Boven- en ondergronds sturen op weerbaarheid : in de gewassen komkommer, kalanchoë en chrysant

The goal of the project “Above- and Below-Ground Management for Resilience” was to identify effective measures growers can take to increase plant resilience and soil or substrate disease suppression. This allows growers to reduce their reliance on chemical crop protection products and will also reduce yield losses due to underground diseases. In cucumber, chrysanthemum, and Kalanchoë, adding compost to the substrate increases resilience to underground diseases. For cucumber, this was proved for Pythium in rockwool, for Kalanchoë for Phytophthora in peat-reduced and peat-free organic substrates, and for chrysanthemum for Verticillium in soil. In addition, the project demonstrated that methyl jasmonate increases Kalanchoë’s resilience to aphids. Unfortunately, research into plant resilience to Mycosphaerella in cucumber has not yielded consistent results.