6 Outdoor Plant Diseases That Can Be Damaging Your Plants

When your plants aren't at their best, it can be heartbreaking. Adding additional water or moving to a sunny location can sometimes help to restore plant health. If that doesn't work after you've explored all other possibilities, it could indicate a larger problem. It's possible that your plant is infected.

Learn to spot signs and perform preventive to protect your plants from terrible diseases. Identifying the pathogen is the first step in a holistic strategy. Then choose a therapy method that is both safe and effective, as well as responsible.

To help you quickly detect and keep your plants looking fresh, we've put up a useful guide of the most common outdoor plant diseases you'll encounter below. So you'll know what to look for the next time you detect an unusual substance growing in the soil or an unique coloration on the leaf.

1. Leaf Spots

 
Leaf spots can affect a variety of plants, including flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs, and herbs, due to warm air temperatures and rainy days. Bacteria or fungus, both of which can be found in soil or on neighbouring plants, cause leaf marks. Warm air and rain create excellent circumstances for an outbreak, especially when leaves are wet 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

When an infected leaf falls to the ground, it rots slowly and infects the remaining of the plant. Any leaves that fall as a result of leaf spot illnesses should be collected and destroyed. To avoid leaf spot, cover the soil beneath the plants with mulch to prevent illness from splashing onto the leaves.

2. Blossom End Rot

Many vegetables are affected by blossom end rot, including summer squash, tomato, eggplant, pepper, and cucumber. It's sometimes misdiagnosed as an illness by gardeners, but it's not. It arises as a result of poor growing conditions, such as inconsistent watering and/or a lack of calcium.

However, blossom end rot frequently invites subsequent illnesses like as mould, which can quickly devastate the produce.

The simplest method for preventing blossom end rot is to add calcium to the soil at planting time. Use bone meal, gypsum, or oyster shells to fill in planting holes. Ensure that plants receive plenty of water during the growing season, and keep the soil moist by covering it with a thick layer of mulch.

High-nitrogen fertilisers should be avoided since they encourage rapid leaf and stem development while preventing roots from absorbing calcium.

3. Blight

Plant blight is a disease that affects a wide range of plants. In addition to potatoes, blight frequently affects other plants, particularly tomatoes. Blight is a fungal disease spread by spores carried by the wind.

As a result, spores can spread the virus swiftly across large areas. Blight can only spread in warm, humid circumstances, especially when temperatures are over 50°F. There is no cure. The only choice is to avoid it in the first place.

If you're planting potatoes, choose early types because blight strikes in the middle of the summer, and you'll be able to harvest your crop before the blight strikes. Maintain proper garden hygiene.

Dispose of any plant components contaminated with blight. Clean up any fallen debris from your unhealthy plants and dispose of it in the garbage. Avoid putting anything decayed in your compost pile.

4. RUST

Rust is a fungus that causes rusty patches on leaves and stems. Although there are over 5,000 different varieties of rust, common rust affects a wide range of plants, including hollyhocks, roses, daylilies, snapdragons, lawn grass, and tomatoes. It first shows as white dots on the bottoms of lower leaves. The patches turn reddish-orange and then black over time.

When a period of low light (4-8 hours), warm air, and moisture is followed by brilliant sunlight (8-16 hours), high temperatures, and high humidity, rust explodes. This combination of factors keeps leaves damp, allowing rust to thrive.

Because rust survives the winter on infected plants, it's critical to clean up and eliminate any contaminated plant portions to aid in disease control. Fungicides and copper or sulphur sprays can help to prevent and reduce the spread of rust.

5. TREE GALL

Galls are enlarging lumps that grow on tree stems. They're unattractive, but they're not always a cause for concern. Trees with galls have a shorter lifespan, according to arborists, but this isn't a justification to cut them down. Galls can be caused by a variety of factors. An injury to the tree can allow bacteria, fungus, or insects to enter the tree.

The tree reacts by isolating the invader, resulting in the formation of a gall. While a gall isn't a death sentence for a tree, it is a warning that it is hosting an unwelcome visitor. To avoid spreading a microbe to healthy trees during trimming, clean cutting instruments after dealing with a gall-infected tree.

6. Verticilium Wilt

Many deciduous trees, herbaceous perennials, berries, and vegetables are affected by Verticilium Wilt, a deadly fungal disease. Flowering cherries are especially vulnerable. It penetrates the plant through the roots and moves upwards, clogging the plant's transportation system.

Young twigs and branches yellowing, wilting, and dying back, usually on one side of the plant or tree, are clear symptoms of a problem. Verticillium wilt gets worse every year.

Because there is no treatment once a plant is sick, all control is preventative. Remove any dead or dying plants, as well as infested roots and soil, and replace with tolerant or resistant species. To avoid spreading the disease to non-infected trees, disinfect your pruning equipment between trees when pruning trees that may have this disease.

We normally recommend not planting the same species in an area that has been afflicted with Verticilium Wilt for several years after it has been infected.

We have just touched the tip of an ice berg in this article. One thing for sure, you need to take care of your plants. The stronger the plants are the better their immune system and capacity to fight illness is.

Plants that are weak and stressed are more likely to be attacked by diseases and pests. Take a look at your immune system. It will fight sickness better the better it is.

So take care good care of your plants and if you are in mess, hope this article helps.