{"id":2037,"date":"2014-12-10T00:02:51","date_gmt":"2014-12-10T08:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/tool\/garden-tip-395\/"},"modified":"2014-12-10T00:02:51","modified_gmt":"2014-12-10T08:02:51","slug":"garden-tip-395","status":"publish","type":"tool","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/tool\/garden-tip-395\/","title":{"rendered":"Garden Tip #395"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wondering when is it necessary to clean or sterilize your pruning tools, and how to do it? Washington State University Extension horticulturist Linda Chalker-Scott offers excellent <em>&#8220;how-to&#8221;<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/puyallup.wsu.edu\/~linda%20chalker-scott\/horticultural%20myths_files\/Myths\/Pruning%20tools.pdf\">advice<\/a>. Make sure there is no excess dirt or debris on your pruners before you clean them. There are quite a few impractical or inadvisable methods (formalin? chlorine bleach? no!); her preference is to use ordinary household cleaners. <\/p>\n<p>Another factsheet discusses <a href=\"http:\/\/puyallup.wsu.edu\/~Linda%20Chalker-Scott\/FactSheets\/Pruning.pdf\"><em>when<\/em> to sterilize your tools<\/a>. Chalker-Scott says that first you must know which pathogen is causing the disease. Then,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> &#8220;if it&#8217;s a virus or viroid, disinfect your tools.<\/li>\n<li>if it&#8217;s a vascular fungus or bacteria, and\/or forms oozing cankers, disinfect your tools. Avoid cutting active, oozing cankers; wait until they dry. <\/li>\n<li>if you are pruning irreplaceable plants, disinfect your tools.<\/li>\n<li>choose a disinfectant treatment that has been shown to be effective through published research; I would probably not use alcohol but one of the common household cleaners at full strength.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wondering when is it necessary to clean or sterilize your pruning tools, and how to do it? Washington State University Extension horticulturist Linda Chalker-Scott offers excellent &#8220;how-to&#8221; advice. Make sure there is no excess dirt or debris on your pruners before you clean them. There are quite a few impractical or inadvisable methods (formalin? chlorine bleach? no!); her preference is to use ordinary household cleaners. Another factsheet discusses when to sterilize your tools. Chalker-Scott says that first you must know&#8230;<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/tool\/garden-tip-395\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Garden Tip #395<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[153,104,67],"class_list":["post-2037","tool","type-tool","status-publish","hentry","keyword-plant-diseases-control","keyword-pruning","keyword-tools-and-equipment"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tool\/2037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tool"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tool"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=2037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}