Plants, as we know, each year must face various pests and even some diseases. There are many parasites, fungi and bacteria that want to take advantage of any opportunity they have to attack. This opportunity is presented when there is an inappropriate change in the crop, or a sudden drop / rise in temperatures.
To identify the problem, we will only have to look at how the leaves look. They can help us a lot to know what is affecting the plant. Let’s learn to interpret the language of the leaves.
Main pests that affect plants
Red spider
Image – My orchard
The spider mite is a tiny mite of just 0,5 millimeters that perches on the underside of leaves. They can be seen with the help of a magnifying glass, or if you have very good eyesight. On the leaves appear white dots and yellow spots in the bundle, until it ends up drying and falling. It is removed using any miticide, such as Dicofol or Abamectin.
Cochineal
Image – Cactus
Of mealybugs that affect plants, we identify above all two types: the cottony (which is the one you can see in the image above), and the one known as San Jose louse. The former have a cotton-like feel, while the others closely resemble lice.
The symptoms are: discolored, yellow, and deformed leaves. They are removed by moistening a swab from the ears or cotton in methyl alcohol.
Aphid
Aphids land on the underside of leaves (especially the youngest ones), stems and also on flower buds. We will know that you have this plague if we see the insect itself, or if they appear yellow or green spots on the sheets. You can eliminate them with any systemic insecticide.
Main plant diseases
Phytophthora
This fungus is one of those that can affect plants the most. Those who have it, its leaves will start to look yellow until they turn brown soon. Most of the time the plant ends up dying from root rot.
You can try to combat it by avoiding excessive risks, and doing treatments with fungicide.
Botrytis
Also called the gray mold fungus, it produces rot in leaves, flowers, fruits … in short, in all parts of the plant. The treatment must be preventive, controlling the risks and mixing the substrate with a little (about 2 or 3 grams) of sulfur or copper.
Roya
Rust is identified by presenting orange bumps on the underside of the leaves and on the stems, and yellow spots
in the beam. It is one of the easiest fungi to control and combat, doing treatments with a fungicide that contains Oxycarboxin.Pests and diseases can do a lot of damage to your plants. We hope that now it will be easier for you to identify them to be able to eliminate them .
