There are over 375,000 plant species, with more discovered annually. Clearly, plants are in abundance on our planet. But, some can show symptoms of plant diseases that weaken or kill them before their time.
Fungi, bacteria, and viruses cause diseases. Unfortunately, these pesky organisms have a way of being a thorn in the side of every gardener from time to time. So it’s important to understand what causes them before you can properly treat the problem.
We’ve put together a comprehensive guide that will help you treat common plant diseases. Together, we can prevent our plants from dying off or looking dreary. Here are six plant diseases and their treatments.
1. Powdery Mildew
This common plant disease is easy to identify by the baby powder dust left on the leaves, flowers, and stems. However, it’s a disease that can affect everything around it if gone untreated.
Raking the affected leaves will help to prevent the mildew from spreading. You also have the option of purchasing a commercial-grade fungicide to kill off the fungal issue.
2. Black Spot
As you learn how to treat plant diseases, you’ll find this fungal disease on many fruits and flowers. It’s also commonly found on our favorite flower, the rose.
Black spot doesn’t directly kill plants, but it does weaken them. In a weakened state, plants can become susceptible to many other problems, eventually killing them off.
Fight this fungus issue by trimming the canes and leaves before winter.
Black spot thrives during long periods of wet weather. Thus, keeping roses and other plants in a position to receive the morning sun can help prevent plant diseases such as black spots. Mulch can help keep them dry and clean as well.
Fungicide is another plant disease treatment that can save your flowers and fruits from black spot.
3. Sooty Mold
Insects draw near to food sources such as fruits and vegetables. But, unfortunately, plant-sucking insects leave a sticky honeydew behind. These honeydew deposits grow fungi and interfere with photosynthesis.
However, there is hope if you’re dealing with this problem in your garden!
You can order some products to deal with plant-sucking insects, such as Venerate XC Bioinsecticide. Products such as this will even help your plants build an insect resistance.
4. Rust
Rust is spread by many different fungal species. They deform the leaves with a rust-like set of spots.
These orange, gold, and brown spots weaken the plants but aren’t deadly. Mainly, it’s just an eyesore until the plant can overcome the disease through healthy growing conditions.
5. Mosaic Virus
Sadly, if you see a yellow or green dappled pattern on your plants’ leaves, you have some plants to remove. Your plants’ leaves may have curled a bit as well.
The mosaic virus is incurable and can spread from plant to plant.
6. Rose Rosette
A tiny mite tends to spread this viral disease. The new growth portion of the rose’s stems will appear thick, red, and thorny.
They’ll also have an abnormal amount of thorns and have a large growth group on the end of the infected stems.
The only way to get rid of this viral disease is to remove the infected plants and prevent the spread to neighboring plants.
Curing These Common Plant Diseases
It may not be easy to deal with common plant diseases, but it’s not impossible. With this list, you should be able to come to the rescue of your precious garden in no time.
For more on the types of plant diseases and how to treat them, come back and visit our blog. We are always updating it with your garden in mind!
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