How to Control Sooty Blotch and Flyspeck on Apples

If you grow tomatoes, you have almost certainly run afoul of the fungus that causes the disease known as early blight.This ubiquitous tomato disease

Are parts of your plants covered with black splotches or a dark coating?If so, it’s possible they are suffering from

Vespula pennsylvanica / maculiforna / germanica / vulgaris / squamosa and DolichovespulaThe dog days of summer…fresh water melon, ice cream, p

Late blight is a serious disease that may affect tomatoes and potatoes. It can rapidly destroy entire fields and ruin a farmer’s income for the year. And it may affect crops in home gardens severely as well.You may not realize it, but you are probably already familiar with the

Rusts are fungi that will not kill their hosts, although they sure make them suffer. There is even a term for pathogens that require living hosts: biotrophs (in contrast to necrotrophs, pathogens that kill their host and live off the dead tissue).Think Gloria Gaynor – your plants will survive! However, repeated infections of this pat

Gummosis refers to the oozing of sap or gum from a tree. This behavior is very common on stone fruits, including apricots, peaches, and plums.You can look at gummosis as your tree’s cry for help in the face of any one of a number of problem

The squash bug is a pernicious insect, one of the most common and serious pests of cucurbit plants like squash and pumpkins, as well as cucumbers and melons, though typically to a lesser degree.Unfortunately, these bugs are widespread throughou

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (BAA) is a type of bacterium that is found in soils throughout the world and also on dried foods and fresh produce.Many strains of these bacteria enhance plant growth and inhibit plant pathog

Bot rot, also known as white rot, is caused by the fungus Botryosphaeria dothidea. Infection can result in a complex of diseases – two types of fruit rot and cankers on the limbs and twigs.This pathogen infects not only apples and crabapples but also a number

Is this a familiar scenario? You get up after a good night’s sleep and check your garden. It looks like there are notches on your bergenia leaves that weren’t there yesterday. Could that be…?While bergenia is generally resistant to pests,

While the name Phytophthora might not mean much to you, these organisms are a menace to agriculture and forests alike.The name is derived from Greek and tells you what you need to know about them:  p

While powdery mildews don’t kill their hosts, they sure do a number on them. And that is particularly true for powdery mildew of apples and crabapples, caused by Podosphaera leucotricha.This pathogen attacks both cultivated and wild apples