Warm nights, humid afternoons, and a canopy that has closed in. Midsummer hands fungal and bacterial diseases everything they need to thrive. Here are six turning up in vegetable beds right now, and what actually works against each one.

July is when the vegetable garden stops looking like a magazine spread. The plants are big, the canopy has closed in, and somewhere down in that green tangle a leaf has gone spotty. Warm nights and humid afternoons are perfect conditions for fungal and bacterial trouble, and once it takes hold in a crowded bed it moves fast, usually faster than anybody notices.

Catching it early is the whole game. A lot of common vegetable garden diseases and pests announce themselves on a handful of lower leaves before the plant is really in danger, and pulling those leaves plus a well-timed spray is often enough to hold the line. Wait until half the plant is yellow and you're no longer treating anything, just managing a loss.

6 Vegetable Diseases to Deal With This Month

The six below are the ones turning up in July plots across a lot of climates. Each has a tell, and each has a response that works if you get control of it soon enough.

1. Early Blight

Dark spots with concentric rings inside them (like a tiny target) showing up on the oldest, lowest leaves of a tomato or potato. Those rings mean early blight (Alternaria solani). Around each spot the leaf goes yellow, and it keeps going until the leaf gives up and falls, and the fungus is already working on the one above it by then. It overwinters in soil and old plant debris, so rain and hose water splashing up onto the bottom leaves are how it gets started every year.

Snip off affected leaves the moment they turn up, and don't compost them. Mulch under the plants blocks the splash. If it's spreading, this copper fungicide from Home Depot is approved for organic gardens and can go on right up to harvest.

2. Septoria Leaf Spot

People mix this one up with early blight, understandably. Septoria leaf spot (Septoria lycopersici) puts out smaller spots, rounder, and a lot of them — you might count dozens on one leaf, pale gray in the middle with a dark rim around the edge. Tomatoes get it the worst.

Timing is the cruel part, since it tends to show up just as the fruit is sizing up, and a plant that has lost its leaves isn't ripening much of anything. Handle it the way you'd handle early blight. Strip the infected foliage off, water down at soil level rather than over the top, thin out whatever stems are crowding each other so air can move. Copper fungicide will slow the spread. It won't do anything for a leaf that's already spotted.

3. Powdery Mildew

Squash, cucumbers, and melons pick this up almost every summer. What you're looking at is powdery mildew (Podosphaera xanthii), and it really does look like somebody spilled flour on the leaves — a few dusty patches at first, then those patches grow into each other until the surface has gone chalky all over.

Unusual among these, it doesn't need wet leaves to spread. Humid air and shade will do, which is why it settles into the middle of a dense plant. Leaves brown out eventually and the fruit underneath ripens poorly. Pull the worst leaves, open the plant up, and treat the rest. Bonide's neem oil from Amazon works as a fungicide and a miticide at once, which is handy in a bed that has both problems going.

4. Downy Mildew

This is a different disease entirely, despite the name. Downy mildew (Pseudoperonospora cubensis) turns up as yellow patches on cucumber and melon leaves, oddly angular ones, boxed in by the veins on either side. Flip a leaf over on a damp morning and there's fuzzy gray or purple growth underneath. Basil downy mildew will also tear through your herb garden if left untreated.

It moves quicker than powdery mildew does, and unlike its namesake it wants moisture. Once a plant has it, there's no real cure, which leaves protection as the only move. Give plants room, keep water off the foliage, and get a preventive fungicide onto the healthy leaves nearby before spores ever land on them.

5. Bacterial Leaf Spot

Peppers and tomatoes both get bacterial leaf spot (Xanthomonas spp.). It's the nastier problem of the bunch, mainly because bacteria shrug off the fungicides that handle everything else here. Early on the spots look small and dark, sort of water-soaked, sometimes ringed by a yellow halo. On the fruit they harden into raised scabs.

Splashing water carries it, and so do hands and tools working through wet foliage, which is reason enough to stay out of the bed until things dry off. Copper fungicide is about the only chemical option, and even then it's protecting healthy tissue rather than fixing what's damaged. Anything badly infected is better pulled than nursed.

6. Fusarium Wilt

Watch for a plant that wilts on one side through the hot part of the afternoon, comes back overnight, then does it again the next day. Give it a week and that branch is dead and yellow while the rest of the plant carries on like nothing happened. Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum) is down in the soil, and it works from the inside — clogging the tissue that carries water up through the stem. Cut a wilted stem open lengthwise and there it is, a brown streak just beneath the skin.

Nothing cures it. Once that fungus is in a bed it stays for years, so what's left is choosing resistant varieties and rotating crops, along with keeping plants out of the drought stress that seems to invite it in the first place.

Summer is the ultimate reward for gardeners. All your hard work pays off in lush foliage and gorgeous flowers. Now, imagine you walk through your garden one morning only to find that your prized plants are struggling and look like they’ve been dusted with flour. This is powdery mildew.

Powdery mildew is one of the most common fungal infections to affect garden plants. It thrives when days are warm and dry and nights are humid. It can damage and, in severe cases, even kill plants. Fortunately, if you catch it early, you can use a common kitchen staple to make a powdery mildew spray that will keep this nasty infection at bay.

A baking soda spray for powdery mildew is a useful tool in fighting this damaging fungal disease. With this simple and safe homemade remedy, you can keep your plants healthy and beautiful for the rest of the summer. Here’s how to do it.

What Is Powdery Mildew?

Powdery mildew is a fungal garden disease that affects many plants. It’s caused by several different types of fungi. The good news is that the type of fungus that causes the disease is unique to each plant. So if your roses have powdery mildew, they can’t spread the disease to your nearby lilac or squash plants.

The most characteristic sign of powdery mildew is the presence of a white or gray powdery substance on leaves. It can also develop on stems, buds, flowers, or even fruits. All types of plants can potentially be affected by powdery mildew from shrubs and trees to perennials and vegetables.

Powdery mildew doesn’t look very nice, but it can also harm plants by blocking photosynthesis and ultimately reducing the plant’s growth. You might also see leaves turn yellow, curl up, and eventually drop.

It can be easy to miss the early signs of powdery mildew, so be vigilant. Look on lower leaves, interior leaves, and the undersides of leaves for the first signs of an infection. Early detection will make it easier to manage and prevent the spread of this disease.

How Baking Soda for Powdery Mildew Works

It’s always best to prevent diseases like powdery mildew, but even with your best efforts, you might see signs of it if the conditions are right. Instead of tearing out entire plants or turning to chemical fungicides, try home remedies.

A powdery mildew baking soda spray can help stop the spread of the disease by changing the pH on your plants’ surfaces. Baking soda is alkaline. Spraying it onto the plant will raise the pH, creating an inhospitable environment for the fungus to live and spread.

This homemade fungicide won’t totally kill the fungus or restore damaged leaves to a healthier state. What it does instead is prevents the fungus from creating and dispersing more spores. It slows or stops the spread of the disease to the rest of the plant or other plants of the same species.

You’ll get the best results by combining a baking soda spray for powdery mildew with overall good gardening practices, like ensuring your plants have plenty of airflow between stems and leaves.

What You Will Need

DIY Powdery Mildew Baking Soda Spray

The recipe for this DIY baking soda spray for powdery mildew is simple: Mix one tablespoon of baking soda and a teaspoon of dish soap into a gallon of water. The dish soap helps the solution stick to the plant instead of just running off and into the soil.

Mix your solution thoroughly before using, as the baking soda won’t entirely dissolve. Use a spray bottle to spray the solution all over the affected plant, including on the undersides of leaves.

The best times to use the spray are early in the morning and late in the evening. Reapply the spray every week or so, more frequently if it rains.

Safety Precautions

Baking soda is generally safe, but it can potentially burn foliage, so resist the urge to make a stronger solution with more baking soda. Before you use the spray all over a plant, test it on one leaf. Wait 24 hours to see how the leaf responds before spraying the entire plant.

Avoid using this remedy during the afternoon when it’s hot and sunny or on drought-stressed plants, as this can intensify potential damage.

Another issue is that baking soda can cause salt buildup in the soil. Water the soil around plants thoroughly before applying the spray and limit its use to no more than once per week. As an alternative, you can use potassium bicarbonate in the same recipe with similar results and less risk of salt accumulation.

Tips for Managing Powdery Mildew

Baking soda is not a miracle cure for powdery mildew and it doesn’t actually kill the fungus. What it’s good at doing is preventing further spread of the disease. For the best results, combine the use of this homemade spray with other best practices to prevent and manage powdery mildew. You can also try a commercial organic fungicide like this one from Bonide.

Space your plants appropriately and thin them from time to time to be sure air can flow through and around them. Too much humidity within and around plants is ideal for fungal growth.

If you don’t catch powdery mildew early and find heavily infected leaves or stems, trim away these parts of the plant before using a baking soda spray. Dispose of them in the garbage rather than in your compost pile, where they can continue to spread the disease. Always sanitize your pruning tools and wash your hands after doing this chore to prevent spread as well.

Basil downy mildew moves fast, and by the time most gardeners notice something is wrong, the plant is usually well into trouble. The good news is that the earliest signs are easy to spot once you know exactly where to look.

One day the basil looks fine. A few days later the leaves are yellowing, the undersides have gone fuzzy and gray, and half the plant is headed for the compost. That’s basil downy mildew, and it has wrecked more summer harvests than almost any other trouble this herb runs into. It’s a fairly recent arrival that spread fast, and most basil growers now run into it sooner or later.

It ranks among the nastier basil diseases because it works so quietly at first, doing a fair impression of a nutrient problem before the damage surfaces. By the time the cause is obvious, the plant is often too far gone to save. That slow start is most of why downy mildew on basil earns its reputation, and why knowing what it is helps.

What Is Basil Downy Mildew​?

Despite the name, the culprit isn’t a fungus. It’s an oomycete, which is a water mold (Peronospora belbaharii) closer to the organism behind potato blight than to anything an ordinary fungicide was built for. Garden-store sprays don’t hit it the way they would a fungus, and that’s much of why it stays so hard to shift. It spreads on windborne spores, so a plant can catch it even in a spotless garden with no obvious source nearby. (Luckily, there are now some downy-mildew resistant varieties of basil like ‘Noga’ from Botanical Interests.)

Downy mildew spores don’t ask for much once they land. Warm days and muggy nights suit them, especially with water sitting on the leaves overnight. From there they germinate, work into the leaf, and infect the plant before the first yellow patch even shows. Sweet basil, the big soft-leaf type most people grow for pesto, takes the worst of it. The spicier small-leaf and citrus-scented basils shrug it off a bit better, though none are truly safe. Spores ride along on seed, too, so even a clean start from a fresh packet isn’t a guarantee you’ve dodged it.

Catching Basil Downy Mildew Early

The first signs don’t usually look like a disease. Leaves begin to yellow, usually in patches fenced in by the veins, so the discoloration looks blocky and angular rather than spreading evenly across the leaf. A lot of growers take this for a feeding issue and reach for fertilizer, which does nothing here except burn a few days the plant can’t spare.

Flip an affected leaf over and look hard at the underside. There’s a dusty gray-purple coating down there, the sort of thing you’d swipe at assuming it was soil splash, except it doesn’t rub away. That coating is the pathogen making its spores, and a plant at that point is already dusting the air around it with the next round of infection. Turn a few leaves over twice a week through warm, humid weather. It’s the one check that actually buys you any time.

Treating a Basil Downy Mildew Infection

Here’s the blunt version: once downy mildew has a real grip, the plant isn’t going to recover. No home spray reverses an active infection. What you can do is slow it and rescue a harvest. Strip off affected leaves and pull hard-hit plants. Bag that debris rather than composting it, since the spores carry over, and get whatever is left drier and airier; the disease stalls once leaves stop staying wet.

Commercial products work better as shields than cures. Biofungicides built around beneficial bacteria, the Bacillus subtilis sprays like this from Amazon sold for vegetable patches, can hold the disease off plants that aren’t infected yet, applied before trouble starts. Copper-based fungicides like this from Amazon do something too, but keep expectations low; the effect on a water mold is modest, and rain rinses it off.

None of it brings back a plant already furred over with spores. Get the first spray on before symptoms, or save your money.

Keeping Downy Mildew off Your Basil

Once it shows up in your area, it’s not a matter of if—it’s when, and airflow is what decides how bad it gets. Prevention mostly comes down to one idea: take away the damp, stagnant air the disease feeds on. Spacing is where a lot of people slip up, crowding basil when it wants room to breathe. Give each plant more room than feels necessary and the air keeps moving.

Watering basil matters, too. Aim for the base, do it in the morning, and the leaves dry off over the day. The harder case is indoors or under glass, where the air just hangs. That’s where a small oscillating fan from Amazon earns its keep, pushing a breeze across the foliage to keep surfaces dry.

The easiest defense against downy mildew is actually to choose a variety of basil that is mildew resistant! A lot of sweet basils exist now because breeders set out to beat this thing. A downy mildew-resistant basil variety, like ‘Noga’ from Botanical Interests, paired with good airflow is about as safe as basil gets.

The rest is small stuff that stacks up. Choose healthy transplants and look them over first, since it rides in on infected starts as readily as on the wind. And keep cutting. Basil that gets picked often stays open and airy, and an open plant makes a frustrating target for something that needs everything damp and still.

If your ornamental and edible plant leaves are starting to turn white and splotchy, you may be facing a case of powdery mildew. There are several different types of fungi that cause this common garden disease. And it seems like there are just as many DIY solutions floating around online.

One of the most popular powdery mildew treatments I’ve seen on the online gardening forums is spraying your plants with milk. I’ve tried this one several times over the years, whenever my squash plants have been plagued by powdery mildew. But unfortunately, it’s never done much to dispel this disease.

However, there is one solution that I’ve discovered since then that starts working after just one application and it also prevents pests, too. If you’re an avid gardener, you may already have this easy-to-find spray on hand. But if not, it’s a great product to have in your gardening arsenal to solve a variety of plant problems both indoors and out. Find out my secret weapon against powdery mildew and pests.

My Secret Weapon Against Powdery Mildew

Benefits of Neem Oil

Neem oil has so many uses in the garden, including fighting powdery mildew. It is made from the seeds of the neem tree (Azadirachta indica) and it is incredibly versatile. Plus, it’s organic and safe to use on edible plants, ornamentals, and even houseplants. You can find neem oil online from Amazon or at almost any garden center.

This plant-based solution can prevent a whole host of common garden diseases, including sooty mold, black spot, and rust. It can also get rid of a wide array of unwanted garden pests, like scale, squash bugs, beetle larvae, caterpillars, lacebugs, leaf hoppers, leafminers, mealybugs, thrips, and whiteflies.

One of the best uses for neem oil, though, is to prevent and stop powdery mildew in the garden. Neem oil can’t completely get rid of powdery mildew that’s already on plants, but it will stop its spread and keep it from ruining your vegetable harvest and the blooms in your ornamental garden.

How to Use Neem Oil for Powdery Mildew

Despite being an organic solution to powdery mildew as well as other problems in the garden, neem oil does have some safety concerns for both plants and beneficial insects. It can negatively impact important pollinators, like bees and butterflies, so it’s important to be careful when using it in your garden.

Apply neem oil in the evening after sunset, when most pollinators are done working for the day to prevent harming these beneficial insects. Avoid spraying neem oil on plants that are in bloom and pollinators will likely visit. Also, be sure to keep neem oil away from water sources that supply pollinators. For example, if you have a pollinator watering station in your garden, don’t spray neem oil near it.

Overusing neem oil can also harm plants, especially tender seedlings and young plants. For the best results and to prevent damage to your plants, apply neem oil as soon as you see powdery mildew appear. Then wait 7 to 10 days before reapplying. Only reapply if the problem continues to worsen.

Neem oil often stops powdery mildew after just one application. However, it doesn’t get rid of powdery mildew that’s already present on leaves. So watch to see if the disease spreads before applying again.

