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| Home > Plant Diseases
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| | Plant Diseases in Gardening
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Plants just as much as animals may suffer from various diseases which can injure or kill them. All types of plants, from annuals, perennials and bulbous plants to shrubs and large trees of every kind can be attacked, so that a knowledge of the early signs of infection and the way in which a disease can be combated is a valuable asset.
New varieties of plants are being produced all the time by various methods of selection and in breeding. Some of these are highly bred , but highly bred plants are not necessarily highly resistant to disease, and with these in particular the prevention of disease can assume great importance. Much research work is therefore devoted to the prevention and curing of plant ailments.
When one particular type of plant is grown in quantity often on the same ground, year after year, an out break of disease can cause serious losses. Such a disease finds ample opportunity to live on its particular host plant during the summer, and will usually have some method of persisting through the winter. It may remain in the soil and although the soil may be only slightly contaminated at first, the trouble may build up to serious proportions. This type of trouble is more likely to arise in green houses, garden frames and probably formal beds. Eradication will often necessitate treatment of the soil in the dormant season when the site is vacant.
With growing crops swift action is likely to be needed if serious losses are to be avoided. The more common troubles which can affect plants should be easily recognized and the appropriate remedy applied. Outside advise maybe quickly available but with fast spreading diseases early treatment has great advantages.
The term `plant disease` refers not only to foreign organisms ( parasites) which can injure or kill a plant but also to anything - except insect damage - which may check the growth of a plant, cause abnormal growth or cause the death of part or of all the plant. Consideration must therefore be given not only to ill health resulting from the invasion of plants by parasitic organisms but also to cases where plants fail to thrive because of unsuitable soil, incorrect temperature, injury from fumes and sprays, excessive liming or even damage from hail or frost. Fruits and vegetables - such as apples , pears, potatoes and carrots- continue to live even when stored, and can suffer from various troubles which either reduce their food value or destroy them entirely.
Plant diseases may be divided into two main groups :
a) Non parasitic diseases, which are not infectious;
b) Parasitic diseases which are infectious.
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