Plant Diseases Jay W
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications Cooperative Extension Service 8-2011 Plant Diseases Jay W. Pscheidt Oregon State University John R. Hartman University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits oy u. Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/anr_reports Part of the Agriculture Commons, and the Environmental Sciences Commons Repository Citation Pscheidt, Jay W. and Hartman, John R., "Plant Diseases" (2011). Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications. 121. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/anr_reports/121 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Cooperative Extension Service at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE • UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, LEXINGTON, KY, 40546 PPA-46 Plant Diseases Kentucky Master Gardener Manual Chapter 6 By Jay W. Pscheidt, extension plant pathologist, Oregon State University. Edited by Lindsey du Toit, plant diagnostician, Washington State University-Puyallup, and Warren Copes, ornamental plant pathologist, Washington State University. Adapted for Kentucky by John Hartman, extension plant pathologist, University of Kentucky. very gardener has put in plants with hopes for wonderful In this chapter: flowers, fruits, or vegetables, only to have those hopes dashed as the plants get sick and die. Plants that die are considered Pathogens .............................................................. 83 Ediseased. Many things can cause plants to become diseased, includ- How to Discourage Plant Diseases in Your ing living agents, other factors (nonliving), or a combination of the Garden ..................................................................... 84 two. This chapter focuses only on living agents—fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, and parasitic plants. Nonliving factors, such as Conditions Necessary for Pathogenic Diseases .................................................................. 85 nutrient deficiencies, lack of water, temperature stress, and these problems in combination as they relate to specific types of plants, Disease Cycle......................................................... 86 are discussed elsewhere. Disease Diagnosis................................................ 86 History provides some perspective on the tremendous impact of plant diseases. Perhaps foremost is late blight of potato, a fungal Symptoms .............................................................. 88 disease that caused the Irish potato famine in 1845. Approximately Plant Disease Control ......................................... 89 2 million people either starved or left Ireland, many for the United Disease Terminology .......................................... 92 States. The fungal diseases powdery mildew and downy mildew devastated the French wine industry until a Bordeaux mixture was Fungicides for Home Gardeners .................... 92 found to control them. For More Information ......................................... 94 In the United States, the fungal disease chestnut blight was introduced accidentally into New York City in the late 1800s on imported Chinese chestnut trees. The Chinese trees were resistant to the blight, but American chestnut trees were not. In less than 40 years, 30 million acres of chestnut trees died. Chestnut blight remains a problem in the eastern United States. Dutch elm disease, which infects and kills elm trees throughout the nation, was also introduced accidentally. These examples caused a lot of damage—that’s why they are well known. However, the amount of damage that plant diseases cause varies depending on conditions and on the cycle of each disease- causing agent. Diagnosing the disease correctly and understanding techniques for growing healthy plants will help mimimize impact. Pathogens Many plant diseases are caused by pathogens, which are difficult to see or recognize without magnification. Fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, and even plants can be pathogenic on garden plants. Pathogens generally obtain nutrients, water, and everything they need to reproduce from their host. Such a relationship is called parasitic. Fungal and viral pathogens cause many plant diseases; bacterial and nematode pathogens cause a few. Some pathogens can infect several kinds of plants; others require a specific type of host. Pathogens such as fungi and bacteria differ in their ability to survive, spread, and reproduce. Different varieties (strains or races) of a pathogen may differ in how much disease they cause. Agriculture and Natural Resources • Family and Consumer Sciences • 4-H Youth Development • Community and Economic Development EXTENSION 84 • Plant Diseases CHAPTER 6 Fungi Bacteria Fungi make up the largest group of Bacteria are single-celled organisms pathogens, and they come in a wide variety. In that are much smaller and less complex general, they are multicellular organisms with than plant cells. Many are about the size a threadlike body. These filamentlike threads, of a plant chloroplast. Their cell walls are which are called hypha, have cell walls. When covered with a slimy material known as many threads mass together, they form what a “matrix,” and they reproduce by split- is called a mycelium, a mass of interwoven ting in two. Bacteria can build up to such threads. Further growth of a mycelium may high numbers in a plant that they ooze out produce fruiting bodies, in which sexual or the plant’s tissues and may attract insects asexual spores are formed. The mycelium, that spread the bacteria to healthy plants. fruiting bodies, and spores are used to identify Bacteria can survive in unfavorable condi- and diagnose fungal problems. tions in plant debris or even in seeds. Some fungi can survive and grow with- Bacteria cause plant diseases by forming out a living host. Others die if they are not toxins or by producing enzymes that break closely associated with a host. down plants’ cell walls. Crown gall bacteria Fungi cause plant diseases in one of the actually genetically engineer their host plant following ways: to make galls and amino acids, thus giving • making toxins that kill plant cells the bacteria a place to live (the galls) and the • growing within a plant’s vascular system chemicals they need to grow and reproduce and plugging it up (the amino acids). • rotting roots (which cuts off the leaves’ supply of water and nutrients) • sending rootlike structures into plant cells. How to Discourage Plant Throw away any rotted or poorly • Control insect pests. Some growing plants or plant parts. insects spread certain viral and Diseases in Your Garden • Maintain correct soil fertility bacterial diseases. • Select a suitable location for and pH through careful use of • Destroy and remove diseased planting. Some plants like sunny fertilizers, lime, soil amend- plants as soon as you see them. locations; others prefer more ments, compost, etc. Plants that They may be a source of patho- shade. Avoid extremely wet and/ are too weak or too vigorous as gens that can spread to other or cold soils because they favor a result of improper fertilization plants. many root disordersIf you must are more subject to diseases. • Spade under or compost plant in these soils, select plants • Do not overcrowd your plants. crop refuse as soon as pos- that tolerate them. High humidity beneath the sible after harvesting your • Practice annual rotation if plant canopy may favor certain garden. This practice not only possible (changing the plant- fungal diseases. Thin your plants recycles organic matter to the ing location of specific plants) to permit free air movement. soil, it reduces the possibility to help prevent the buildup of • Water properly. Try to main- of disease-causing organisms disease-causing organisms. tain an even water supply and overwintering in your garden. • Select disease-resistant varieties avoid dry-wet fluctuations. Drip Add diseased plant parts to your if they are available and adapted systems and soaker hoses are compost pile only if you are to your growing conditions. preferred to overhead sprin- “hot” composting. • Use only disease-free seed and klers. To encourage quick drying • Be alert to leaf diseases that transplants. Many disease-caus- of foliage, water in the morning occur annually on certain plants. ing organisms are carried to gar- instead of evening, especially if Take care of them early, before dens on seeds and transplants. you use an overhead system. damage becomes so severe that Buy from a reputable source. the plant is lost. CHAPTER 6 Plant Diseases • 85 Viruses Parasitic Plants Virus particles are composed of a few Some plants are parasitic to other plants. strands of molecules and are even smaller Dodder, for example, is a parasitic plant than bacteria. Even with a high-magnifi- that produces flowers and seeds, but has no cation microscope, they can be seen only chlorophyll, so it cannot manufacture its when massed together in a plant cell. own food. Its threadlike yellow body twines Electron microscopes reveal them to have around its host and its rootlike branches many shapes, including long strands, short (haustoria) penetrate the host plant and rods, or multi-sided balls. withdraw food and water. Some parasitic Viruses use a host plant’s cell organelles plants, such as