindweed Canada Thistle Wild Parsnip Garlic Mustard
Reed Canary Grass
Quack Grass
Creeping Charlie
Purslane
Lambsquarters
Pigweed
Crabgrasses

10. Handout 40 sheets (two copies of each sheet) for attendees to get an idea of what they look like
Each sheet has pictures to identify the problem, damage, active time/when it occurs, susceptible plants, prevention/treatment methods, additional info/resources

11. Weeds sheets are a little different format but convey similar information

12. We created two additional “info sheets” or “articles” outlining Best Practices for managing pests, weeds and diseases, as well as a more general community gardening guide called Planning, Planting and Maintaining a community garden plot
These are in your handouts

13. English-only version at this point
Good to Know
Additional resources at bottom of sheets may include information about non-organic prevention and treatment methods
Sheets will be posted on the Gardens Network website (
English-only version at this point
A second phase of project could include combining sheets into one file with an index
Refer to slide

14. Do these problems sound familiar. What are your experiences
Do these problems sound familiar? What are your experiences? What have you tried?
Ask them these questions to start them talking about things.

15. How can we use these information sheets?
sheets to your gardeners
Post sheets at the garden
Provide sheets in a binder at the garden
Present them at spring registration meeting
Provide them at opening day, especially to new gardeners
Hold an early-season work shop for your gardeners to talk about these challenges and share information sheets
Be proactive!
Ask them for ideas on how they envision using the sheets.
If no one is mentioning anything, click to show and discuss each of these bullet points.

16. What else?
Create a list of crops that grow well at your garden and ones that don’t
Educate gardeners to plant same crops at different times
your gardeners regularly to ask what they are seeing out there
Have a volunteer scout for problems on a regular basis and send out appropriate information sheets or offer information on best practices
Alert other gardens via Google Group on what your garden is seeing
What else can we do to help our gardeners battle these pests, diseases and weeds?
Click to show these one at a time.

17. Keep track of problems for next year
What else?
Keep track of problems for next year
Partner with other gardens to do Bt spraying
Other ways to partner
More “what else” ideas.
Click to show each one

18. Good Resources
Gardens Network Resources
UW-Extension Learning Store (e.g., Common Crops for Community Gardens A )
Dane County UW-Extension Horticulture Hotline or (M-F, 9-12 noon, April 15 – October 31
Forsyth Community Garden (NC State/A&T State University Cooperative Extension) materials
Mention Extension Bulletin A is in their handouts.
After summit, the following will be posted to Gardens Network website:
- PDF of PPT
- PDF of Top 10 list (same as handout at meeting)
- PDFs of all info sheets
- PDF of Best Practices Sheet
- PDF of Planning, Planting and Maintaining sheet
- Notes taken at meeting