Other Ways to Prevent Powdery Mildew

Ultimately, powdery mildew won’t kill your plants. However, severe cases can lessen harvests and weaken plants. Prevention is always the best defense in your garden. To stop powdery mildew before it even begins, make sure you space your plants far enough apart to provide good airflow.

Also, try to avoid overhead irrigation. Wet leaves, especially on crowded plants, combined with warm summer temperatures are the ideal conditions for breeding powdery mildew. A simple drip irrigation system that you can set up quickly, like this drip irrigation kit from Home Depot that I use in my own garden, keeps foliage dry and prevents fungal diseases.

Don’t let the powdery mildew take over your garden. Prevent problems before they start by following proper spacing and watering at the roots. But if you are already having issues with fungus in your garden, give neem oil a try and leave the milk for your morning cereal.

The humble watering can is one of the most useful items in a gardener’s tool shed. While a hose, sprinkler, and in-ground system can all cover wider areas of the garden faster, a watering can is inexpensive and perfect for watering small areas and container gardens. When just one or two plants need an extra drink, it helps you avoid wasting water. It’s one of your best friends when you are looking to water garden flower beds, borders and containers.

As with all gardening tools, though, proper maintenance and storage is needed to keep your watering can in good shape. If you’ve been inadvertently keeping any water in a watering can, think on – you could be storing up problems. One of the most important things you can do after using your watering can is to empty it. Yes, it might be tempting to leave extra water there for the next round, but resist the urge. Here are 4 reasons why you need to keep on top of this to avoid watering can problems – plus, how you can keep yours in good working order for as long as possible.

Why You Shouldn’t Leave Water in a Watering Can

While you may not be regularly guilty of keeping water in your watering can when not in use, it doesn’t take long for problems to start building up. Whether it’s because of disease, cold damage, or potential injury to visiting wildlife, there are some very real reasons to keep your watering can empty – to preserve the longevity of your can, and your garden health. Here are the main reasons you need to take care.

1. Stagnant Water Breeds Unhealthy Growth

The garden is for growing, but you don’t want to grow everything. Stagnant, still water can be a breeding ground for all kinds of unwanted growth, even some that can be harmful. For example, mosquitoes, which carry diseases that can affect you, your family, and your pets, lay eggs in still water. A few days or a week of letting water sit is a big watering mistake, as it is long enough for mosquitoes to start breeding and hatching.

Standing water in your watering can also promote the growth of algae and mold, which might be harmful to your plants. If you’ve left water too long, you should clean and disinfect the watering can before using it on healthy garden plants. You can also use mosquito dunk chunks to help reduce the risks in any standing water in bird baths nearby. Try Summit Dunk Chunks from Amazon.

2. Standing Water Can Harm Other Wildlife

The standing water in your watering can might generate some living things you don’t want. It might also drown some that you do want around, such as any beneficial insects you are looking to attract to a pollinator garden. Your local pollinating bees can easily drown in deep standing water. Even small mammals can fall in and drown.

While a bird bath can be a great way to provide water for your garden’s wildlife, a watering can presents a deadly hazard. Bees and small animals cannot get back out of a steep-sided container of water, like a bucket or watering can, once they go in. So always empty your watering can. You’ll be saving countless little lives that can then spread the love elsewhere in your yard.

3. Minerals Build Up Over Time

Another good reason to always empty and rinse your watering can is that it can develop a mineral crust on the inside over time. Water from the tap contains minerals, even soft water. This isn’t necessarily bad, but the minerals can build up on the inside of the can over time, stockpiling another problem.

While plants need all kinds of micronutrients, including those minerals, too many can be harmful. Also, the minerals can form a crust over the holes in the spout, also known as a rose, impeding water flow. If this has already happened to your can, clean or soak the can and spout with an appropriate cleaner to dissolve the minerals. Use a gentle cleaner like Mrs Meyer’s Clean Day All-Purpose Cleaner Spray from Amazon.

4. Freezing and Rusting

If you have a metal watering can, rust is an obvious issue. Leave water too long and too often in a metal can when you aren’t watering plants, especially if the water has a lot of minerals, and it will rust and eventually become useless. If you’re using the can in cold temperatures, the water might freeze inside of it. As water expands as it freezes, this can actually rupture a watering can, especially less sturdily constructed plastic cans. To ensure the long life of your can, this one is a no-brainer.

How to Use and Maintain a Watering Can

Most watering cans are inexpensive, but why be wasteful? If you take good care of your watering can, it will reward you with years of service, and your plants will thank you for watering them correctly. Empty out any excess water after every use, even if you use rainwater. Here are a few more things you can do to extend the life of your watering can and make sure you aren’t transferring any problems onto your plants and your garden.

• Rinse the watering can with fresh water after using it, with a liquid or water-soluble fertilizer. Fertilizers and plant foods can contribute to mineral buildup.
• Store your watering can upside down or on its side to keep it from collecting rainwater and debris.
• Clean it regularly with soapy water and a good scrub brush. Even when you empty it, the watering can retain some moisture and might begin to grow some algae. Use an eco-friendly brush like the Naturolic Store’s All Natural Wooden Scrub Brush Set from Amazon.
• Thoroughly clean and dry your watering can before you put it away for the season. Remove the spout to clean, dry, and store separately.
• Look for any signs of damage, rust, or cracks before storing your watering can and before using it in spring.
• Store your watering can indoors for winter to protect it from cold and fluctuating temperatures. Keep it in a location that stays dry.
• If your watering can is made of metal, consider applying a little rust-resistant spray to protect it over the winter. Use the highly rated Jenolite Rust Shield Aerosol Anti-Rust Spray from Amazon for metal cans.

Your handy little gardening tool will last for years if you take care of it. And your garden will thank you for never leaving water standing in it when your watering can is in regular use.

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If you’ve spent any time reading about organic remedies for garden grumbles and pest problems, you’ve probably heard about neem oil. It seems to have a quiet super power in the garden. This naturally occurring oil from the neem tree is often deployed as a miracle save for plants that might have fallen foul of pests and diseases. It’s an eco-friendly alternative to chemicals if you are looking for organic gardening solutions to a few of the more common planting emergencies.

As a natural way of managing garden pests and problems, knowing how to use neem oil on plants will give you a very strong advantage. As well as supporting you in maintaining plant health in the form of eco-friendly insect sprays and solutions, it can also help you to protect yourself in the garden. Here’s how it helps to keep plants and gardens thriving, how to apply neem oil to plants, and how you can make your own neem oil garden buddy.

What is Neem Oil and How Does It Work?

Neem oil is a naturally occurring agent that comes from fruit and seeds of the neem tree (Azadirachta indica). It has a solid reputation going back hundreds of years in its native India, where it has been used in skincare and as anti-inflammatories. In recent years, it has also become an important organic option for those of us who feel like we are constantly trying to protect our plants from pernicious bugs and other problems.

So what does neem oil do for plants? As a natural organic pest control, neem oil works primarily by targeting a range of pests that may be feeding on your favorite plants. Applied as a diluted solution to the leaves of plants you want to treat or protect, specific pests are suffocated after ingesting the leaves. It’s a bit gruesome, but the oil blocks the airways of immature insects and larvae. Depending on the type of neem oil solution or method you use, certain neem oil agents also inhibit feeding or reproductive cycles.

Neem oil uses in the garden extend beyond natural pesticides. It can also be used as an insect repellent to deter certain pests from treated leaves. Neem oil solutions can also work as a barrier that prevents the spread of certain fungal infections – while it can’t heal affected plant tissue, it can stop fungal spores spreading to healthy foliage.

However, it’s important to note that neem oil can be dangerous to leaves if added in concentrated form. Any positive neem oil uses for plants would be outweighed by smothering leaves with the undiluted agent. It is best to use neem oil as a diluted treatment so you don’t inadvertently block airflow and photosynthesis in leaf cells.

Neem Oil Benefits in Garden

Alongside its various pest-thwarting abilities, one of the big neem oil advantages is that it is friendly to the leaves themselves. As long as you are using the neem oil correctly, either as a prepared homemade solution or insect spray, or as a commercially sourced product – and as long as you are not smothering the foliage with concentrated neem oil – there are no adverse effects to the plants.

Neem oil sprays and solutions are both organic and specifically geared towards tackling insects that are actively targeting your plants. And because of the complex nature of neem, those specific insects are not likely to build up an immunity, either. It is safe to use around the garden and can be deployed on the leaves of many crops safely as long as you follow guidelines for use.

There are no serious environmental side-effects to worry about. While being tough on plant foes, neem oil solutions are relatively safe for beneficial insects and pollinators that are not actively targeting the plant leaves for food. If the insect isn’t specifically chowing down on the foliage, it won’t be affected. Neem oil applications tend to work directly on the plant (usually directly on the leaves, although you can also add it in certain forms to compost or soil). So beneficial insects like ladybugs which don’t eat the leaves will not be harmed.

3 Neem Oil Uses in The Garden

There are several ways to reap the benefits from neem oil in your garden – but here are three of the most important in terms of plant health, pest management, and your own ability to relax in the garden!

• Use as a Pesticide: For an organic approach with a long rollcall of potential pest targets, neem oil is devastating as a pesticide. As well as being effective as a spray or solution during the growing season of plants, it can be used when certain plants are dormant as a way of targeting pests that might be overwintering, or eggs that have yet to hatch. So the full remit of pesticide possibilities is impressive. Use neem oil for aphids, beetles, whiteflies and fruitflies. Neem oil solutions and sprays are also effective in thwarting leafminers, cabbage loopers, mealybugs and thrips. As a miticide, neem can disrupt the life cycle of spider mites. You can also use neem oil for Japanese beetles. It is believed to prevent larvae from developing into adults.

• Apply as a Fungicide: Several fungal diseases can be tackled by using neem oil either as a homemade fungicide or as a commercial multi-purpose agent. You can use neem oil for powdery mildew as a way of checking the spread of the fungal spores. You can also target fire blight and verticillium wilt, as well as black spot, leaf spot, anthracnose and rust. When applied as a foliar spray or leaf wipe, diluted neem oil or commercial neem oil agents can be used on ornamentals and crops, shrubs like roses and hydrangeas, and even trees. Bear in mind their effectiveness is geared more towards curbing the spread of fungal pathogens, rather than healing affected leaves. Use neem in tandem with good watering practice and adequate plant spacing.

• Combat Mosquitoes: For any gardeners who are bugged by skeeters, neem oil has one other excellent advantage in the garden. As well as being an effective pesticide and fungicide, neem oil’s agency as a deterrent makes it one of the best methods for tackling mozzies organically. As well as working as a repellent, it actively disrupts the mosquito’s feeding and development cycle. So while it doesn’t kill them, it does reduce your chances of being bitten while you’re out in the garden. For the best results, try incorporating this into a wider range of mosquito controls in your backyard. Include other approaches such as the use of mosquito dunks from Home Depot, the presence of mosquito-repelling plants, and the removal of standing water.

How to Use Neem Oil

The great thing about neem oil solutions and sprays is that you can use them at any point in the life cycle of a particular pest. And as long as you are not using your neem oil agent on very young plants or plants that are otherwise relatively healthy, you’re good to go. So neem oil sprays are just as effective if administered to, say, trees where you might have spotted eggs on leaves as they would be if you spotted an infestation of aphids or grubs actively feeding on the leaves of houseplants. You can even use neem oil agents on your lawn and as a soil amendment.

Neem oil agents require a steadfast, patient approach, and a willingness to commit to repeat applications on a weekly basis. The effectiveness of neem oil will start to wear off after a few days, especially if your garden gets hit by heavy rain. During the growing season, you will need to apply your neem oil agent every 7-10 days for the best results. Cover both sides of the leaves. Avoid spraying if temps rise above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32°C) to prevent the risk of foliar burn. And hold your nerve – it may take time to see an upturn in plant health. This is about playing the long game, although you should see a decrease in pest numbers within a few weeks. Here are some of the best ways to use neem oil on your plants:

• Add as a Spray: Ideally, you should use a neem oil spray for plants either first thing in the morning or later in the evening, when there is less chance of foliar scorch (basically, leaf burn). Make a homemade spray (like the one outlined below), or use a readymade spray such as Bonide’s Captain Jack’s Neem Oil Organic Spray or Captain Jack’s Neem Max Ready To Use Spray from Walmart, which works as a fungicide, pesticide and miticide.
• Apply as a Wash: If you are targeting a few larger leaves on a houseplant such as a fiddle leaf fig, you can wipe a diluted neem oil solution across the leaves (top and bottom) using a microfiber cloth. Use Mr Siga microfiber cloths from Amazon which are gentler on leaves. In terms of the best neem oil for plants, one of the most reliable is Nature’s Will Pure Organic Cold Pressed And Unrefined Concentrated from Amazon, especially effective if added to an insecticidal soap. Make sure it is diluted; never apply in concentrated form.
• Use as a Cake: This is actually a powder derived from crushed neem kernels that you can add as a soil amendment, or as an ingredient to your compost. It contains compounds like azadirachtin, which repel various insects and nematodes. Neem cake also has antifungal properties. As well as making a good soil amendment, particularly for fruit trees, powdered forms can work as another means of pest control and checking growth of mildew and rust. Try Zatural Neem Cake Organic Fertilizer from Walmart.

Make Your Own Neem Oil Garden Buddy

While there are some great ready-to-use neem oil pesticide / insecticide sprays available, you can also make your own using a few easily sourced ingredients. Make sure you’ve got a good pressure sprayer to hand. The T4U Hand Pump Sprayer from Amazon can hold half a gallon (2L) and has a comfy handle and a good action.

Some concentrates, such as Bonide’s Captain Jack’s Neem Max Concentrated Cold Pressed Neem Oil from Amazon, don’t require soap and can just be added to water. However, for other neem oil concentrates, you may find it helps to add a little soap as outlined here. Check with the particular neem oil product you buy, as this information should be specified on the label.

If you want to know how to mix neem oil for plants in a way that works well, give this recipe a try. But again, check the label on your neem product as you may not need to add the soap. For this ‘Neem OIl Garden Buddy’ insecticide spray you just need:

• 2.5 (37ml) tablespoons of cold pressed neem oil or neem oil concentrate
• 2.5 (37ml) tablespoons of pure liquid soap – try Castile soap from Amazon (alternatively, use an insecticidal soap)
• 1 gallon (3.8L) warm water

1. Boil the water and leave it until it is warm, then add the soap as an emulsifier for the neem, making it easier for the oil and water to mix effectively. Then add the neem oil.

2. Fill your hand sprayer or pump sprayer. Shake the bottle to help the ingredients mix. You may wish to do a test section of your plant first just to measure the effects and check there is no damage.

3. Once you are happy, you can mist the plant you suspect may be affected. Make sure you spray both sides of all leaves. Start at the top of the plant and work your way down. Use while the water is warm, as this makes the mixture more effective.

4. Repeat the process the following week for suspected infestations, You may also wish to use your cloth to wipe larger leaves or areas where you spot more extensive pest numbers, You can also apply the Neem Garden Buddy as a preventative measure, applying once a week to keep your plant feeling perky during growing season.

Frequently Asked Questions

You’ve probably heard of poison ivy, and maybe you’ve even had a close personal encounter, but it isn’t the only noxious plant you need to watch out for. There are plenty of poisonous weeds and prickly weeds that cause rashes (and worse), and one or two could well be hiding in plain sight in your garden.

We can spend so much time fretting about weed control because these rough and ready plants may look unsightly, we don’t think of the other problems associated with certain weeds. There are a number of problematic or stinging weeds that cause rashes, itching, stinging, eye irritation and, in extreme cases, infections.

So before you march out into the yard to do battle with the weeds, it’s a good idea to get familiar with those uninvited guests you don’t like the look of – you may well be growing poisonous plants. Keep reading to learn more about the most likely noxious and nasty weeds to crop up in your yard – and what you can do to take action.

