A Beginners Guide to Plant Disease

A Beginners Guide to Plant Disease

Plant diseases are caused by organisms such as fungi, bacteria and viruses. While disease-resistant plant strains are available for almost any species of plant today, plant diseases still occur in even the best gardens. Once plant infections become well established, they can be extremely difficult to control, so it is wise to monitor your plants frequently for signs of problems.

Removing a section of a plant or sometimes even the entire plant may be necessary to keep diseases in check. If the entire plant must go, gardeners should also replace the topsoil as it may be infected as well.

Here are a few common plant diseases and the methods used to treat them:

Blackspot: This is a common fungus that can be easily identified by the pale and dark spots it causes on plant leaves. Remove the affected leaves and burn them, taking care to include affected leaves that have already fallen to the ground. This problem is especially common in rose plants. Spray roses in early spring with a fungicide or with sulphur and mulch the ground around the rose plants. Organic solution for blackspot: In a spray bottle, mix 50% fat free milk and 50% water and spray the affected plants every day faithfully.

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Garden Tip...

Good, fresh, rich soil, is an element that is indispensable to the growth of healthy, vigorous plants. A plant cannot be thrifty if grown in soil that has become musty and stale with long continued use; it must have fresh soil, at least once a year.
~ James Sheehan
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Mildew: Brought on by lack of sufficient water or nutrients, mildew appears as a grayish white powdery substance on plant leaves an buds. Spray plants with fungicide or sulphur at first signs of attack. Organic solution for mildew: You can make an organic, home made spray from garlic, which contains high levels of sulfur. Crush several cloves of garlic in water and apply to plants.

Rust: Caused by mild and overly wet summers, rust creates orange nubs on the undersides of plant leaves and can precipitate premature defoliation. Use a fungicide that contains myclobutanil to get rid of this. Organic solution for rust: Try making a homemade spray solution with 3 parts Chamomile and 1 part water. You may also find success with a mixture of chives, horseradish, elder and Casuarina leaves in a water bottle.

Gray Mold: This looks like gray fuzzy stuff growing on leaves. Gray mold can cause plants to discolor rapidly and to deteriorate. It affects perennials, annuals, trees shrubs, fruits, vegetables and indoor plants, especially those plants that have soft leaves. Get rid of it with a product that contains benomyl, thiophanate-methyl or carbendazim. Organic solution to gray mold: Although there are not many make-at-home remedies that effectively kill this disease, look for copper based organic fungicide at your gardening shop and apply weekly, during the cool, Spring weather.

Treating your plants with fungicide must be done judiciously and safely, otherwise there is a risk that the offending organism will become immune to the cure. Contact fungicides may kill spores and stop a fungus from spreading, but they are useless against established infections, which is why monitoring the health of your garden plants is so important.

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Garden Tip...

Perhaps the best soil for general potting purposes, and the kind most extensively used by florists, is a mixture of equal parts of decayed sods, and well-rotted stable manure, and occasionally, especially if the sod is clayey, a little sand is added.
~ James Sheehan
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Don?t spray treatments on plants in full sun. Additional measures for plant-disease control include keeping weeds down (weeds can harbor pests that can infect your plants) and give each plant enough space so that it isn?t competing for water, air and nutrients. Finally, make sure to disinfect gardening equipment after treating for disease.

Do some research so you are aware of which plant diseases or fungi are prevalent in your area and then find out the best ways to get rid of the disease. Of course, in any situation natural and organic solutions are always best. Sometimes, depending on the severity of the plant disease, this may just not be possible and you could risk loosing your entire garden if you don?t take immediate action.