Gardening AtoZ: Plant Diseases

Being able to recognize and careful vigilance is the key to controlling plant disease. When you see things like a leaf or stem wilting or a sudden wilting of a section or even a whole plant, you will need to carefully inspect the leaves,stems, roots, flowers and fruits. In some cases you may find you will need to cut open a branch or stem to look inside for problems such as discoloration of the tissue, which could explain why the plant is wilting.

You will need to know what a plant should look like, in order to recognize any abnormalities, and you can do this by reading up or going online and finding out about the species of plant that you are growing so you can make a more accurate diagnosis. What you need to remember there is no single cause of a disease infestation, and just as there is no single cause there is no single symptom. When you are trying to establish the cause of a plants illness, always inspect the symptoms that appear on the parts of the plant that are still alive or partially alive. Dead plants are often invaded by secondary infestations, which may hide the original problem.

Where a serious disease is suspected, it would be advisable to avoid growing that species of plant all together or in the case of vegetables and fruits use crop rotation as part of a regular cycle. What I do is I keep a garden journal that to make notes of when and what type of disease occurred in the garden, what the weather and environmental conditions were like during that particular year. When I do this it enables me to anticipate what problems are most likely to occur during the growing season, and allow me to stay ahead of them.

It is not hard to control problems with diseases, you just need to stand back and look at the overall picture. Observe the weather, soil, and environmental conditions and the stages of plant development and any pathogens (disease producing agent) present and the condition of other plants in the area All of this may help in diagnosing the problem with the plant. If you need more information go to Gardening Tips