Written and compiled by Fred Jaicks
Plant pathology is the study of different diseases that affect plants. These diseases are caused by a number of different factors including environmental factors, and pathogens found within the plants or surrounding flora. The diseases can become serious enough that the plant dies or in some cases the disease can spread into different types of plants.
Plant diseases are often caused by outside factors such as fungi, bacteria, and viruses. In some cases they’re also caused by issues relating to insects or mites in the surrounding area. If the plants are weaker and unhealthy, they’re more prone to developing one of these diseases. Most are caused by something known as the disease triangle, which means the plant, the pathogen causing the disease and the environment all foster the disease.
Golden Harvest Organics has an interesting approach to plant disease and pathology. They list some of the more common diseases affecting plants and home remedies to treat those problems. They include links to recipes that plant owners can make on their own to treat some common issues.
The University of Michigan has a Plant Disease Diagnostics page. Users can choose from different types of plants and then narrow down their search to specific types of plants and areas of the plants. They include pictures and information on different plant diseases.
Virginia Tech has a plant disease fact sheet online. They focus more on crops found in the Virginia area, but they also have a search function and include images of the diseases. Ohio State University has a large resource section available from their science division. This includes articles on plant diseases, types of diseases and how to prevent diseases from ruining plants.
Cornell University runs a Plant Clinic for those who want help with their diseased plants. They list information on their website for those who need to diagnose the problem immediately and include information on how to send plants in for a more in depth analysis by those on staff.
The Texas Plant Disease Handbook is a highly valuable resource. It includes an in depth listing of both common and rare diseases, including the warning signs and symptoms of those diseases. In addition they break the areas down into different types of crops and the disease that affect those crops.
Iowa State University lists information about plant diseases on their Plant Diseases and Damage page. The interesting thing here is that they include pictures and links to articles about those specific problems. Oregon State University has An Online Guide to Plant Disease Control. Users can search by plant name and see a list of diseases associated with that plant along with more information.
Plant Pathology Online is another great resource. They have different editions of their journal available online as well as specific stories. Though it’s hard to find off their main page, they also have the Illustrated Glossary of Plant Pathology, which includes images of some of the more common diseases that kill plants.