Poisonous Weeds

Inadvertent contact with toxic or poisonous weeds can cause skin and eye irritation, blistering, dizziness, nausea, or worse. Make sure you can spot these problematic common weeds – and approach with caution (and protective hand coverings).

1. Poison Ivy

Poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), not to be confused with the DC comic book plant/human hybrid, is a poisonous plant native to most of the 48 contiguous states. It is most commonly found vining up trees or other supports, but may also exist as a small shrub. It has three smooth to mildly notched leaflets and bears white waxy coated berry-like fruit. Usually, the middle leaf appears slightly larger than the others.

Like poison oak and poison sumac below, poison ivy contains urushiol. This is an oily sap that causes a rash upon contact. The sap can persist on clothing and equipment for weeks, so if you do come into contact with this noxious weed, wash clothing and tools thoroughly in warm, soapy water.

2. Poison Oak

Atlantic or Eastern poison oak (Toxicodendron pubescens) also usually has three leaflets, although it may have five, seven or nine. The leaves are more rounded than those of poison ivy, looking rather like an oak leaf. They often present as slightly scalloped in shape and may be slightly haired.

Poison oak is found in the South and East US coast, growing as a shrub, but more commonly it grows as a vine in the West. Small, innocuous white flowers will give way to velvety gray or tan berries in the spring. You must never attempt to remove poison oak by burning the leaves to get rid of them, as the fumes can be lethal.

3. Poison Sumac

Poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix) has clusters of white or green berries. Leaves have a slight sheen, and stems are generally red. This noxious weed is found in the Midwest, Northeast and some of the Southeast US. Poison sumac plants feature seven-13 smooth paired leaflets on each stem.

Ongoing control and removal of poison sumac requires months of patient cutting and regular applications of horticultural vinegar – but only if wearing protective gloves. There is also a harmless sumac plant that differs from poison sumac in the appearance of its berries. These are bright red and positioned upright on the plant.

4. Poison Hemlock

Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) is native to Europe, Africa and Asia and is invasive in North America. Eating any part of poison hemlock, even in small quantities, can result in death. All parts of the plant contain toxic alkaloids, although the mature fruit and seeds are the most poisonous.

The plant itself is about 3-8ft (1-2m) in height, with hollow stems riddled with ridges and purple spotting, fern-like foliage and a taproot. While it is poisonous when ingested, this weed can also be toxic to sensitive individuals when touched. If seeking to control poison hemlock, you must always wear gloves and other protective clothing when handling this plant.

5. Water Hemlock

A member of the same family (Apiaceae) as poison hemlock, water hemlock (Cicuta maculata) is even deadlier. To distinguish between these two sinister plants, focus on the purple found on their hollow stems. Water hemlock has purple streaking, while poison hemlock has purple spots. Water hemlock also has fleshy tubers, rather than the deep taproot of poison hemlock, but they both grow to 3-8ft (90cm-2.4m) tall.

Ingestion of all parts of this plant can lead to seizures, paralysis or even death. The toxins can also be absorbed through the skin or breathed in, so either avoid the plant altogether or wear protective garb including goggles and a mask. Wash everything well after handling the plant.

6. Cow Parsnip

Cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum) has hollow stems covered with tiny hairs and radiating foliage. In the plant’s second year, it sends up a 4-15ft (1-4.5m) stem topped with an umbrella of tiny white blooms.

This perennial-biennial contains a sap which, when exposed to the sun, produces toxins that may result in a blistering rash as painful and dangerous as a burn. Because all parts of the cow parsnip plant may cause skin irritation, great care should be taken to cover any exposed skin areas.

Prickly Weeds

Prickly weeds in yard spaces are usually more of an annoyance than a danger. However, festering wounds from stinging weeds can still cause some serious injuries, so it pays to be super-cautious if you suspect the presence of these weeds.

7. Stinging Nettle

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) can be found through North America and the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The plant has 6ft (2m) fibrous, hairy stems surrounded by heart-shaped serrated foliage. Stems are covered with needle-like hairs that contain an array of irritants. When a person or animal brushes against the hairs, they break off, releasing irritants into the skin. Once the spines are lodged in the skin, there is little to do except wait out the symptoms of hives and stinging pain.

These irritants are a survival tool of the plant which also has the advantages of being a perennial and propagating by seed and rhizome. Indeed, trying to control the presence and spread of stinging nettles can feel like an ongoing battle. The best ways to try to fight back are by regular weed whacking and crushing – but only if using protective clothing. Nettles have been purposefully cultivated for use medicinally and as a food source for centuries.

8. Sandbur

Sandbur (Cenchrus longispinus or C. incertus), as the name implies, is generally found in sandy soil. However, it may also grow in grazing pastures or even sports fields and lawns. A summer annual grass, sandbar has sharp, spiny burs that can cause injury to people and pets.

In pastures, livestock are known to get ulcerated mouth wounds and even gastrointestinal issues from swallowing the barbed seed heads. Controlling sandbur weeds can be tricky, but regular lawn-mowing can help keep the irritating sandbur seed heads from developing.

Stay Safe When Handling Weeds

Without wishing to sound alarmist, Mother Nature can be dangerous at times, so you need to protect yourself by wearing the appropriate garb. I recommend long pants and sleeves, sturdy boots and a good pair of gloves. In some cases, safety goggles and a mask wouldn’t be too outlandish. It can’t hurt to invest in some anti-fog goggles from Amazon.com which prevent eye irritation and are comfy for the price.

If you’re concerned about layering up in high summer temperatures, you should at the very least wear arm gaiters with gloves. Better yet, try all-in-one gloves with extra long cuffs. For a budget option that doesn’t skimp on solid protection, G&F Gardening Gloves from Wayfair keep you safe from the common noxious weeds, and come in a choice of rose pink and jade green.

For gardeners with sensitive skin, try a breathable set of long-sleeve DLY canvas and cowhide gloves from Amazon, which have the added benefit of being thorn-proof.

Frequently Asked Questions

A signature of the summer garden, nothing beats the taste of fresh, juicy strawberries. While growing the plant is relatively simple, care is needed to keep beds and containers looking their best. When growing your own strawberries, routine monitoring can help you pick up on sudden changes in appearance – which can often be a sign of strawberry diseases.

Here, we round up the most common strawberry plant diseases, enabling you to correctly identify a potential problem quickly and effectively. If you’re worried about strange leaf colors, changes in fruit, or no strawberry fruit at all, be sure you read this. The sooner you can step in, the more chance you have of ensuring your precious harvests don’t take a hit. If you suspect strawberry disease, take action fast – this guide can help you do it right.

Identifying Key Strawberry Diseases

Learning to properly identify disease on strawberry plants can be difficult. Unlike strawberry pests, there is a little bit of overlap in the way certain diseases present – so an assessment of multiple symptoms is important.

With careful inspection, most issues can be identified quickly. Keen observation skills are of the utmost importance. This includes monitoring both fruit and foliage, looking for sudden or unusual changes in color, texture and overall health.

It also helps to get familiar with the strawberry plant cultivar being grown, taking tolerance and resistance of each type into account. Follow this guide, and you’ll be well on your way to growing healthier, bigger strawberries – and more of them!

1. Anthracnose

Anthracnose, caused by various Colletotrichum fungi, affects almost every part of the strawberry plant. Though anthracnose disease is most common throughout warmer regions, it may also occur where conditions are both cool and wet. Symptoms which result in rot are most conspicuous, occurring on the plant's fruit as well as the crown.

Infection can be severe, nearly always leading to a reduction in crops and loss of plants. As the disease is known to overwinter within beds, control of infections can be difficult. Still, with very early detection, you could salvage some plants with the use of fungicide and the routine removal of infected matter.

2. Black Root Rot

Some strawberry diseases, like black root rot, have a variety of causes. These often include the presence of pathogens or nematodes within the soil, or other environmental factors that make the plant ill-suited to growth.

Strawberries affected by root rot are most easily identified by an obvious lack of vigor, accompanied by black or shriveled roots. Though little can be done in terms of treatment, prevention is possible if you maintain healthy, well-draining soil. Ensuring adequate spacing between plants can also safeguard against this disease.

3. Leaf Spot

Yet another common problem, strawberry leaf spot disease is most readily identified by the presence of gray-white lesions across the surface of plant foliage. Over time, these margins continue to grow and deepen in color, causing leaves to dry and drop from plants prematurely.

Fungal spores further spread the infection, moving from plant to plant with the aid of wind or water. Little can be done to treat afflicted plants. Fungicide may help to slow the spread of leaf spot disease. Sadly, their complete removal from the garden is the most effective measure.

4. Leaf Scorch

A strawberry leaf disease like scorch can drastically reduce plant productivity. Symptoms closely mimic those of leaf spot, but the appearance will vary in terms of pattern. Growers can expect infected leaves to go brown and die quickly, resulting in the rapid decline of plants.

Prevention of leaf scorch disease is the best course of action. Implement good watering and garden sanitation practices, whether growing in beds, containers or hanging baskets. This includes direct irrigation, avoiding contact with foliage, and the prompt removal of infected plant matter.

5. Mold

Gray mold of strawberry plants is the result of a fungus called Botrytis cinerea. Infection is most likely to occur in spring, when conditions are cool and wet. Plants affected by the disease will take-on a gray, hairy appearance, usually covering fruit and developing flowers. Rot occurs rapidly, resulting in complete hardening of the infected matter.

As the botrytis fungus is known to overwinter within beds, good sanitation is key in the prevention of the disease. Improved air circulation and the routine use of fungicide can also be helpful in the treatment of affected sites.

6. Powdery Mildew

Powdery mildew can be especially problematic in strawberry beds (where multiple plants are bunched together). The disease may first become apparent with the appearance of a white, powder-like substance across the surface of the plant's leaves. Foliage then begins to curl and brown, eventually dropping to the ground.

Flowers may also be affected, preventing fruit set and reducing yield. If treating this disease on strawberry plants, the prompt removal of infected matter is vital, followed by preventative fungicide sprays.

7. Verticillium Wilt

Verticillium wilt remains amongst the most common pathogens to affect edible plants. Strawberries often contract the disease when planted where the pathogen has already built up within the soil. Sudden wilt or drooping foliage are the first signs of infection. Leaves may change from green to varying shades of red or brown.

Eventually, each leaf will dry completely. Those hoping to prevent the disease should arrange new beds carefully. If growing strawberries in raised beds, be sure to select varieties which demonstrate good resistance to the pathogen.

Frequently Asked Questions

The mere mention of common garden plant diseases is enough to make even the most experienced gardener feel anxious. Online resources abound, but learning to properly identify problems can sometimes be tricky. After taking the signs and symptoms into account, worried gardeners may be convinced that their favorite plants have been infected with at least 10 plant diseases!

Indeed, one of the most common planting mistakes you can make is to incorrectly identify a plant problem. This holds true whether you are dealing with seedlings, tender plants, ornamentals, edibles, or mature trees. In this article, we’ll help to demystify the process of diagnosing diseased plants, by taking a look at some of the most common ornamental and vegetable garden diseases you’re most likely to encounter in the garden. Swot up on the common foes and you’ll increase your chances of maintaining healthy, happy plants.

Identifying Common Garden Plant Diseases

Plant disease identification can be challenging. This is especially true when many symptoms overlap or manifest in a similar fashion. Taking note of how each plant is affected is helpful in determining which of its parts may be most impacted by the disease. Sudden wilting, for example, is likely to indicate problems related to nutrient uptake or other plant processes.

Various types of leaf diseases are most visible across the plant’s foliage and are usually responsible for sudden changes in its overall appearance. Cultural conditions may also give clues as to which disease has infected plants. Key components to consider include soil moisture, nutrient and fertilizing levels, temperature, and even humidity. Below are the big common garden problems that can manifest when growing ornamentals, edibles, tenders, trees and shrubs.

1. Blight

Often referred to as botrytis or gray mold, blight is among the most common vegetable garden diseases. The fungal infection, caused by Botrytis cinerea, can also be found in orchards and in ornamental flower beds. When blight is present, the foliage of infected plants begins to yellow quickly, then develops brown lesions. Flowers are also affected, resulting in the complete loss of buds.

The disease can be prevented through proper irrigation and garden sanitation techniques. Avoid common watering mistakes like leaf splash by watering from below to avoid wetting leaves, and removing any decaying plant matter from the garden. To help control blight infections and treat botrytis blight, we suggest pruning away all infected plant debris and disposing of it safely away from the garden.

• Telltale signs: Leaves of infected plants yellow quickly, followed by light green spots or brown lesions.
• Plants affected: Common veg plants like tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants.

2. Damping Off

Damping off can be frustrating. Caused by Fusarium and Rhizoctonia fungal species, this disease most commonly affects seedlings that have been started indoors. After germination, each plant wilts suddenly, resulting in a total loss.

You can prevent damping off by carefully monitoring soil moisture and temperature, making certain to avoid oversaturation or excessively cool conditions. The problem can also be avoided by cleaning all seed-starting equipment before planting and using only sterile, soilless germination mixes.

• Telltale signs: Thinning of seedling stems, young leaves wilt and turn brown, growth may be stunted or may shrivel up.
• Plants affected: Any young plant or seedling that you are attempting to grow from seed.

3. Leaf Spot

Leaf spot refers to one of many various types of leaf diseases (also known as foliar disease), caused by both bacterial and fungal pathogens. Most leaf spot diseases will not cause serious harm to established plants, but can greatly impact their overall appearance. Leaf spot generally begins when the plant’s leaves begin to yellow. Brown or rust-colored spots then develop, sometimes leading to the premature drop of leaves.

Leaf spot can usually be prevented by watering from below to avoid wetting the plant’s foliage. Good air circulation around plants is also helpful in preventing the spread of this disease. You may find it helps to reduce humidity indoors, especially if growing plants in confined spaces like greenhouses.

• Telltale signs: Leaves yellow, then brown or rust-colored spots of varying shape and size develop, sometimes leading to the premature drop of leaves.
• Plants affected: Firethorn, rhododendron, echinacea, delphinium, astilbe. Edibles include: brassicas, currants.

4. Powdery Mildew

No discussion of common garden problems would be complete without mention of powdery mildew. This is one of the most common vegetable garden diseases. Spores that cause this infection, move through the garden via the wind and water. Powdery mildew most often occurs where nighttime temperatures are cool and humidity is relatively high. The disease spreads quickly resulting in a thin white coating atop leaves, stems, and even flowers.

Though it can greatly diminish the overall appearance of plants, most infections will not negatively impact their growth. There is no known cure for powdery mildew. However, its spread can be slowed by removing infected leaves and other plant parts from the garden, as well as through routine foliar treatments.

• Telltale signs: White powdery coating, dusting or film across the surface of plant leaves.
• Plants affected: Pear, plum, peach trees; lilacs, crape myrtles, wisteria and roses; edibles like cucumbers, melons, eggplants and pumpkins.

5. Wilt

Wilt occurs for a variety of reasons. Should your plants show signs of wilt, you should consider growing conditions within the garden carefully. Both over- and underwatering can cause plants to begin to droop. Bacterial and fungal pathogens may also be a reason for the sudden wilt of plants.

These infections such as fusarium wilt disease interfere directly with the vital life processes of the plant, making them a serious concern. Experienced growers suggest removing infected matter immediately, making certain to dispose of it safely away from garden beds.

• Telltale signs: Drooping leaves and stems, leaf discoloration, brown tips to leaves, weakened or mushy stems.
• Plants affected: Many plant groups can be affected, but several key areas of concern are overwatering, underwatering, lack of light, becoming pot- or root-bound, cramped or crowded conditions, extreme weather conditions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Tuber rot diseases are a major cause of crop loss, particularly affecting potatoes, but also carrots and other tuberous vegetables. Tuber rot in plants also poses a serious threat to hyacinths, bearded iris, cyclamen, dahlias, and other tuberous plants. Read on for common types of tuber rot and what you can do.

