Fungal Diseases in Plants, how to Recognize and Counteract Them?

What are Fungal-Plant Diseases?

These fungal diseases also called “cryptogamic diseases” are parasitic infestations mainly caused by pathogenic fungi. In general, plants can be attacked by fungal diseases, for example, when the climate is too humid, in spring it rains excessively or in warm summer periods. The fungal diseases that infest plants are various and all more or less harmful, our goal is to prevent them, and if necessary to fight them.

How to Recognize a Fungal Disease in a Cultivation?

They manifest themselves with visible symptoms even with the naked eye. Recognizing the symptoms is simple. The most evident are the change in color of the leaves, the presence of brownish spots, the curling and consequently the loss of leaves, the root rot and also of the collar, finally, the whitish or blackish dusty deposits on the leaves and stems.

Types of Fungal Diseases in Plants

We find different characteristics of fungal diseases against which we have to fight every day to make them grow in health and apply appropriate curative measures for our plants; in fact, our aim is to guarantee an excellent life cycle for our plants with a consequent excellent harvest. The diseases that could infest our plants can be:

• Oidium, also known as Mal Bianco or Albugine. This disease is recognizable by the powdery spots and of white color that spreads covering the areas of the plant;
• Downy mildew, is one of the main diseases but easily recognizable by spots of mold on the upper part of the leaves;
• Gray mold, is one of the most difficult diseases to control and fight, even it has attacks of gray mold, as the name implies, and we find it on the tissues of the plant;
• Sclerotinia, its symptoms are in the neck area and are represented by the browning of the lower part of the stem;
• Plant rust, they do not they have one disease but have several caused by microorganisms. They are recognizable by a brownish and powdery-colored layer;
• Punctuation, is the most famous disease of all because it attacks various plant species, it affects the organs of the aerial system of plants;
• Anthracnose, this disease particularly affects young plants, the first shoots on which we can see red spots;
• Alternariosis, a serious disease that first affects the leaves and then extends to the flowers, we notice it from dark spots almost black.

How to Tackle Fungal Diseases

To prevent fungal diseases it is necessary not to wet the leaves when watering, do not water in the evening to avoid stagnation of water, space the plants between them to circulate the air and favor the sun of the innermost parts and remove the infested leaves with garden gloves. Fungal diseases can be eliminated by resorting to natural biological remedies such as a pesticide with garlic, pyrethrum, horsetail and nettle, a fungicide with vinegar, bicarbonate or milk.