Diseases and Pests, Description, Uses, Propagation (2023)

FAQs

How do you identify plant pests and diseases? ›

Identifying Pests: During the growth of your garden, keep an eye out for any obvious bite marks or colonies of bugs. Be sure to check the underside of leaves and along plant stems. Identifying the bite marks and the plants the occur on may be all you need to identify the pest.

Now, as then, oranges and other citrus fruits are delicious snacks that deliver powerful nutrients and antioxidants and provide multiple health benefits, such as reducing the risk of some cancers, stroke, and cardiovascular disease.

Place the cuttings in a free draining mix such a 50/50 seed raising and pumice mix, water the mix well, avoid using garden soil as it can have soil borne diseases. Reduce the leaf area by half, dip the cutting into rooting hormone available from garden centres and DIY stores, and place the cutting into the mix.

The most common diseases in these areas are melanose, lemon scab, brown rot, collar rot, sooty blotch, Phytophthora root rots and Armillaria. In these regions lemon trees require regular application of protectant copper sprays in order to keep fruit clean.

This is a fungus or a complex of fungi and yeast that colonize the sap that leaks from a tree wound. The primary fungus involved that gives this slime its orange color is Fusicolla merismoides (formerly called Fusarium merismoides).

Once all pests are controlled, the sooty mold will usually wear away on its own. You can help speed the process by spraying the tree with a strong stream of water, or water with a little detergent mixed in. A timely rainfall will do a world of good.

Citrus black spot (CBS) is a citrus disease caused by the fungus Phyllosticta citricarpa (previously known as Guignardia citricarpa). This fungus affects citrus plants throughout subtropical climates, reducing both fruit quantity and quality.

The most common method of propagating fruit trees, suitable for nearly all species, is grafting onto rootstocks. This in essence involves physically joining part of a shoot of a hybrid cultivar onto the roots of a different but closely related species or cultivar, so that the two parts grow together as one plant.

Answer: Gummosis is the oozing of sap from wounds or cankers on fruit trees. It can result from environmental stress, mechanical injury, or disease and insect infestation.

Why are my lemon leaves turning yellow? ›

Very often the yellow leaves or chlorosis on a citrus tree is caused by over watering or a nutrient deficiency. Citrus need regular water especially in the warm months but over watering can leach nutrients from the soil and cause root rot. If the roots are damaged they can't take up the nutrients the plant needs.

Sooty mold is a fungus, which causes the blackening of the leaves of citrus trees. The mold forms on the leaves as a result of honeydew secretions from insects such as whiteflies, aphids and mealybugs. Insect control is the most effective way to prevent the incidence of this disease.

The most common insects that pass on disease are mosquitoes, sand flies, ticks, and fleas. For example, mosquitoes are known for spreading the Zika virus, Yellow Fever, and Malaria. Ticks are known to spread Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

There are four main types of disease: infectious diseases, deficiency diseases, hereditary diseases (including both genetic diseases and non-genetic hereditary diseases), and physiological diseases.

Disease Triangle

These three are the virulent pathogen (one that can cause disease), a susceptible host (plant) and suitable environmental conditions.

So, when a freeze is forecast for a citrus farm, the farmers often spray the trees with water. When the temperature drops, this water freezes and releases heat to its environment, some of which is the still-ripening fruit. This heat is enough to preserve the fruit inside from freezing.

That “black stuff” is the result of a bacterial infection called Wetwood or Slime Flux. These particular bacteria thrive in anaerobic (low oxygen) conditions present in the dense interior hardwood. As the anaerobic bacteria ferment and release carbon dioxide, it creates pressure forcing liquid from woods in the trunk.

Can I spray my orange tree with soapy water? ›

Insecticidal soap solutions work on soft-bodied orange tree pests, such as aphids, mites and whiteflies. To make insecticidal soap, mix 3 tablespoons of soap flakes with 1 gallon of water.

Horticultural oil kills the scales through suffocation. Where plants can be sprayed, complete spray coverage of infested plant parts with horticultural oil at the proper time provides good control of most scales.

Slime mold, as well as any mushrooms or toadstools, can be knocked out with baking soda, potassium bicarbonate, cornmeal, cornmeal tea, hydrogen peroxide, or commercial products like BioSafe Disease Control. Physical disturbances, such as mowing the grass or scratching the slime mold in beds, are also effective.

Fruits and vegetables, FIRM

Cut off at least 1 inch around and below the mold spot (keep the knife out of the mold itself so it will not cross-contaminate other parts of the produce). Small mold spots can be cut off FIRM fruits and vegetables with low moisture content. It's difficult for mold to penetrate dense foods.

Blood oranges are 'bloody' from a pigment called anthocyanin, which is widely found in the plant kingdom and can appear red as in cherries and red cabbage to blue as in blueberries and cornflowers or even purple as in pansies and eggplants (aubergines).