Common Types of Tuber Rot

Tuber soft rot problems may be bacterial but are most often caused by various fungi. Tuber rot in plants is difficult to control because the rot can live on contaminated equipment and can lie “in wait” in the soil throughout the winter. Tubers damaged by disease, stress, insects, or frost are most susceptible.

• Blight: Blight occurs when spores are washed into the soil from lesions on nearby foliage. Blight is indicated by discolored patches on the skin with reddish brown rot beneath the skin.
• Pink rot: Pink rot is a common, soil-borne fungi that enters tubers through the stem end and also through wounded areas. Tubers with pink rot display discolored patches on the skin. The flesh turns pink when exposed to air. This type of rot emits an unmistakable, vinegary odor.
• Backleg: Blackleg enters through rotting stems and stolons of contaminated tubers. The fungus begins with black lesions at the base of the stem. The growth of plants and stems is stunted, and tubers become soft, and water soaked.
• Dry rot: Dry rot is a soil-borne fungus recognized by brown patches on the skin and often a pinkish, white, or bluish fungal growth inside the tuber. Dry rot enters the tuber through wounds and cuts.
• Gangrene: Gangrene is a soil-borne fungus that displays “thumb-mark” lesions on the skin with similar marks inside. Tubers may also have black, pin-head fungus within the lesions.

Controlling Tuber Rot Diseases

Start with good quality, certified tubers. Inspect tubers carefully before planting. Dispose of soft, mushy, discolored, or rotting tubers. Always work with clean equipment and storage facilities. Sanitize all cutting tools. Use sharp blades to make a clean, even cut that will heal quickly.

Never plant tubers too closely and don’t allow them to become overcrowded. Don’t overfeed tuberous plants, as too much fertilizer makes them weak and more susceptible to rot. Be especially careful of high-nitrogen fertilizers. Avoid overwatering, as rot needs moisture to spread. Store tubers in a dry, cool, and well-ventilated area.

Consider planting in raised beds if soil drainage is poor. Dispose of contaminated plants and rotting tubers to prevent spread. Never put contaminated plant material in your compost bin. Rotate crops regularly. Never plant susceptible plants in infected soil. Control slugs and other pests, since damaged areas often allow rot to enter tubers. Avoid harvesting tuberous vegetables when the soil is wet.

Fungicides may help control some types of rot, although control is usually limited. Read the product label carefully, as it will tell you which fungus the product is effective against, and which plants can be treated. It’s a good idea to check with your local cooperative extension office before using fungicides.

Hypoxylon canker on trees can be an extremely destructive disease. It infects and often kills trees that are already weakened by poor conditions, disease, or damage. Knowing the signs could help you to save a tree if the disease has not yet spread to the trunk.

What is Hypoxylon Canker Disease?

This is a disease caused by the Hypoxylon canker fungus, actually a group of fungi species in the Hypoxylon genus. Infection by these fungi causes the canker disease, a common issue in hardwood trees.

The fungi are generally opportunistic, meaning that they tend to attack trees that are already weakened or diseased. The disease is not a major problem for healthy trees. The damage caused by Hypoxylon canker disease is usually extensive. Once it gets into the trunk of the tree, it is most often fatal.

Hypoxylon fungi spread spores as they are released into the air after wet and rainy weather. If the spores land on another tree and conditions stay moist and warm for a couple days, it may infect that new tree. Infections occur at wounds and breaks in the bark.

Identifying Hypoxylon Canker on Trees

Any kind of hardwood tree can be infected by Hypoxylon fungi. Trees that are most susceptible have been stressed by poor conditions like drought, root damage, or other diseases. Oaks are often victims of this disease and in the Midwest, it is the number one cause of early death in quaking aspens.

The main symptom of the disease is the presence of cankers on branches and the trunk. They are often first seen at galls, wounds, and branching unions. The cankers when young are smooth and yellow, orange, or brown in color. As they get older, the centers of the cankers turn gray and white and look blotchy, while the edges stay yellow or orange. Two-year-old cankers will also have gray pegs under the bark.

The oldest cankers have decayed wood underneath, which often looks black as if it has been charred by burning. There may be an infestation of wood boring insects and holes from woodpeckers.

In diseased trees, you may also see smaller leaves, yellowing leaves, reduced growth in twigs, and a thinner canopy. There can also be a large number of dead twigs and branches on an infected tree.

Hypoxylon Canker Control

The best thing you can do to manage this disease is to prevent it. Treating Hypoxylon canker is not currently possible, as there are no fungicides that kill the pathogen. For prevention, start with keeping trees healthy. Make sure they have the best conditions for soil, water, and nutrients as well as are free from pests and other diseases.

If you already see signs of cankers on the branches of a tree but not the trunk, you may be able to save it with pruning. Trim off the affected branches 8 to 12 inches (20-31 cm.) below the cankers. Also, trim branches with visible injuries that could be vulnerable to infection.

Destroy the diseased branches by burning them and disinfect tools before using them again. If you have a tree with cankers in the trunk, it’s best to remove and destroy the entire tree to keep the disease from spreading to others.

Just because cherry leaf roll disease has the name ‘cherry’ in it doesn't mean that it’s the only plant affected. In fact, the virus has a wide host range but was first discovered on a sweet cherry tree in England.

The virus can affect more than 36 plant families, and cherry leaf roll symptoms and damage is different per group. Get some tips on recognizing and treating cherry leaf roll here.

What is Cherry Leaf Roll?

Cherry leaf roll virus differs by species in how they’re transmitted. For instance, birch and walnut trees may be infected through pollen whereas many other plants get the virus through infected seed. It first occurred in North America but is now widespread throughout the world. It can occur on ornamentals, weeds, trees, and cultivated crops. Cherry leaf roll control is difficult, and gardeners should focus on prevention.

This virus affects many different species of plants. It has also been named elm mosaic and walnut leaf roll. In sweet cherry plants, the disease causes a decline in plant health and, therefore, crop loss. In walnut trees, it causes fatal necrosis.

It is transmitted by pollen, seed, or occasionally grafting. There are at least nine strains of the disease, each with different symptoms and severity. In a few species, such as rhubarb, the disease is symptomless.

Cherry Leaf Roll Symptoms

As the name implies, in cherries the leaves will roll. They may also get necrotic flowers and, in the worst cases, the decline of the tree is so severe it will die. Other symptoms on common shrubs/trees include:

• Bramble, black elder,floweringdogwood, silverbirch – Chlorotic ring spot, yellow veins, leaf patterns
• English walnut – Terminal shoots die back, black line, leaf patterns
• Wild potato – Necrotic leaf lesions, chlorosis
• Americanelm – Chlorotic mosaic, ring pattern, die back
• Nasturtium – Necrotic veins

Some of the species that are asymptomatic include:

• Bitter Dock
• Rhubarb
• Larkspur
• Olive

Treating Cherry Leaf Roll

Unfortunately, there is no recommended cherry leaf roll control. Once the virus has been transmitted, it is part of the physiology of the plant. Source plants from reputable breeders. If you plan to graft, sanitize your tools.

If you suspect your plant has the virus, baby it and it might pull through. Keep it well watered, fed, and remove dying terminal tips or rolled leaves, as they will not recover.

Where a plant is severely affected, it should be removed, especially in orchard situations.

“Help, all my plants are dying!” is one of the most common issues of both newbie and experienced growers. If you can identify with this issue, the reason likely has to do with problems with the plant roots. Plant root problems run the range from the most simplistic to more dire explanations, like root rot diseases. To diagnose the problem, it’s a good idea to answer some questions. For instance, do all the plants keep dying in the same spot?

Help, All My Plants are Dying!

Never fear, we are here to help figure out why all your plants are dying. Again, the most likely reason has to do with plant root problems. Roots perform many vital functions. They take up water, oxygen, and nutrients from the soil. When roots are damaged or diseased, they cease to be able to function properly which, indeed, can kill a plant.

Why are All My Plants Dying?

To begin diagnosing root problems with your plants, start with the simplest explanation first, water. Container grown plants may be planted in soilless potting mix which makes water difficult to move into or out of the root ball. Also, container grown plants may become root bound which makes it difficult for the plant to take up water, it generally just runs out. 

Newly planted trees, shrubs, and other plants often need more water at planting and for a time after until they have established. The roots should be kept moist for at least the first several months while they grow and then will be able to delve deeper to search for moisture.

So, one problem may be a lack of water. A water meter can be used to gauge moisture in potted plants but isn’t as useful in the garden. Use a trowel, shovel, or soil tube to check for moisture down into the root ball. If the soil crumbles when you try to make a ball out of it, it is too dry. Moist soil forms a ball.

Overwatered Plant Root Problems

Wet soil can also cause problems with plants roots. Overly wet soil will be muddy when squeezed into a ball and excess water will run out. Overly wet soils can lead to root rot, diseases wherein the pathogen attacks the roots system. Often, the initial signs of root rot are stunted or wilted plants with chlorosis. Root rots produce fungi that prefer wet conditions and can survive for lengthy periods in the soil.

To combat root rot, reduce soil moisture. A rule of thumb is to provide one inch (2.5 cm.) of water per week depending upon weather conditions. If the soil seems overly wet, remove any mulch around the plant. Fungicides can help to combat root rot but only if you know which pathogen is affecting the plant.

Additional Problems with Plant Roots

Planting too deeply or not deep enough can also result in root problems. Plant’s roots need to be protected from damage, which means they need to be under the soil but too far under isn’t a good thing either. If the root ball is planted too deep, the roots can’t get enough oxygen, causing them to suffocate and die.

It’s easy to check and see if there is an issue with the planting depth. Take a garden trowel and gently dig at the base of the tree or plant. The top of the root ball should be just under the top of the soil. If you have to dig 2 to 3 inches (5-8 cm.) beneath the soil, your plant is buried too deeply.

Absorbing roots are located in the top foot (31 cm.) of soil so changes of grade in excess of 4 inches (10 cm.) also reduces the amount of oxygen and nutrients reaching roots. Soil compaction can also restrict oxygen, water, and nutrient uptake. This is caused by heavy machinery, foot traffic, or sprinkler irrigation. If the compaction isn’t severe, it can be corrected with a mechanical aerator.

Lastly, another problem with plant roots may be that they are damaged. This can occur due to a variety of circumstances but most commonly from large scale digging such as for a septic system or driveway. If major roots have been cut, it is similar to cutting into one of your major arteries. The tree or plant essentially bleeds out. It can no longer absorb sufficient water or nutrients to sustain it.

Smut is one of the fungal diseases that cause damage to crops like barley, oats, and rye. One type of smut is called “covered smut” and it is a real problem for those growing barley in this country and around the world. What is barley covered smut? How to treat barley covered smut? Read on for an overview of barley with covered smut, its symptoms, its impact, and your options to control it.

What is Barley Covered Smut?

The fungal disease is actually called “covered smut.” When it attacks barley though, some refer to it as covered smut of barley or barley covered smut. Barley with covered smut is caused by the fungus Ustilago hordei. It has a significantly real and very negative impact on a grain crop.

The covered smut fungus can be transferred to a barley crop by spores on the barley seeds, spores blown over in the wind, or spores overwintering in soil. That makes the disease more difficult to control.

About Barley with Covered Smut

The primary difference between regular smut that attacks barley and covered smut is that the spores of the fungus are covered by a light membrane. This essentially holds them in place (on smutted spikelets) until they are released during harvest threshing.

By the time the barley is ready for harvest, the kernels have been completely replaced by the moss of smut spores (called teliospores). Sometimes wind or rain ruptures the membrane earlier. Whenever this occurs, millions of microscopic teliospores are released into the field where they can attack other barley plants or infect the soil.

How to Treat Barley Covered Smut

Unfortunately, it is difficult to treat barley covered smut once the crop has been attacked. However, there are seed treatments for covered smut of barley that have proved effective.

The best barley covered smut control can be achieved by using certified smut-free seed. This can significantly reduce or eliminate the fungus from your barley crop.

If you are wondering how to treat barley covered smut seeds that aren’t smut-resistant, it’s a little more difficult. You can use a hot water treatment to get rid of covered smut fungi from contaminated seed, but it can also diminish the vitality of the seeds.

Your best option for barley covered smut control in this situation is to treat the seeds with contact-type fungicides. This controls covered smut on the outside of the seed, which will go a long way to reducing the impact of the disease.

If you grow barley, you may need to learn something about rhizoctonia root rot of barley.

Rhizoctonia root rot causes crop damage by harming barley roots, resulting in water and nutrient stress. It is a type of fungal disease that attacks cereals. For information about treating barley with rhizoctonia, including tips on how to stop rhizoctonia root rot, read on.

What is Barley Rhizoctonia Root Rot?

Rhizoctonia root rot of barley is also called barley rhizoctonia bare patch. That’s because the soil-borne fungus that causes it kills barley, leaving dead patches in barley fields. The patches vary in size from less than a foot or two (half a meter) to several yards (meters) in diameter.

Barley rhizoctonia bare patch is caused by the soil fungus Rhizoctonia solani. The fungus forms as a ‘web’ of filaments in the very top layer of the soil and grows up from there.

Symptoms of Barley with Rhizoctonia

The symptoms of barley with rhizoctonia are relatively easy to spot. You can diagnose the root damage caused by rhizoctonia root rot of barley by looking at the roots to see if they are spear-tipped. This is characteristic of barley with rhizoctonia.

Rhizoctonia root rot of barley eventually kills the plants. That’s why a more immediately visible symptom will be bare patches appearing in your barley field. But diagnosing it doesn’t necessarily lead to effective treatment. Barley rhizoctonia bare patch is generally fairly difficult to treat.

How to Stop Rhizoctonia Root Rot

Rhizoctonia root rot is difficult to control or stop once it has attacked a barley crop. The fungus causing the disease has many possible hosts, so rotating crops doesn’t work very well.

To date, no cultivars have been developed that are resistant to rhizoctonia root rot of barley. Maybe this will happen in the future. Also, the fungus is unique in that it can survive and grow even without a living host plant, as long as there are organic materials in the soil.

Experts recommend using management practices that minimize the risk of barley rhizoctonia bare patch. These practices include cultivating the soil well a few weeks before planting. This can break up the fungal networks.

Other useful practices include anything that increases early root growth. Rhizoctonia only attacks very young roots, so helping them to grow can reduce disease. Seed treatment and fertilizers can help. Weed management is also important.

Phoma blight in plants is particularly damaging to a number of crops and ornamentals, especially to vinca groundcover. There are some preventative measures you can take in the garden and things you can do if you already see the infection. These may help save your plantings.

What is Phoma Blight?

Phoma blight disease is a fungal infection caused by various Phoma species. Infections by this fungus are most common in wet and cool conditions. It survives in soil and in the old plant debris that is under your plantings. The signs of a phoma infection include wilting, browning, and death of runners and entire plants. If it is phoma blight, you’ll also see dark brown to black lesions that girdle the stems. The lesions usually appear close to the soil line. Leaves will have dark colored spots as well. Phoma blight spreads rapidly, and any health part of a plant that is touching infected soil is at risk of succumbing. Plants that are most likely to be infected are those with wounds or that are stressed by growing conditions, such as overwatering or nutrient-poor soil.

How to Stop Phoma Blight

Stopping the spread of the fungal disease is difficult. It tends to spread rapidly through beds, and it also persists for a long time because the fungi survive well in the soil and debris under the plants. Preventative steps are important and include avoiding overhead watering and ensuring air flow in the bed. Remove overhanging plants that restrict air movement and thin plants whenever necessary. It is also important to remove debris from under the plants, although this is difficult to do. Pull out any diseased or dead plant material underneath healthy plants to prevent further spread of the disease. Treating phoma blight with fungicides may have mixed results. Copper fungicides are generally recommended, but be sure to check with your local nursery to get the right chemical for use on specific plants like periwinkle. There may also be other fungicides that will help control the spread of the disease. If phoma blight does become a big issue in your beds, you may want to consider pulling out all of the plants and putting in alternative disease resistant ones.

