Sanitizing Tomato Cages and Pruners

If you’ve had diseases or any kind of fungus in the past in your tomatoes, it’s a good idea to sanitize your cages, garden tools, and any stakes or anything like that, because that kind of bacteria can transfer over into the soil. It’s a good idea to sanitize that kind of stuff.

How do you sanitize? Usually I just use alcohol or you can use something like a disinfectant wipe. I use that on my pruners. That’s really a good thing to do. If you are trimming something that has a disease or something, you don’t want to transfer it to something else.

And sometimes, depending on the disease, we’ll recommend putting rubbing alcohol in a spritz bottle or actually an old Windex bottle, and spray the pruners between each cut. That way you aren’t purposefully transferring it from one branch to another on the tree. It’s something quick to do.

The bacteria can overwinter in the soil, so it’s a good idea to clean it up. And copper fungicide, there is a powder. I like to put that on my garden before planting. It’s just a good way of preventing it. So before I plant anything, I just kind of sprinkle it in. That’s all I need to do.

Questions? Email us at [email protected] or call one of our two locations: Portage (330-499-0101) or Everhard (330-492-1243).