The following strategies can be carried out this fall and are likely to add to your gardening looks. Leaf spot diseases such as rose black spot and photinia leaf blight can be reduced another year by removing fallen leaves before next spring. In the case of vegetable garden plants, remove this past season's crop debris from the garden. Most microorganisms which cause disease survive winter conditions with little difficulty, so sanitation will help reduce such diseases as early blight and Septoria leaf spot of tomatoes in next season's garden. This will allow you to devise a rotation strategy for next spring and avoid the mistake, for example, of planting cabbage in the same area of the garden for consecutive crops.
Diseases have a way of building-up if the same vegetable crop is planted too long in the same spot.
In the orchard, most canker and dieback diseases such as fire blight and black knot of plums will be less of a problem if infected branches are removed by pruning. Be sure to cut six inches or so below the last visible signs of infection. Clean and disinfect cutting tools between cuts to prevent spread of plant disease microorganisms. This is also helpful for bitter and black rots of apples. Diseased apples which may still be on trees or have fallen to the ground should be removed to help cut down on these fungus diseases another season.