Spotting on the foliage of cole crops might just be white leaf spot fungus, Pseudocercosporella capsellae or Mycosphaerella capsellae, also known as brassica white leaf spot. What is white leaf spot? Read on to learn how to identify brassica white leaf spot and white leaf spot control methods.

What is White Leaf Spot?

The fungus causes circular, light tan to yellow leaf spotting. The lesions are about ½ inch (1.5 cm.) across, sometimes accompanied by dark streaking and splotching. Brassica white leaf spot is a fairly uncommon and generally benign disease of cole crops. It often coincides with heavy winter rains. When conditions are favorable, a characteristic fuzzy white growth of spores can be observed on the leaf spots. Ascosospores develop on infected plants during the fall and are then dispersed by wind following rain. The asexual spores, conidia that develop on the leaf spots, are spread by rain or splashing water, resulting in a secondary spread of the disease. Temperatures of 50-60 F. (10-16 C.), along with moist conditions, foster the disease. In some instances, this disease may result in severe losses. For example, oilseed rape grown in the United Kingdom and Canada have reported 15% losses due to the fungus. Oilseed rape, turnip, Chinese cabbage, and mustard seem to be more susceptible to the disease than other Brassica species, such as cauliflower and broccoli. Weedy greens such as wild radish, wild mustard, and shepherd’s purse are also prone to the fungus as are horseradish and radish.

White Leaf Spot Fungus Control

The pathogen does not survive in the soil. Instead, it lives on weed hosts and volunteer cole plants. The disease is also transmitted via seed and infected crop residue. There are no control measures for brassica white leaf spot. Treatment for white leaf spot involves the removal and destruction of infected plants. Prevention is the best method for control. Use only disease-free seeds or resistant cultivars. Practice crop rotation, rotating cole crops every 3 years, and excellent sanitation by disposing of infected plant material. Also, avoid working in and around plants when they are wet to avoid transmitting the fungus to uninfected plants. Avoid planting near or in a field that was previously infected and control host weeds and volunteer crucifer plants.

Nectria canker on trees is a fungal infection. The pathogen known as nectria invades fresh wounds and damaged areas of bark and wood. If a tree is healthy, it can typically seal off the infection and recover with a callus formed. Weaker trees may get girdled and ultimately die. Know the signs of nectria canker, how to prevent it, and what to do if you see it.

What is Nectria Canker?

What causes nectria canker disease is one of the several nectria fungal species. These fungi are opportunistic and attack trees at their weak spots from injury, pruning, root damage, freezing, pest infestations, and other diseases. Any damaged wood is susceptible to this pathogen and the resulting disease.

Signs of Nectria Canker

The characteristic sign of nectria canker is the formation of the cankers, wounds on twigs, stems, and trunks that look like sunken areas that may be discolored. The cankers may not be discovered until other signs of disease develop. These include girdled twigs and branches, dead branches that don’t produce leaves in the spring, and wilting on branches. You may also see the fruiting bodies of nectria. They typically appear in the spring and summer months and are orange or red spheres that are very small. Eventually, they turn a lighter color and grow white spores on the surface.

Nectria Canker Treatment

Nectria rarely kills older, established trees. Most are able to fend off the fungus and form the characteristic calluses. Older trees that are not healthy may be vulnerable, but it is typically younger trees, especially those that are newly transplanted, that can be killed by nectria canker. There is no cure for nectria canker, so it is important to take steps to prevent it affecting young and vulnerable trees. Pruning injuries can be a major source of infection, so avoid pruning trees in the fall, especially in wet conditions. Restrict pruning to dry weather and remove any branches or stems that have been infected with the fungus. Freezing damage is another important way in which trees get infected. For young transplants, providing protection from freezing can prevent the disease. Avoid other types of injury and keep your trees healthy to minimize the risks from nectria infection. This means being careful with the lawnmower around trees, preventing or managing pests, and providing adequate water and nutrients.

What causes Xylella fastidiosa diseases, of which there are several, is the bacterium of that name. If you grow grapes or certain fruit trees in an area with these bacteria, you need Xylella fastidiosa info so that you can recognize signs of disease and practice good management.

What is Xylella Fastidiosa?

Xylella fastidiosa is a bacterium that infects and causes diseases in plants. It is mostly an issue in the southeastern U.S. but can infect plants in other areas too, including the Midwest and Ontario. As the name Xylella suggests, this is a bacterium that sets up shop in the xylem of plants, the vascular tissue that moves water and nutrients up from the roots. The bacteria are transferred and spread to new hosts by leafhoppers because they feed on xylem tissue.

Xylella Fastidiosa Symptoms

The symptoms of the plants infected by Xylella depend on the plant and the disease. These bacteria cause a number of different diseases:

• Phony peach disease. Peach trees bloom too early, hold onto leaves later, and have reduced yield and size of fruits.
• Plum leaf scald. Plum trees show signs similar to peach trees but also have leaves with a scorched or scalded appearance.
• Leaf scorch. As in plum trees, other trees show scalded leaves, including oak, sycamore, elm, and maple.
• Pierce’s disease. Affecting grapevines, Pierce’s disease causes delayed leaf production, stunted shoots, mottling, chlorosis, and scalding on leaves, premature fruit, and ultimately loss of vigor and death.
• Citrus variegated chlorosis. Citrus trees get streaked chlorosis on leaves as well as lesions on the undersides. Fruit is smaller and harder.

Treating Xylella Fastidiosa

Unfortunately, there is no treatment for diseases caused by Xylella fastidiosa. The main goal of management is to prevent its spread, but when the infestation is heavy, it can be nearly impossible. Diseased fruit trees and vines can be removed and destroyed to stop or slow the spread of infection. Preventative steps are mostly aimed at deterring leafhoppers. Keep areas under trees and vines weeded to keep them at bay. Avoid pruning trees in the summer, as the new growth attracts the hungry insects. For grapes, you can choose varieties that resist the disease, including muscadine or bunch grapes with Tampa, Lake Emerald, or Blue Lake rootstocks. You may also choose to use insecticides to eliminate the disease-transmitting pests.

Cucurbit monosporascus root rot is a serious disease of melons, and to a lesser extent other cucurbit crops. A fairly recent problem in melon crops, cucurbit root rot loss can run from 10-25% to 100% in commercial field production. The pathogen can live in soil for a number of years, making cucurbit monsporascus treatment difficult. The following article discusses monosporascus root rot of cucurbits and how to manage the disease.

What is Cucurbit Monosporascus Root Rot?

Cucurbit root rot is a soil borne, root infecting fungal disease caused by the pathogen Monosporascus cannonballus that was first noted in Arizona in 1970. Since then, it has been found in Texas, Arizona, and California in the United States, and other countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Spain, Israel, Iran, Libya, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Brazil, Japan, and Taiwan. In all of these regions, the common factor is hot, arid conditions. Also, the soil in these areas tends to be alkaline and containing significant salt. Cucurbits affected by this pathogen are small in size with low sugar content and are susceptible to sun scald damage.

Symptoms of Monosporascus Root Rot of Cucurbits

Symptoms of M. cannonballus are not usually visible until near harvest time. Plants yellow, wilt and leaves dieback. As the disease progresses, the entire plant dies prematurely. Although other pathogens result in similar symptoms, M. cannonballus is notable for its reduction in length of infected vines and the absence of lesions on visible plant parts. Also, roots infected with cucurbit root rot will have black perithecia visible in the root structures that appear as small black swellings. Although uncommon, on occasion, vascular browning is present. Areas of the taproot and some lateral roots will show darkened areas that may become necrotic.

Cucurbit Monosporascus Treatment

M. cannonballus is transmitted via the planting of infected seedlings and the replanting of cucurbit crops in infected fields. It is unlikely that it is transmitted by water movement such as heavy rain or irrigation. The disease is often indigenous to the soil and is fostered by continued cucurbit cultivation. Although soil fumigation is effective, it is also costly. Cucurbits should not be planted in areas with proven consistent infection of this disease. Crop rotation and good cultural practices are the best non-control methods for the disease. Fungicide treatments applied just at plant emergence have been shown to be affective at controlling Monosporascus root rot of cucurbits.

Fusarium is one of the most common diseases of fruits, vegetables, and even ornamental plants. Cucurbit fusarium rind rot affects melons, cucumbers, and other members of the family. Edible cucurbits with fusarium rot show as lesions on the rind but develop to affect the interior flesh of the food. It often goes unnoticed in the field and is only apparent once the fruit is cut open. Knowing the early signs of the disease can save your harvest.

Symptoms of Cucurbit Fusarium Fungus

Fungal diseases come in many forms. Fusarium fungus appears as both a wilt and a rot. It is almost a case of the chicken or the egg, as to which develops first. Fusarium rot of cucurbits primarily affects melons and cucumbers, and there are numerous species of fusarium which cause the disease. Cucurbits with fusarium rot often don't show symptoms until they are harvested. The initial disease invades the fruit most often at the stem end. Mechanical injury seems to encourage infection. Secondary fungus often invades and compounds the symptoms. The plant itself may show no disease signs, minimizing the ability to diagnose the disease. Some species of fusarium cause red to purple discoloration while others create brown lesions. Cross sections of the fruit can indicate the fusarium species but little is to be done once the fruit is infected. Control of cucurbit fusarium rind rot relies upon cultural practices, fungicides, and careful handling of harvested fruits. Fusarium rot of cucurbits occurs during wet to moist ambient and soil conditions. Infection occurs most frequently where the fruit is in contact with soil. The disease appears to be contagious with harvested fruits that are diseased, infecting others in the stock. It is not known if the soil harbors the disease but it seems likely. It may also be spread by seeds from infected fruit. Good hygienic practices can minimize the spread of the disease. There are at least ten species of fusarium fungus which cause the disease. Each has a slightly different presentation but the end result is a slow spreading infection of fruit.

Prevention and Control of Cucurbit Fusarium Fungus

Good field practice can be crucial to minimizing fusarium wilt issues. Crop rotation, solarization of soil, removal of wild cucurbits which can host the disease, and verification of disease free seeds are all key to preventing the occurrence of fusarium fungus. Pre-harvest fungicides do not seem to affect the spread to a high degree but post-harvest applications are helpful. Immersing fruit in hot water for one minute or in a fungicide recommended for use on post-harvest fruit will prevent the spread of the disease to the rest of the harvest. Avoid injuring fruit which can also provide entry points for the fungus.

Cucurbits with angular leaf spot may give you a smaller harvest. This bacterial infection affects cucumbers, zucchini, and melons and causes angular lesions on leaves; thriving in warm, humid conditions. You can take measures to prevent this infection and to manage it if you see signs in your garden.

What is Angular Leaf Spot?

Angular leaf spot is a bacterial infection that affects cucurbit plants. The offending bacterium is called Pseudomonas syringae. The infection may take hold in any cucurbit, but it is most common in cucumbers, honeydew melons, and zucchini. Other melons, squashes, and pumpkins may be infected, but this is less common. The conditions in which the infection thrives are humid and moist. It is most likely to spread after a big rain or with the use of overhead irrigation. During warm, rainy weather in the summer is when cucurbit angular leaf spot is most likely to take hold.

Signs of Cucurbit Angular Leaf Spot

The infection begins with lesions on the leaves that are water soaked. They will then turn gray to brown in color and are limited by veins in the leaves, hence the angular description and appearance of the lesions. When the leaves dry out, the affected leaf tissue crumbles and leaves an angular hole in the leaf. This leaves the plant looking tattered. Lesions may grow on the fruits as well, but these are usually superficial.

Angular Leaf Spot Control

Try cultural control for angular leaf spot of cucurbits before trying chemicals to eradicate the infection. Before you ever put any cucurbits in your garden, look for varieties that are resistant to angular leaf spot; many are available. How you water your garden also makes a difference. Instead of watering overhead, use drip irrigation. Crop rotation helps as well. Rotate cucurbits with other vegetables that are not susceptible to the infection each year. If you have signs of infection in your cucumbers this year, remove the affected foliage and dispose of it, but don’t add it to your compost. You can also till the leaf litter deep into the soil to help it break down. If you can’t seem to shake the infection, try a bactericide. An early infection may respond to copper sprays.

What is coral spot fungus? This damaging fungal infection attacks woody plants and causes the branches to die back. Here’s what you need to know about the disease, what you can do to prevent it, and how to spot it on your trees and shrubs.

Coral Spot Fungus Information

Coral spot is a disease of woody plants caused by the fungus Nectria cinnabarina. It can infect and cause disease in any woody shrub or tree, but it is most common on:

• Hazel
• Beech
• Hornbeam
• Sycamore
• Chestnut

It is not common, although it is possible, on coniferous trees. The coral spot fungus causes branches to die back on affected trees and shrubs, but the infection mostly only impacts those plants that are already weakened. Poor growing conditions, environmental stress, or other pathogen infections can weaken a tree or shrub and make it vulnerable to coral spot fungus.

Signs of Coral Spot Fungus

The first sign you will see of coral spot fungus is the dieback of branches, which means catching the infection before it causes damage is not possible. Coral spot fungus treatment is also not possible, as there are no effective fungicides. The dieback typical of plants affected by coral spot fungus occurs in smaller branches and those that have been pruned or broken. Once the branch has died, you will see the actual fungus. It will produce small, pink or coral colored blobs on the dead wood. These will turn darker over time and also harden. Each one is about one to four millimeters in diameter.

Coral Spot Fungus Prevention

Since there is no coral spot fungus treatment, you can take steps to prevent it from infecting the trees and shrubs in your garden. Pruning and damaging branches can cause the infection to get into the plant, so always prune when the weather is dry and avoid damage from other sources. When you make cuts for pruning, do so at the collar of a branch. The cut will heal more quickly there, reducing the chance that the fungal spores can infect the tree. If you do see coral spot fungus on any of the deadwood of your trees or shrubs, cut those branches out. Leaving them will only allow the spores to proliferate and infect other branches or trees. Destroy the infected branches after making cuts that go back to healthy wood.

Cucurbit powdery mildew is a fungal infection with a couple of culprits. It affects any type of cucurbit but is less common in melons and cucumbers. The characteristic white, powdery mold is pretty easy to spot, but management and prevention of the disease requires several steps.

About Powdery Mildew on Cucurbits

Powdery mildew that infects cucurbit is caused by one of two fungal species: more commonly Erysiphe cichoracearum and less commonly Sphaerotheca fuliginea. While any kind of cucurbit could be susceptible to these fungi, most varieties of cucumbers and watermelons are now resistant. Unlike some other types of fungal infections on plants, powdery mildew does not require standing water. The most favorable conditions for an infection are medium-high humidity and temperatures between 68 and 80 degrees F. (20-27 C.). The infection is more likely when foliage is dense and little light penetrates through the leaves. Cucurbits with powdery mildew can be identified by a white powdery substance on the leaves and stems. The infection will likely begin on leaves that are shaded and on older leaves, so check these for earlier signs of mildew. In some cases, you may see the powder on fruit as they develop.

Powdery Cucurbit Mildew Control Methods

In commercial growing, this disease has been known to reduce harvests by up to 50 percent. There are steps you can take to avoid this kind of destruction in your garden, so you don’t have to sacrifice half your cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, and melons. Start with resistant varieties if you can find them. Melons and cucumbers that resist powdery mildew are common enough. Space your plants out adequately to prevent leaves from being shaded and becoming susceptible to infection. Spacing will also keep humidity around plants lower. Keep your garden clean by regularly removing plant debris and weeds that could spread the fungus. Crop rotation does not help control this disease because the fungus doesn’t survive in the soil. Fungicides to control cucurbit powdery mildew are not usually necessary for home gardeners. If you have a bad infection though, find an appropriate chemical at your local nursery or extension office. To control powdery mildew, these are typically applied early to treat and prevent further spread of the disease.

If your favorite cole crops, like broccoli and cabbage, come down with a case of downy mildew, you may lose your harvest, or at least see it greatly reduced. Downy mildew of cole vegetables is a fungal infection, but there are steps you can take to prevent it, manage it, and treat it.

