Keep an eye out for warning signs

The visible symptoms of a plant disease are the plant’s reaction to what is causing the problem. Plant symptoms include:

Blight: a rapid discoloration and death of twigs, foliage or flowers.

Canker: dead area on bark or stem, often sunken or raised.

Chlorosis: yellowing of the leaves.

Decline: progressive decrease in plant vigor.

Dieback: progressive death of shoot, branch or root starting at the tip.

Distortion: malformed plant tissue.

Gall or gall-like growth: abnormal local swelling or enlargement of plant part. Galls may be caused by insects or diseases.

Gummosis: an oozing of gum or sap, usually along the trunk of a tree or on fruit.

Leaf distortion: the leaf could be twisted, cupped, rolled or otherwise deformed.

Leaf scorch: burning along the leaf margin and into the leaf from the margin.

Leaf spot: a spot or lesion on the leaf.

Mosaic: varying patterns of light and dark plant tissue.

Necrosis: dead tissue.

Stunting: lack of growth.

Wilt: general wilting of the plant or plant part.

Witches broom: abnormal broom-like growth of many weak shoots.

HomeStyle, Pages 40 on 08/17/2013

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