Does growing all plants from seed significantly reduce diseases and fungus?

I must have a very humid little garden (77% humidity right now) - I have every fungus at the moment, antirrhinum rust, mildew on a number of plants and black spot on my monardas and brunnera. I'm using a general systemic fungicide now to control.

I'm guessing I bought a load of plants already infected, made worse by the current weather and the fact so many plants are new. But it got me thinking, should I plan to grow all plants by seed for next year? Do you think that would significantly cut down their risk of getting infected?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

This has been a bad year for fungal problems all round. My roses and honey suckles have suffered badly.
Hollyhock rust always catches mine.
I've always grown my brassicas from seed and have so far avoided clubroot problems.
However my leeks, again grown from seed, always seem to get rust and my home grown tomatoes suffer from blight.
If there is poor husbandry then young plants could be infected before purchase, but I would have thought this more likely for slower growing perennials, shrubs and trees that remain on a nursery for longer, for example box blight and ash dieback.

 

Ah ok, thanks NigelJ, it's good to know it's not just me. It must just be one of those things.

That makes sense about the young plants as well. I'll keep buying them then


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Viral infections would not present in young plants grown from seed. That's handy in the case of cannas, for example, where bought stock might be infected.

Stuff like mildew is more to do with growing conditions so addressing those where possible would be more effective than insisting on raising everything from seed, which might then go on to develop mildew anyway.

 

I've been very lucky then. The only fungal problems I've had have been on an Ornithogalum where the slugs munched it - major fungal issues spread outwards and I ended up slicing the foliage off.

But yes - grow more from seed as it increases your choice no end! And having been caught out by Canna virus I will only have Canna that I've seed grown now.