Cole Crop Downy Mildew

Downy mildew can affect any cole vegetable, besides broccoli and cabbage, such as Brussels sprouts, kale, collard greens, kohlrabi, and cauliflower. It is caused by a fungus, Peronospora parasitica. The fungus may start an infection during any point in a plant’s life cycle. Cole crops with downy mildew will show symptoms beginning with irregular yellow patches on leaves. These will then change to a light brown color. Under the right conditions, fluffy white fungus will start to grow on the undersides of leaves. This is the origin of the name downy mildew. Cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli may develop dark spots as well. Severe infections in young plants can kill them.

Treating Downy Mildew on Cole Crops

Conditions that favor cole crop downy mildew are moist and cool. An important way to prevent the disease is to manage moisture. Plant these vegetables with enough space between them to allow for air flow and for them to dry out between watering. Avoid overwatering and overhead watering. The spores of the fungus overwinter in plant debris, so good garden hygiene practices can help prevent infections. Clean up and destroy old plant debris each year. The main times for infection are in the spring on seedlings and in the fall on mature plants, so be especially cautious about moisture and keeping debris out of the garden during these times. You can also treat downy mildew with fungicides, which may be necessary to save damaged seedlings. Copper sprays are available for organic gardening, but there are also several other fungicides that can be applied to treat downy mildew. Most will successfully control the infection if applied as directed.

Soft rot is a problem that can affect cole crops both in the garden and after harvest. The center of the head of the plant becomes soft and mushy and often gives off a bad smell. This can be a very serious problem that renders the vegetable inedible. Keep reading to learn more about recognizing and managing soft rot of cole vegetables.

What is Cole Crop Soft Rot?

Soft rot in cole crops is caused by the bacterium Erwinia carotovora. It can affect both heading cole crops (like cabbage and broccoli) and leafing cole crops (like kale and mustard greens). Soft rot starts as small, water soaked patches and can spread quickly to large, sunken, brown areas that have a rotten consistency and give off a foul smell. Sometimes, symptoms don’t show or spread until after harvest, especially if they are bruised or damaged during transport, which means seemingly healthy plants can quickly become rotten and slimy in storage. These rotten spots will continue to spread and smell badly even in cold storage conditions.

How to Treat Soft Rot in Cole Crops

Cole crop soft rot thrives in warm, wet conditions. It is most likely to develop when there is standing water in the garden, but it can be a problem with just some moisture. Always avoid overhead watering and watering at night, when moisture is less likely to evaporate quickly. Plant in well-draining soil. Remove weeds and plant with adequate spacing to encourage good air circulation. Rotate your plantings so that cole crops are in the same part of your garden only once every three years. Remove and destroy infected plants. Surfactant insecticides have been shown to increase the likelihood of soft rot in cole crops and should be avoided. Spraying fixed copper can sometimes help. During harvest and storage, handle vegetables gently to prevent damage.

Tobacco ringspot virus can be a devastating disease, causing serious damage to crop plants. There is no method for treating tobacco ringspot, but you can manage it, prevent it, and avoid having it in your garden.

What is Tobacco Ringspot Virus?

Tobacco ringspot virus is a pathogen that in addition to tobacco can affect several crops including:

• Blueberry
• Grapevines
• Cow peas
• Beans
• Peas
• Clover
• Cucumber
• Soybeans

While the disease is caused by a virus, the virus is transmitted by dagger nematodes, microscopic worms as well as by tobacco thrips and flea beetles. In commercial farming, this disease can be a big problem for growing soybeans, although grape producers in the northeast also battle tobacco ringspot virus. Reductions in crops can be significant with tobacco ringspot damage. The biggest losses are seen when the seeds you use are heavily infected or when the infection occurs in younger plants. Tobacco Ringspot Symptoms in Your Plants Some of the signs of tobacco ringspot virus are stunting in young plants and damage to leaves. Look for leaves with yellow lines and small brown spots surrounded by a yellow edge. The leaves may also grow smaller. The worst-case scenario with tobacco ringspot is bud blight. This causes terminal buds to bend over and form a hook shape. These buds may even brown and drop off.

How to Manage Tobacco Ringspot Virus

The most fool proof way to manage this disease is to prevent it by growing plants that have been certified to be virus-free. This is because there is no real way of treating tobacco ringspot. If there is any reason to believe the virus could be an issue in your garden, you can have the soil tested for dagger nematodes and then use a pesticide to treat it if needed. If you do get an infection, you’ll need to remove and destroy the plants and be very careful about disinfecting any tools with bleach.

Fusarium yellows affects many plants in the Brassica family. These pungent type vegetables are also called cole crops and are heart healthy additions to the garden. Fusarium yellows of cole crops is an important disease which can cause huge economic loss in commercial settings. It is a fungal disease that causes wilting and often plant death. Control of cole crop fusarium yellows can help prevent the spread of this very infectious disease.

Symptoms of Cole Crop Fusarium Yellows

Fusarium yellows in cole crops has been a recognized disease since the late 1800's. The fungus is closely related to the fusarium that causes wilt diseases in tomatoes, cotton, peas, and more. Cabbage is the most commonly affected plant, but the disease will also attack:

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Brussels sprouts
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Collards
• Radish

If any of your young veggies look a bit peaked and yellow, you may have cole crops with fusarium yellows in your garden. Young plants, especially transplants, are most commonly affected by fusarium yellows of cole crops. Usually within two to four weeks of transplant, the crop will show signs of infection. Leaves wilt and develop yellowing, before becoming stunted and warped, failing to develop properly. Often, the disease progresses more on one side of the plant, giving it a lop-sided appearance. The xylem, or the water conducting tissues, become brown and the leaf veins exhibit this color. In warm soils, plants may die within two weeks of contracting the infection. If soil temperatures drop, an infected plant can mostly recover, having only lost some leaves which it will re-grow.

Causes of Fusarium Yellows in Cole Crops

Fusarium oxysporum conglutinans is the causal fungus of the disease. It is a soil borne fungus with two types of spores, one of which is short lived and the other persisting for years. The fungus multiplies most rapidly in soil temperatures of 80 to 90 degrees F. (27-32 C.) but declines when temperatures drop to 61 degrees F. (16 C.). The fungus goes from field to field on equipment, pant legs, animal fur, wind, rain splash, and runoff water. The method of introduction is through the roots, where the fungus travels up into the xylem and causes tissues to die. The dropped leaves and other plant parts are heavily infected and can transmit the disease further.

Treating Cole Crops with Fusarium Yellows

There are no listed fungicides for this disease and normal cultural methods of control do not work. However, since soil temperatures seem to influence the fungus, planting earlier in the season when soil is cool can help prevent the disease. Clean up dropped leaves immediately and dispose of them to prevent wind borne exposure. You can also kill the fungus with steam treatments or a soil fumigant, and mulch around plants to keep the soil cool at the root zone. A common strategy is to rotate in crops that have their seed pre-treated with fungicides. The main way to control the disease is through use of resistant varieties, of which there are many cabbage and radish types.

Everyone knows the old adage: April showers bring May flowers. Unfortunately, many gardeners also learn that cool temperatures and spring rains followed by summer’s heat can bring fungal diseases. One such disease that thrives in the warmth of midsummer that follows wet spring weather is alternaria leaf spot on cucurbits.

Cucurbits with Alternaria Leaf Blight

Cucurbits are plants in the gourd family. These include gourds, melons, squash, pumpkin, cucumber and many others. A fungal disease known as alternaria leaf spot, alternaria leaf blight, or target leaf spot is known to affect several members of the cucurbit family, but is especially a problem on watermelon and cantaloupe plants. Leaf blight of cucurbits is caused by the fungal pathogen Alternaria cucumerina. This fungus can overwinter in garden debris. In spring, new plants can be infected by contact with infected garden surfaces and the splashing of rain or watering. As temperatures warm up in early to midsummer, temperatures become just right for mass spore growth. These spores are then carried on wind or rain to affect more plants, and the cycle continues. The first symptoms of cucurbit alternaria leaf spot is small (1 to 2 mm.), light brown spots on the upper sides of older leaves on cucurbit plants. As the disease progresses, these spots grow in diameter and begin to display a ring or target-like pattern with lighter brown rings in the center and darker rings around them. Leaf blight of cucurbits mostly infects only the foliage, but in extreme cases it can affect the fruit causing dark, sunken lesions that may or may not be slightly fuzzy or downy. Infected leaves may curl or grow in a cupped shape. Eventually, infected foliage drops from the plant, which can cause the fruit to become damaged by wind, sunscald, or ripen prematurely.

Controlling Alternaria Leaf Spot on Cucurbits

Prevention is the best method for controlling leaf blight of cucurbits. Also, clean up garden debris in fall or spring, before planting new plants. It’s recommended that cucurbit crops be rotated on a two year rotation as well, meaning after a garden site is used to grow cucurbits, cucurbits shouldn’t be planted in that same site for two years. Certain fungicides are effective in controlling cucurbit alternaria leaf spot. It is recommended to spray fungicides every 7 to 14 days to prevent and control the disease. Fungicides that contain the active ingredients azoxystrobin, boscalid, chlorothalonil, copper hydroxide, maneb, mancozeb, or potassium bicarbonate have shown effectiveness in preventing and treating leaf blight of cucurbits. Always read and follow fungicide labels thoroughly.

Cucurbit downy mildew can destroy your tasty crop of cucumbers, watermelon, squash, and pumpkins. The fungus-like pathogen that causes this infection will trigger some characteristic symptoms in your garden, so know what to look for, catch it early, and take steps to manage the disease to save at least some of your harvest.

Downy Mildew of Cucurbit Crops

Cucurbits, which include the previously mentioned crops as well as melons and zucchini, are a group of plants that together make up a big portion of many people’s gardens. If you grow anything from the cucurbit family, your harvest could be limited or destroyed by the onset of downy mildew. A pathogen that is similar to fungus, called Pseudoperonospora cubensis, causes cucurbit downy mildew. The symptoms of an infection are seen in the leaves. Look for angular, yellow or brown spots on leaves, bounded by the leaf veins. This looks similar to leaves affected by angular leaf spot. You may also see a velvety, downy substance on the undersides of the leaves, especially early in the morning. This growth contains the pathogen’s spores. You may not see the angular spots on the leaves of melons, but check for the growth on the undersides to identify an infection.

Managing Downy Mildew on Cucurbits

Cucurbit plants with downy mildew are at risk of dying. Even those plants that do survive will have reduced or non-existent yields, and this can happen within just a couple of weeks of the start of an infection. It is important to catch the infection early or take steps to prevent it. Environmental conditions that favor the pathogen are cool, humid, and cloudy. Minimize development by making sure your plants are spaced well enough to allow air to move through and dry out moisture. Avoid watering when conditions are humid or in the evening when the moisture will stick with the plants through the night. It may also help to plant your cucurbits earlier in the season, as the downy mildew infection tends to set in later in summer in many locations. If you do see signs of cucurbit downy mildew in your garden, remove and destroy affected leaves or entire plants if necessary. If this does not stop the spread of the disease, you may need to use a fungicide. One that contains chlorothalonil will kill the pathogen that causes downy mildew. Stopping this infection isn’t easy because it spreads rapidly. As a last resort, pull all your affected plants and destroy them. The pathogen will not survive a cold winter, so you can start again next spring using preventative strategies to avoid the infection.

Black rot on cole crops is a serious disease caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv campestris, which is transmitted via seed or transplants. It afflicts primarily members of the Brassicaceae family and, although losses are usually only about 10%, when conditions are perfect, can decimate an entire crop. How then can cole crop black rot be controlled? Read on to find out how to identify the symptoms of cole vegetable black rot and how to manage black rot of cole crops.

Symptoms of Cole Crop Black Rot

The bacterium that causes black rot on cole crops can stay in the soil for over a year where is survives on debris and weeds of the Brassicaceae family. Cauliflower, cabbage, and kale are the most affected by the bacteria, but other Brassica such as broccoli and Brussels sprouts are also susceptible. Plants can become inflicted with cole vegetable black rot at any stage of their growth. The disease first manifests as dull yellow areas on the leaf margin that extend downwards forming a “V.” The center of the area becomes brown and dry looking. As the disease advances, the plant begins to look as if it has been scorched. The veins of infected leaves, stems, and roots, blacken as the pathogen multiplies. This disease may be confused with Fusarium yellows. In both cases of infection, the plant becomes stunted, turns yellow to brown, wilts, and drops leaves prematurely. One sided growth or dwarfing may occur in either individual leaves or the entire plant. The differentiating symptom is the presence of black veins in yellowish, V-shaped infected areas along the leaf margins which indicates black rot disease.

How to Manage Cole Crop Black Rot

The disease is fostered by temperatures in the high 70’s (24+ C.) and really thrives during extended rainy, humid, and warm conditions. It is moved into a plant’s pores, spread by workers in the garden, or equipment in the field. Injuries to the plant facilitate infection. Unfortunately, once the crop is infected, there is very little to be done. The best way to control the disease is to avoid getting it. Purchase only certified pathogen free seed and disease free transplants. Some cabbages, black mustard, kale, rutabaga, and turnip varieties have varying resistance to black rot. Rotate cole crops every three to four years. When conditions are favorable to the disease, apply bactericides according to the recommended instructions. Immediately destroy any infected plant debris and practice excellent garden sanitation.

Two separate pathogens (A. brassicicola and A. brassicae) are responsible for alternaria leaf spot in cole crops, a fungal disease that wreaks havoc in cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables. However, symptoms and treatment of this hard-to-control disease are similar, regardless of the pathogen. Read on to learn more about leaf spot on cole vegetables.

Signs of Alternaria Leaf Spot in Cole Crops

The first sign of leaf spot on cole vegetables is small, brown or black spots on the leaves. Eventually, the spots enlarge into pale brown or tan circles. Dark, fuzzy or sooty spores and concentric, bull’s-eye rings may develop on the spots. Eventually, the leaves become papery and may take on a purplish color. A hole appears where the dead tissue drops out of the leaves.

Causes of Leaf Spot on Cole Vegetables

Causes for cole crops with alternaria leaf spot include infected seed and spores that spread quickly by rain, overhead irrigation, machinery, animals or humans. Additionally, the spores, which can travel more than a mile, are windblown from garden debris, especially from wild mustard, shepherd’s purse, bittercress or other weeds in the Brassicaceae family. Alternaria leaf spot in cole crops is favored by extended wet weather, or any time the leaves are wet for more than nine hours.

Preventing and Treating Leaf Spot of Cole Crops

Use disease-free seed. If this isn’t possible, soak seeds in hot water (115-150 F./45-65 C.) for 30 minutes. Practice a two-year crop rotation, alternating cole crops with non-cruciferous crops. Don’t plant cole plants near an area where cruciferous plants were grown within the last year. Spray plants with a fungicide immediately if you notice signs of the disease, as fungicides are only effective when used early. Avoid crowding plants. Air circulation will minimize infection. Avoid excessive irrigation. Water at the base of the plants whenever possible. Otherwise, water early in the day if you use overhead sprinklers. Apply straw mulch around cole plants, which may provide a protective barrier against the spores. This should also help in maintaining good weed control. Plow plant residue into the soil immediately after harvest.

Fusarium is a fungal disease that afflicts cucurbits. Several diseases are the result of this fungus, each crop specific. Cucurbit fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis is one such disease that attacks melons like cantaloupe and muskmelon. Another fusarium wilt of cucurbits that targets watermelon is caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum and also attacks summer squash, but not cantaloupe or cucumber. The following article contains information on recognizing fusarium symptoms in cucurbits and managing fusarium wilt in cucurbit crops.

