How to identify and control deadly plant disease. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
Courtesy UCANR
If there are strange spots developing on the leaves of your plants, you might have bacterial leaf spots. And, it’s a particularly nasty problem because there is no cure for this plant disease. There are ways to slow the spread, but once your plant has it, there’s no way to save it from its fate.
Bacterial leaf spot causes spots, often water-soaked, that spread across the plants’ foliage. Spots can be yellow, brown, or black. Infestations start small, appearing on just the foliage, fruit, or stems at first. The bacteria get in at an opening in the plant. It then spreads rapidly throughout the rest of the plant and then to other plants in your garden, killing numerous plants.
Prevention is the best course of action when it comes to this garden disease. Bacterial leaf spot is tough to treat, but there are plenty of preventative measures that stop the disease from making your garden a new home.
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Agrobacterium tumefaciens enters the plant through wounds made during grafting, planting, or pruning. Often plants are infected in the nursery, and the disease develops later, after planting in the garden.
Courtesy UF/IFAS
Symptoms are a gradual decline in plant health, often associated with the presence of spherical, woody growths at the crown or on stems.
Courtesy UF/IFAS
Galls have rough surfaces and may grow up to 6 inches in diameter. Diseased plants should be removed and destroyed.
Courtesy UF/IFAS
