Oca as Soil Fungicide?

I've previously proposed that Oca makes a good bicrop partner for outdoor cordon-grown tomatoes. This has been based on...  ...er, the fact that it seems to work well for me, certainly in terms of physical compatibility - space, light and soil utilisation.

Cue photographic propaganda:-

Now, I must say that when it comes to plant companion effects I am, if not actually sceptical, then at least untroubled by high expectations. Some traditional companion effects do not stand up to objective tests, and when they do, it is such a multi-factorial situation that it's difficult to say if the results will successfully translate to other growing conditions.

However going back to Oca and tomatoes, I recently found this paper which shows that water-soluble extract from Oxalis articulata foliage can suppress the soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum, or as it is better known, Fusarium wilt, a particularly destructive and persistent disease of many crops, including tomatoes.

We only have to make a small speculative step to assume that other Oxalis species (including Oca) will contain the same natural fungicide, and by planting them with tomatoes there may be some protective effect  during the growing season.

Thinking more, this also supports my normal practice of leaving oca crop debris to cover the soil after harvest. Fusarium spores can survive in soil over winter, ready to infect any suitable host crops the following summer, but decaying Oca foliage may be releasing natural fungicide, to be rinsed into the soil by winter rain.

My outdoor tomatoes die from various things, usually late blight, but one year some, dutifully interplanted with French marigolds, died of fusarium wilt. Now all I'm saying is,  perhaps if they had been interplanted with Oca instead...

UPDATE 23/11/10
Lab tests reported here show that ocatin (a protein in oca tubers) suppresses fusarium oxysporum, as well as Phytophthora cinnamomi ('dieback' or root rot), and Rhizoctonia solani ('damping off' and brassica wire stem).
Of course, the fact that the tubers can protect themselves from some fungal problems is a separate issue from foliage anti-fungal properties, but interesting nonetheless.

Oca : Pest & Disease-Free - Not!

Another of the things that is often repeated about Oca is that it is immune to disease and insect attack. Well, that would be nice, but deeper investigation reveals that in its home Andean habitat, it suffers serious attack by assorted nematodes, tuber borers, fungi and viruses. But the question is, how does it fare when faced with our native UK pestilence?
So here are the main problems I've encountered:


Slugs
Slime trails and munched leaves. Yes, slugs will eat Oca, but I find it to be quite rare. All of that oxalic acid in the leaves is a natural defence, and they seem to move on after a few leaves at most.



Unidentified Leaf Lurgy
I think this is some kind of rust fungus. It usually only appears on plants that are stressed by heat and lack of moisture, and the plant recovers given more favourable conditions. Those growing in light shade do not seem to suffer this problem to the same degree.

Frost
Not a pest, just frost-damage. The outer leaves have been killed by a light air frost, but the stems are undamaged.
See also here for more on frost damage to foliage, and here for tuber damage.

Unidentified Stem-rot
This stem rot occurs at ground level, usually just browning the stem, but occasionally withering it all the way through, causing the foliage to die. I've seen this every year to some extent, so it may be something that survives my composting process, or which is permanently present in the soil.
I've seen healthy and diseased stems right next to each other without it spreading, although on one occasion I've had a (weak) plant completely killed. It looks similar to potato blackleg.

Blackfly
Now and again I've seen blackfly on stems and leaves, but they have never stayed long, usually moving on to some nearby preferred venue, such as broad beans or peas, so presumably they don't like the taste of Oca.
Although they don't do too much direct harm, there is always the concern that they may carry viruses from plant to plant, so as a precaution I squash 'em on sight.

Rats & Birds
I've had an instance of rats and birds (I think ring-necked parakeets) scratching up and damaging tubers during very hard weather. I think this was only because of the desperate conditions, but it is worth watching out for swelling tubers pushing themselves up out of the ground where they could be an obvious target for hungry vermin.


So, quite a short list compared with diseases of, say potatoes. Though of course the list is probably not complete yet!