Fusarium Symptoms in Cucurbits

Symptoms of fusarium wilt of cucurbits affected by F. oxysporum f. sp. niveum show early in development. Immature seedlings often damp off at the soil line. More mature plants may show early wilting only during the heat of the day, leading the gardener to believe the plant is suffering from drought stress, but will then die within a few days. During periods of rainfall, a white to pink fungal growth may appear on the surface of dead stems. To positively identify fusarium wilt in watermelon cucurbit crops, cut back the epidermis and bark slightly above the soil line on the main stem. If you see a light brown discoloration on the vessels, fusarium wilt is present. Fusarium oxysporum f sp. melonis affects only cantaloupe, Crenshaw, honeydew, and muskmelon. Symptoms are similar to those that afflict watermelon, however, streaks may appear on the outside of the runner at the soil line, extending up the vine. These streaks are first a light brown, but turn a tan/yellow followed by a dark brown as the disease progresses. Also, again, a white to pink fungal growth may appear on infected stems during periods of rainfall.

Transmission of Cucurbit Fusarium Wilt

In the case of either pathogen, the fungus overwinters in old infected vines, seeds, and in the soil as chlamydospores, thick walled asexual spores that can survive in the soil for over 20 years! The fungus can live off the roots of other plants such as tomatoes and weeds without causing disease. The fungus enters the plant through root tips, natural opening, or wounds where it plugs the water conducting vessels and results in wilt and eventual death. The incidence of the disease increases during warm, dry weather.

Managing Fusarium Wilt in Cucurbit Crops

Cucurbit fusarium wilt has no practical methods of control. If it infests the soil, rotate the crop to a non-host species. Plant fusarium resistant varieties, if possible, and only plant them once in the same garden space every five to seven years. If cultivating susceptible varieties of melon, only plant one time in the same garden plot every 15 years.

Copper fungicide is an old-school trick for saving your prized crops when disease hits hard. It’s a gardener’s standby that keeps your plants from going under. But it’s not a fix for every problem in the dirt.

This fungicide for plants fends off trouble that can wreck your crops fast. Used right, it’s a traditional tool with both strengths and risks.

What makes copper fungicide unique is how long it’s been relied on—decades of use have proven it works, but also highlighted its limits. It suppresses many common fungal threats, yet careful handling prevents buildup in the soil and keeps beneficial insects safe.

What Is Copper Fungicide?

Copper fungicide is a mix of copper compounds, invented in 1885 with the discovery of the "Bordeaux mixture" fungicide by French botanist Pierre-Marie-Alexis Millardet. He found that a combination of copper sulfate and lime effectively controlled downy mildew on grapevines. This was the first ever fungicide. It applies a shield on your plants’ leaves and stems, preventing them from taking hold, or stopping them cold. Liquid copper fungicide is the go-to, and easy to mix in a bucket.

This stuff has been saving gardens since way back, and is safe for most plants if you follow the rules. It doesn’t sink into leaves—it sits there, ready to knock down any fungus that shows up. A quick spray on crops can stop plant rust from spreading.

When to Use Copper Fungicide

Copper fungicide is your best bet for fungal problems. It can help with certain issues like powdery mildew, leaf spots, blight, and others. Spray it with a spray bottle like this one from Amazon when you see early signs, like white fuzz on zucchini leaves or black dots on roses. Learning how to catch it quickly keeps your garden from turning into a sorry sight.

It works on veggies like cucumbers or ornamentals like lilacs. Don’t expect too much for diseases such as late blight of tomatoes and potatoes. It isn’t very effective against them. Skip it on wilted plants or when it’s blazing hot—leaves can scorch. Spraying plants like peppers in damp fall weather blocks late blight. It’s broad-spectrum, tackling lots of fungi without letting them get out of hand, but save it for when cultural tricks like better airflow don’t cut it.

How to Apply Copper Fungicide Safely

Mix liquid copper fungicide as the label says—usually around a tablespoon per gallon of water in a spray bottle. Stir it well, maybe in an old coffee can for small batches. Spray in the early morning or evening when it’s cooler than 85F (29C) to avoid frying your plants. You can find ready-to-use copper fungicide spray from Bonide on Amazon.

Spray until the leaves have an even, light coating—just enough to look damp, not dripping. Heavy runoff wastes the product and can hurt the soil. Reapply every week or so, or after a soaking rain, but don’t go past a handful of treatments each season.

Try a test spray on one leaf first to avoid a crispy plant or other ugly surprises. Wear gloves and a bandana over your nose—copper can sting skin or lungs.

Precautions and Risks

Copper fungicide is a solid tool, but it comes with limits. Heavy use leaves copper behind in the soil, where it can upset the natural life underground, like earthworms and beneficial microbes. To stay safe, use it no more than four times a year, and avoid spraying near water since it’s toxic to fish. Ferns, basil, and other tender plants can scorch or brown in full sun, so test carefully before covering the bed. Always store it cool and dry, and keep it out of reach until it settles.

Neem Oil vs Copper Fungicide

Neem oil vs copper fungicide comes down to preference, really. Neem oil, which can be purchased on Amazon, can slow fungal spread and is gentler. Copper fungicide spray hits harder, preventing fungus from establishing, but tougher on soil health.

Neem is great for early prevention on roses or organic plots. Copper is better suited for bad blights on tomatoes or other plants. Use neem for first signs, copper when things get rough. Both wash off in rain, so reapply.

Neem is much kinder to good bugs, and copper is a heavy hitter but riskier long-term. Used wisely, copper fungicide is a rescue remedy—not a routine spray. Pair it with smart gardening, and you’ll keep disease in check without stripping life from your soil.

Even experienced gardeners can get a disease or pathogen in the garden that they can't identify or treat. White mold is one of those sneaky fungal diseases that can strike quietly and take over a planting bed without any notice. What is white mold? We'll explore some white mold information and tips on how to identify and treat this quiet but deadly disease.

White Mold Information

Fungal diseases come in all shapes and sizes, but white mold is one of the more common varieties that affects food and flower crops. In fact, it affects more than 400 species of plants, with the broadest impact on economic crops. The symptoms of white mold can mimic many types of disease. It is not until you get up close and identify its mycelia that a confirmed diagnosis can be made. And by then it is too late for that plant, and its neighbors may also be infected. Garden vegetables and many flowering annual plants are often affected by white mold. What is white mold? The symptoms of white mold include leaf die off, stem wilt, and white fluffy growth on affected plant material. This develops into sclerotia: black, hard, pencil size structures on diseased plant parts. Over time, plant death occurs. White mold is most prevalent in warm, moist conditions, especially when plants are overcrowded and have not been rotated. Sclerotia overwinter in soil and reproduce in mild, wet weather. The sclerotia have been known to live in soil for up to 5 years. The diseased spores can even blow in from a neighboring field. Other names for the disease are white canker, watery soft rot, timber rot, damping off, pink rot wilt, crown rot, and several other descriptive names.

How to Treat White Mold

This fungal disease can be quite difficult to treat, as symptoms of white mold initially mimic many other plant problems. Once white mold is in a garden site, it usually shows up annually, due to the spore's ability to overwinter in fallen plant debris and soil. Flowers and damaged plant tissue are often the first to be colonized by the disease. Spores spread not only by wind, but also through insect activity and rain splash. Plant material left behind from the previous year's harvest is often the culprit of initial contaminants. There is no approved white mold treatment. Once a plant has the disease, you can try to prune the plant below the infected material and apply a fungicide. However, there is very limited success with this method unless the disease is caught very early. It is best to remove the plant and destroy it.

Preventing White Mold

Since there is no effective white mold treatment, it is best to try to prevent the disease. Experts on how to treat white mold suggest crop rotation and cleaning up previous season plant debris. Use plants that grow upright rather than crawl on the ground and ensure plenty of air circulation. Water in the morning deeply with soaker hoses or drip irrigation. Do not compost infected plants, as most compost situations will not heat up sufficiently to kill the sclerotia. Instead of trying to come up with effective white mold treatment, use resistant plants. Some of these are:

• Pentas
• New Guinea Impatiens
• Elephant Ear
• Canna
• Fiber Optic Grass
• Sweet Flag

There are also biological controls available. The most prevalent is one containing the fungus coniothyrium minitans. It is a natural control but not registered in some states for use.

Fungi happen. Even the most experienced and dedicated gardeners will experience fungal disease on plants at some point. Fungi can affect plants in any climate and hardiness zone because, like plants, certain fungal spores grow better in different climates. Even new disease-resistant varieties can suffer from these issues. 

As gardeners, we can choose to spend a fortune on different chemicals that can have residual effects to treat different symptoms, or we can use a natural-based product that has been used by growers and breeders for hundreds of years. Continue reading to learn about using lime sulfur in gardens.

What is Lime Sulfur?

Lime sulfur is a mixture of calcium hydroxide and sulfur. In horticultural dormant sprays, lime sulfur is usually mixed with an oil, like mineral oil, to make it stick to plant surfaces. These horticultural oil sprays contain a high concentration of lime sulfur that is only safe to use on plants that are dormant because the sulfur can burn leaf tissues. 

Lime sulfur can also be mixed in much weaker concentration with water for use when plants have leafed out. Even in lower concentrations and diluted with water, it is important not to spray lime sulfur on plants during hot, sunny days, as the sulfur can cause sunscald on plants. 

With warnings like this, you may wonder, "Is lime sulfur safe?" When used properly, lime sulfur is a safe and effective treatment of fungal diseases such as:

• Powdery mildew
• Anthracnose
• Black spot
• Blights
• Black rot

As a horticultural dormant spray, lime sulfur is safe to use even on fruits that include:

• Raspberries
• Blackberries
• Blueberries
• Apples
• Peaches
• Pears
• Plums
• Cherries

Lime sulfur is also used to treat fungal diseases of ornamental plants like:

• Roses
• Dogwoods
• Ninebark
• Phlox
• Rudbeckia

Additionally, lime sulfur can be an effective treatment for certain pests.

How and to Use Lime Sulfur

Fungal disease spores can overwinter in cracks or fissures on plants or in soil and garden debris. For this reason, lime sulfur is used in high concentrates mixed with oil as a horticultural dormant spray. When to use lime sulfur this way is in late winter or early spring before the plant begins to leaf out. 

It is also a good idea to spray the soil around plants that have been previously infected or are prone to infection. For perennials or plants that are showing new signs of fungal diseases, lime sulfur can be mixed with water and sprayed on plants anytime except for hot, sunny days. The mixing ratio is 1 teaspoon per gallon (5 ml. per 4 L.) of water. 

Spray all surfaces of the plant thoroughly. Allow the mixture to sit on the plants for 15 to 20 minutes. Then thoroughly rinse the plants with just clear water. 

Occasionally, you will notice the bottom portion of tree trunks covered with white latex paint. Sometimes this contains a diluted mixture of lime sulfur.

What is algal leaf spot and what do you do about it? Read on to learn about symptoms of algal leaf spot and tips on algal leaf spot control.

What is Algal Leaf Spot?

Algal leaf spot disease, also known as green scurf, is caused by Cephaleuros virescens, a type of parasitic algae. Algal leaf spot disease spores, which are spread by rain, create a big problem for more than 200 plant species, especially plants growing in warm, humid climates. Susceptible plants include those that have leathery leaves such as:

• Magnolia
• Camellia
• Boxwood
• Crepe myrtle
• Azalea
• Bougainvillea
• Wisteria
• Rhododendron
• Viburnum

Recognizing Symptoms of Algal Leaf Spot

Algal leaf spot disease is marked by rough, net-like orange, brown, gray, or green blotches on the leaves, each measuring about ½ inch (1 cm.) in diameter or less. However, blotches that grow together take on the appearance of larger blotches. Although the disease affects primarily foliage, it sometimes impacts branches and twigs, causing a stunted appearance with reddish brown or pale green lesions.

Algal Leaf Spot Control

Algal leaf spot disease is rarely deadly, and the problems are mostly cosmetic. Unless the outbreak is severe, non-chemical strategies for treating algal leaf spot are usually adequate: Keep plants as healthy as possible, as well-managed plants are less susceptible to disease. Maintain proper soil drainage and water and fertilize as needed. Prune plants to improve air circulation and access to sunlight. Trim around the plants to reduce the humidity level, including overhanging trees that create too much shade. Rake up and dispose of leaves and debris under and around the affected plant. Discard infected debris carefully to prevent the spread of the disease. Keep in mind that the algae can survive on fallen leaves during the winter months. Water at the base of the plant. Avoid wetting the leaves as much as possible. Apply a Bordeaux mixture or copper-based fungicide if the plant is seriously infected. Repeat every two weeks during cool, damp weather.

Cedar hawthorn rust is a serious disease of hawthorn and juniper trees. There is no cure for the disease, but you can prevent its spread. Find out how to control cedar hawthorn rust in this article.

What is Cedar Hawthorn Rust?

Caused by a fungus called Gymnosporangium globosum, Cedar hawthorn rust disease is a disfiguring condition of hawthorns and junipers. Although it rarely kills trees, the trees never recover from the damage. You can prune out the worst of it, but once it affects the entire tree, your only choices are to learn to live with it or take the tree down. In addition to the rust-colored spots on the leaves, hawthorns may have rusty-looking "fingers" projecting from the fruit. The leaves may yellow and drop from the tree. Junipers develop woody galls that also have rusty fingers. If you recognize and treat the disease early, you may be able to enjoy your tree for several more years.

Cedar Hawthorn Rust Treatment

When a tree has visible symptoms of cedar hawthorn rust, it is too late to save the tree. Focus on slowing its progress and preventing it from spreading to other trees in the surrounding area. The fungal spores that infect additional trees are blown about on the wind, so most new infections occur within a few hundred feet of an infected tree. That said, spores have been known to travel a few miles. It's best to err on the side of caution when deciding whether or not to use preventative treatment on a tree. The two-part life cycle of cedar hawthorn rust disease involves both hawthorns and junipers. Infected hawthorns develop reddish-brown spots (rust) on the leaves and junipers have galls with fingers extending from them. Remove the galls in winter to help prevent spread and never plant junipers near hawthorns. Although you can't cure an infected tree, you can prune out infected parts of the tree to improve its health and appearance. Remove entire branches wherever possible. This not only benefits the infected tree, but also reduces the number of spores capable of spreading the infection. Moisture around hawthorn and juniper trees encourages the fungus. Reduce moisture by making sure air circulates freely around the tree. You may be able to accomplish this through pruning. When watering the tree, direct the spray toward the soil rather than the branches. Protect trees from infection by spraying in spring and early summer with an approved fungicide. Both chlorothalonil and mancozeb are registered for use against cedar rust disease on hawthorns. Follow the label instructions and spray the tree until the fungicide drips from the branches. Spray junipers with a Bordeaux mixture every two weeks beginning in midsummer.

Gardeners know that any manner of disease can befall their prized plants. In the case of Armillaria root rot, fungi are the underlying cause, and the disease can be fatal. Armillaria root rot symptoms can by sly, starting out slowly with slowed growth and culminating with wood rot and mortality. Recognizing the disease and implementing a process of Armillaria root rot control can slow the disease. More information can be found by reading the article below.

What is Armillaria Root Rot?

Armillaria affects many ornamental and edible plants. What is Armillaria root rot? The disease is found throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the world. Symptoms can be difficult to identify because the fungus responsible for the disease attacks roots deep in the soil. Once the disease has started to progress, it can be difficult or even impossible to arrest its effects. Armillaria stems from its mycelium harbored in the earth. The disease can persist for many years before above-ground symptoms emerge. Typical Armillaria root rot symptoms can vary from species to species, making the disease even more difficult to nip in the bud. Additionally, the fungus spreads in groves or stands of trees from plant to plant through rhizomorphs, very similar to root rhizomes. It can also spread when mechanical soil movement occurs and transfers diseased wood chips. This makes the disease that much more insidious and challenging to manage.