Soak the seeds overnight in water and plant them 1/2 inch deep in moist potting soil. Cover the pot with a plastic bag or wrap and let it sit in a warm and sunny spot for a few weeks until the seeds start to grow. Then, remove the plastic but keep the pot near a warm and sunny window as the seedlings grow.

Also known as a cocktail tree, the lemon lime tree is an incredible plant: it grows both lemons and limes! Through grafting or planting two trees in the same pot, the Meyer lemon and the classic key lime combine into one tree, and one single delicious fruit.

Ficus Altissima Propagating

To propagate your plant, place these cuttings upright in a sterilized glass container of clean water and a little Propagation Promoter and put it in a bright place. Keep the water topped off and change it out once per week.

How do you propagate citrus rootstock? ›

The bottom of the rootstock is chopped off before application of the rooting hormone. Chopping the end off of the rootstock. Then the grafted cuttings are dipped in a powdered rooting hormone and planted in a rooting medium. Applying the rooting hormone and planting the grafted citrus cuttings.

Apples are usually propagated by budding or grafting onto a hardy rootstock. Typically, cuttings (scion) are taken in January, refrigerated, and then grafted onto rootstock in the early spring.

Several woody trees, shrubs and vines can be propagated by hardwood stem cuttings. Plants that can be propagated by this method include willow, poplar, dogwood, forsythia, wisteria, grape, currant, gooseberry and elderberry.

The major methods of asexual propagation are cuttings, layering, division, budding and grafting. Cuttings involve rooting a severed piece of the parent plant; layering involves rooting a part of the parent and then severing it; and budding and grafting is joining two plant parts from different varieties.

Spray Plants with Diluted Lemon Juice

While lemon juice is safe for pets to ingest, they don't like the smell of citrus-which makes lemon juice a natural deterrent. (It's also perfectly safe for plants.)

Because Epsom salt is a form of magnesium, it is an effective and convenient soil amendment for treating magnesium deficiency in lemon trees. It is important that your lemon tree has enough magnesium in order to thrive and produce fruit for years to come.

Down to Earth Organic Citrus Fertilizer is the best lemon tree fertilizer for good reason. It's a granular fertilizer with an NPK ratio of 6-3-3 that is applied three to four times per year, which is great for lemon trees! It also contains secondary nutrients like calcium, sulfur, zinc, and iron.

Removing the leaf will let the plant focus its nutrients on healthy leaves. A yellow leaf has lost its chlorophyll (pigment) and it can't turn green again even after you correct the problem.

Use about a cup of ordinary cooking oil, a half a cup of water and a tiny amount of ordinary washing-up detergent. This is known as white oil. Put it in water, so it's about 40 parts water to one of this mixture. Stir it up and spray it on.

WATERING THE LEMON TREE

A newly potted plant needs to be watered well every alternate day – deep watering is essential so that the root ball gets the necessary hydration. Once the plant is somewhat established, watering can be tapered to twice a week and then once a week or so.

Should I Mist lemon tree? ›

Keeping humidity high for your citrus is especially important indoors in the winter. Misting your plants once or twice a day during the cold months will keep the foliage lush and help to ward off insects. You will want to keep your citrus moderately moist but not soggy.

Also, if aphids or leafminers or other insects have damaged the leaves of your citrus tree, don't waste your time cutting those damaged leaves out. They're still capable of photosynthesizing and contributing to the growth and fruitfulness of the tree even though they're not completely healthy.

Features such as the colors of the pest, the shape of its wings, shape and color of the eggs, specific features (spots, dots, lines) on the body of the pest etc. – these can all help you identify the pest correctly and even distinguish between different species.

Proper plant identification. Identification of affected plants is one of the first steps in diagnosing a plant disease. Both scientific and common names of the plant should be noted.

Five Groups of Pests

Arthropods - Insects, Mites, Ticks and Spiders 2. Vertebrates - Animals with backbones 3. Weeds 4. Pathogens - Disease-causing organisms 5.

Plant diseases– their occurrence and severity– result from the impact of three factors: the host plant, the pathogen, and the environmental conditions. This is represented with the disease triangle. If any one of the three factors is missing, the triangle is not complete, no disease will occur.

By understanding that three things are required for plant disease--host plant, pathogen, and favorable environment--we can use a three-pronged approach to manage plant diseases.

What are the 3 components necessary in order for a disease to occur in any plant? ›

Ants are one of the most common household pests. Social critters, they often live in colonies that can consist of thousands of members. Some of the most common species include carpenter ants, argentine ants, black house ants, and garden ants.

There are approximately 70 000 pest species and diseases that damage agricultural crops worldwide (Pimentel, 2009).