Armillaria Root Rot Symptoms

One of the first symptoms of the disease is usually wilted, limp foliage. Leaves or needles yellow and fall, while upper limbs experience die-back. Definite diagnosis of the disease may involve cutting into the cambium of the affected tree. The fungus appears in cambium as whitish in color and has a distinctly mushroom-like odor. Affected conifers may develop a bumper crop of cones, known as stress cones, and any sick tree is prone to attack by other diseases and insect pests. Among the more interesting Armillaria root rot facts, is its natural presence in soil and symbiotic relationship with affected trees. Plants under environmental stress, other disease issues, and in incorrect sites will be more quickly symptomatic than trees in excellent health. Armillaria root rot control depends upon early recognition of symptoms and superior cultural care of diseased plants.

Treatment for Armillaria Root Rot

Sadly, there is no absolute treatment for Armillaria root rot. The disease can be managed by the consistent removal of dead trees and infected stumps. Armillaria requires consistent moisture to survive, and in citrus groves, excavation around the root crown has been an effective deterrent but not an ultimate cure. Providing excellent care to trees has been shown to increase vigor and health, thereby reducing the plant's symptoms. In large scale forests, affected stands are often removed and replanted with species that are naturally resistant to the disease. Occasionally, chemical fumigants are applied, reducing the spread of the disease. This practice isn't practical for the home gardener, so cultural management, removal of infected plant material, and good sanitation seem to be the best options in the home landscape.

What is volutella blight on plants? Also known as leaf and stem blight, volutella blight is a destructive disease that affects pachysandra plants and boxwood shrubs. Early diagnosis and vigilant plant care are the keys to volutella blight control. Read on to learn about treating volutella blight.

Volutella Blight Symptoms

Initial symptoms, which appear in early spring, frequently resemble winter injury. Volutella blight symptoms begin with delayed emergence of new growth and patches of wilted, discolored, yellow, red, or bronze leaves that gradually increase in size before turning black and falling from the plant. Greenish brown, water-soaked cankers girdle the stems, causing the plant to shrivel and wilt as the cankers turn dark black or brown. Pinkish fungal spores often appear during humid weather.

Volutella Blight Treatment

Prune damaged growth. Wipe cutting tools with bleach solution or rubbing alcohol between each cut to prevent spread of disease. Shake or rake the plant to remove infected leaves, then destroy the debris. Although fungicide sprays won’t cure volutella blight, application of lime sulfur or copper sprays may help in case of severe infestations. Spray plants just before growth appears in spring, and then continue throughout the growing season as directed on the label. Plants may benefit from an additional volutella blight treatment in autumn to protect late summer growth. Remove plants if the blight is overly severe. Replace them with more disease-resistant shrubs or groundcovers.

Volutella Blight Control and Prevention

To prevent volutella blight, keep plants healthy and minimize stress with regular trimming, which improves air circulation and increases penetration of sunlight. Trim plants during dry weather. Water plants in the morning so the foliage has plenty of time to dry before temperatures drop later in the day, as volutella blight is more prevalent in wet, humid conditions. Avoid heavy mulch, which may keep the growing environment overly damp. Treat insect infestations as they appear, and clean beds and rake plant debris in autumn.

Have you ever seen a tree, such as spruce, with healthy-looking needles at the tips of the branches, but no needles at all as you look further down the branch? This is caused by needle cast disease. Find out more in this article.

What is Needle Cast Disease?

Needle cast diseases cause spruce trees to “cast off” their older needles and keep only the young needles at the tips of the branches. The tree becomes unattractive and may look as though it is dying, but don’t despair. Rhizosphaera and Stigmina, the two most common needle cast diseases of spruce trees, are treatable. You can have your tree looking lush and beautiful again within a few years by following a program of needle cast treatment.

Stigmina and Rhizosphaera Needle Cast in Trees

These diseases primarily affect blue spruce. If you have seen trees affected by needle cast disease in the area, avoid planting this highly susceptible tree. Instead, consider planting Norway spruce, which is resistant. White spruce and other conifers, like pine and fir, are also susceptible. The first step is to get a reliable diagnosis. Experts recommend that you send a few diseased needles to a diagnostic laboratory where they can run tests to identify the problem. If you feel comfortable trying to identify the disease at home, here’s what to look for:

• Trees with Stigmina or Rizosphaera needle cast fungus have a distinctive appearance. The branches have green, healthy needles at the tips and diseased and dying needles toward the trunk. The damage begins on lower branches and moves up the tree.
• Trees affected by needle cast disease have needles that turn yellowish in summer, gradually changing to purplish brown in late winter and spring.
• If you look at the needles with a hand lens, you’ll see rows of small black dots. These dots are the fruiting bodies of the fungus, and they are diagnostic of the disease. Rows of white dots are normal.

Treat the tree by spraying with a fungicide twice in the spring and then once every four weeks during wet weather. Alternate between sprays with different active ingredients. Copper and chlorothalonil are two active ingredients that are proven effective against the disease. Keep in mind that these sprays are highly toxic to plants, animals, and people. Follow the safety precautions on the label to the letter. Wear the recommended protective clothing and read all instructions regarding mixing and applying the fungicide before you begin. Large trees are difficult to treat without help from a tree service.

Diseases in plants can be very difficult to diagnose due to the nearly infinite numbers of pathogens. Phytoplasma disease in plants is generally seen as "yellows," a form of disease common in many plant species. What is phytoplasma disease? Well, first you need to understand the phytoplasma life cycle and how they are spread. New studies indicate that phytoplasma effects on plants can mimic damage shown by psyllid insects or leaf roll viruses.

Phytoplasma Life Cycle

Phytoplasmas infect plants and insects. They are spread by insects through their feeding activities which inject the pathogen into the phloem of the plants. The pathogen causes a host of symptoms, most of which are potentially damaging to plant health. Phytoplasmas live in the phloem cells of a plant and usually, but not always, cause disease symptoms. These tiny pests are actually bacteria with no cell wall or nucleus. As such, they have no way to store necessary compounds and must steal these from their host. Phytoplasmas are parasitic in this way. Phytoplasmas infect insect vectors and replicate within their host. In a plant, they are limited to the phloem where they replicate intracellularly. Phytoplasmas cause changes in their insect and plant hosts. The changes in the plants are defined as diseases. There are 30 recognized insect species that transmit the disease to various plant species.

Symptoms of Phytoplasma

Phytoplasma disease in plants can take on several different symptoms. The most common phytoplasma effects on plants resemble the common "yellows" and can affect over 200 plant species, both monocots and dicots. The insect vectors are often leafhoppers and cause such diseases as:

• Aster yellows
• Peach yellows
• Grapevine yellows
• Lime and peanut witches’ brooms
• Soybean purple stem
• Blueberry stunt

The primary visible effect is yellowing leaves, stunted and rolled foliage, and unripened shoots and fruits. Other symptoms of phytoplasma infection might be stunted plants, a "witches’ broom" appearance on terminal new bud growth, stunted roots, aerial tubers, and even die back of entire portions of the plant. Over time, the disease can cause death in plants.

Managing Phytoplasma Disease in Plants

Controlling phytoplasma diseases usually begins with controlling insect vectors. This starts with good weed removal practices and clearing brush that can host insect vectors. Bacteria in one plant can also spread to other plants, so often removal of an infected plant is necessary to contain the contagion. Symptoms appear in mid to late summer. It can take 10 to 40 days for plants to exhibit infection after the insect has fed on them. Controlling leafhoppers and other host insects can help control the spread of the disease. Dry weather seems to increase leafhopper activity, so it is important to keep the plant watered. Good cultural care and practices will increase plant resistance and spread.

Cytospora canker disease generally attacks spruces, especially Colorado blue and Norway varieties, as well as peach trees, Douglas firs or hemlock trees. What is cytospora canker? It is a destructive disease caused by the fungus Leucostoma kunzei that disfigures and can even kill vulnerable trees. Read on for more information about symptoms of cytospora canker as well as cytospora canker treatment.

What is Cytospora Canker?

You may not have heard of cytospora canker until after a tree in your backyard is infected. If you notice that the lower limbs on your tree are dying, the tree might have cytospora canker disease. It attacks older trees, stressed trees and those with shallow roots or planted in inappropriate sites. One of the first symptoms of cytospora canker disease on spruce is the browning of needles on the tree’s lower limbs. When they fall, you may notice light patches of resin on the dead bark of the branches. Over several years, symptoms of cytospora canker spread and upper branches brown and die. Dead areas of bark appear, known as cankers. On trees without needles, like peach trees, look for cankers on branches around pruning wounds. They may be present for several years, extending along the branch, before they kill it.

Control of Cytospora Canker

You may look to fungicidal sprays as a cytospora canker treatment, but these are not effective and are not recommended by experts. Instead, try using organic methods for control of cytospora canker. Prevention is easier than cytospora canker treatment. Take care not to wound trees susceptible to this disease. Wounds, like those from weed whackers and saws, serve as entry points for the fungus. Crowded trees are more likely to get and pass along the fungus. Plant yours with lots of room and good air circulation. Take every precaution to keep the trees healthy and strong. Water them during dry periods and fertilize them annually to provide nutrients. Vigorous trees are less likely to get attacked. Prune out any infected branches and burn them, since the fungus overwinters in cankered bark. Use bleach to disinfect the pruners before and after each use. The best time for pruning is late winter or early spring in dry, sunny weather.

Diagnosing plant ailments is crucial to plant management and health. Cenangium canker of trees is one of the more insidious diseases. What is Cenangium canker? Read on for tips on recognizing, treating, and managing sooty bark canker.

What is Cenangium Canker?

Pine, spruce, and fir trees provide much needed shade, food, cover, and enhance the landscape with their architectural elegance. Unfortunately, these species are prone to fungal diseases such as sooty bark canker, or Cenangium. Over time, the disease can girdle your trees, reducing nutrients and water to the upper growth and preventing the flow of plant starches that feed development. Trees can die without proper treatment. Cenangium is a fungal disease that produces a slow growing canker that affects the above mentioned evergreens as well as aspens. It is the most widespread canker on trees in the West. Infection begins in July through September when spores germinate and land on damaged or cut parts of the tree. Once the spores have taken root, they fruit and spread anew. Damage is seen as small oval, dead areas of bark. Over time, it can kill entire branches and in a bad year, spread to all parts of the tree. Fortunately, Cenangium canker of trees is extremely slow growing and tree death rarely results unless it is repeatedly attacked over several seasons and also experiences stresses such as low water and other disease or pest issues.

Managing Sooty Bark Canker

Sadly, there is no effective Cenangium canker treatment. This means early recognition is essential to managing sooty bark canker. In addition to dead areas of the bark, the needles will begin to brown and die or leaves will wither and fall off. Each year's growth of the fungus will produce light and dark areas, "zebra"-like girdling of the stems. As the outer bark is eaten away, the interior bark is exposed as powdery and black. Over time, the canker girdles the stem or branch and it will completely die. In nature, this has a somewhat beneficial effect, helping trees get rid of old limbs. Fruiting bodies are 1/8 inch (0.3 cm.) wide, cup-shaped and gray and granular. Since there is no effective Cenangium canker treatment, management of the disease is the only option. The only line of defense is recognizing the symptoms early and taking steps to remove infected plant material. The spores can persist, so it is not recommended to compost the material but rather bag it and send it to the landfill or burn it. Use good pruning techniques when removing diseased limbs. Do not cut into the branch collar and use sterile tools to prevent spreading the spores. Remove infected limbs as soon as possible before fruiting bodies shoot ripe ascospores into the air in moist conditions. Ascospores are the next generation of the fungus and will rapidly spread in ideal weather climates.

If your raspberry bush buds die, the side shoots wilt and the canes fail, cane blight is probably the culprit. What is cane blight? It’s a disease that attacks all kinds of cane plants including black, purple and red raspberries. You’ll do best to start a defense against cane blight early by adopting good cultural practices. Read on for information about plants affected by cane blight and cane blight control.

What is Cane Blight?

Cane blight is a disease that affects brambles. It is usually caused by the fungus Leptosphaeria coniothyrium, a fungus that can also attack roses and rot the fruit of apple and pear trees. The fungus can live all winter long on dead canes. Spores formed on these canes cause infection when rain, wind or insects carries them into damaged areas or wounds on the canes. A bacterial form of cane blight also exists. Bacterial cane blight is caused by an undetermined pathovar of the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae.

Plants Affected by Cane Blight

All bramble plants – that is, all Rubrus species – can be affected by cane blight. Perhaps the species most susceptible is black raspberry, but all raspberries can get it, as can roses. No cane-blight-resistant raspberry cultivars have been identified yet. In the meanwhile, choose less susceptible cultivars.

Cane Blight Symptoms

You are most likely to see cane blight infections between late April and early May. Look for bud failure, lateral shoot wilt, and cane death. You are likely to first notice wilted foliage. Look carefully below this foliage for dark brown or purple cankers that can extend along the cane for several inches. Bacterial cane blight symptoms are similar to those of the fungus-caused disease. Red-brown discolorations appear on stems, then turn dark purple or black and necrotic.

Cane Blight Control

Control of cane blight is possible through both cultural and chemical means.

Cultural

You can help prevent fungal cane blight by using cultural practices that prevent damage to the canes. These include eliminating weed-whacking near the canes, controlling insect pests and limiting pruning. It also helps to try to keep the cane foliage dry, or aid its rapid drying. For example, keeping fruiting rows narrow and weeded assists them in drying after a rain, as does thinning out weak canes. Also, you should take care with the cane site selection. You want the canes to have good drainage and air circulation. It’s also a good idea to dispose of old, diseased canes immediately after harvest. That prevents overwintering fungus.

Chemical

If the cane blight disease is getting the best of your brambles, apply an application of lime sulfur or copper to your dormant plants. Use liquid lime sulfur when new leaves arrive, and be sure to cover all of the canes thoroughly.

Choanenphora wet rot control is essential for those of us who love to grow squash, cucumbers and other cucurbits. What is Choaneephora fruit rot? You may not know the disease as Choaenephora, but you probably know what blossom end rot is. It is evidenced by soft, rotting ends on squash and other cucurbits. The disease is caused by fungal mold and it isn't easy to get rid of once you have it, but it is easy to prevent.

What is Choanephora Fruit Rot?

Choanephora wet rot in plants begins in the flowers, which will bear a powdery white residue. Once fruits begin to form and the flower withers away, the flower end of the fruit shows signs of mushiness and rot along with white or purplish powder. It progresses into the fruit, stunting growth and destroying much of the edible tissue. Once the disease is on your plants, it can spread quickly, so controlling Choanephora fruit rot immediately is essential to saving the crop. Choanephora fruit fungus can overwinter in garden debris. Fungal spores spread in spring by wind and insect movement. Warm, wet conditions encourage the growth of the fungus, which is one of the fastest growing fungal diseases. You can use a hand magnifier and see whisker-like growth on the fruit to differentiate it from another common fungal disease, Rhizopus soft rot. In areas with high humidity and moist conditions, the fungus can blight as much as 90 percent of a crop. Choanephora wet rot in plants is difficult to control because new flowers are forming daily and are newly susceptible to the spores.

Choanephora Fruit Rot Treatment

There is no prescribed Choanephora fruit rot treatment. Some growers suggest using fungicides, but these are only affective on the flowers that are treated. Over the course of a day or two, these flowers are replaced by new ones so you would be faced with treating the plant every couple of days. This is not a safe solution for developing fruits, so fungicides are, therefore, not considered useful. Some gardeners swear by the addition of calcium to soil to prevent the disease by adding Epsom salts or crushed eggshells to the soil at planting. This will certainly bolster the health of the plant but will not prevent spores from eating into the fruit. Choanephora wet rot control actually begins when you are planning the vegetable garden. Before you plant a single seed, consider crop rotation. This will prevent any cucurbits from being planted in the same soil as the previous year where soil may be contaminated by the fungus. Space the plants well so there is plenty of air circulation to dry out the leaves and stems. Avoid irrigating overhead in the evening when plants cannot have time to dry off. Planting squash and other susceptible plants in raised beds with drip irrigation also seems to be helpful. Clean up infected plant debris. You may still get one or two infected fruits, but you should be able to save the bulk of the crop with these practices.