by johnah on October 31, 2020
What Is A Spot?
A spot is a small dark area on the surface of a plant’s leaves or stem. Usually it appears when there are no roots at all. The cause could be any number of things:
1) Root rot (rotting of the root system).
Roots are the main source of nutrients for plants and they need to stay healthy. If the roots become damaged, then the plant will not grow properly.
2) Insect infestation (mites, ticks, fleas).
These pests can damage the roots of plants if left unchecked. They may even kill them completely!
3) Over watering (over watering causes plants to lose their ability to absorb water from the soil).
Watering too much can cause leaves to turn yellow and die. This is especially true with young plants.
4) Too little sunlight (too much sun can burn the leaves).
Plants need light to photosynthesize. Without enough light, the chlorophyll in the leaves turns into sugar which is used for energy instead of being stored as fat. This results in wilting and death of the plant.
How Can I Prevent A Spot From Developing?
There are several ways to prevent a spot from developing:
1) Avoid over watering your plants.
For most plants, water them once and then let the soil dry out before you water them again. (check the instructions on the tag that came with your plant to be sure).
2) Get rid of any insects that may be damaging your plant (this can be pretty difficult since insects tend to hide among the plants).
3) Move your plants to a brighter location if they aren’t getting enough light.
4) If all else fails, you may need to throw the plant away and get a new one.
What Can I Do If A Spot Does Develop?
If your plant has a spot, there are things you can do to help it:
1) Move it to a shady area since it doesn’t have enough light.
2) Increase the amount of water you give it.
Wilting plants recover faster than non-wilting ones.
3) Increase the amount of fertilizer you give it.
This will give the plant a boost of energy.
4) Get rid of any insects that may be damaging the plant since they are preventing it from recovering.
5) If all else fails, you may need to throw the plant away and get a new one.
Where Can I Get A New Plant?
Most garden centers sell a wide variety of plants for you to choose from. Also, many department stores have gardening centers that sell plants. Make sure to get one that is suitable for your environment!
Should I Get A New Plant?
That is your decision to make. If you do get a new plant, here are a few things to keep in mind:
1) The new plant must have the same care requirements as the old one (provided that you know what they were).
2) It must be the same size as the old one (provided that you know what size it was).
This will help it adapt to its new environment.
3) If you are moving the plant from one environment (indoors or outdoors) to another, make sure that both environments are suitable for the plant.
4) If you do not know what type of plant it is, be sure to check for its tag which will tell you what it’s needs are.
That’s All For Now
I hope that this booklet has helped you to understand how to take care of your plant. Remember, these instructions are just guidelines. You may need to do something slightly different depending on the type of plant you own. If you need more information, check out other books from the library or look for a book about plants in your local bookstore. Happy growing!
I Found A Bug On My Plant.
Is It Bad?
There are many myths surrounding bugs and plants. Many people believe that any bug on their plant is a bad sign. This is not necessarily true. While most bugs do eat plants (this is how they get their nutrients) there are some bugs that don’t hurt plants at all. In fact, these bugs often prey upon the bugs that do eat plants (such as the mythical plant-eating spider).
The first thing you should do is get a bug identifier. You can find these in most garden supply stores and sometimes in the gardening department of your local department store. When you get the identifier, you look up the bug to find out what it eats. If it eats plants, then you need to kill it since it will hurt your plant. If it doesn’t eat plants (or doesn’t eat yours), then you can let it live.
Here are a few of the most common bugs and whether or not they are good for your plant:
Ladybugs: Ladybugs are among the most well-known of all bugs. Many people believe that if they see one, then they will bring good luck. While this isn’t necessarily true, they aren’t detrimental to your plant. In fact, many farmers often buy boxes of these creatures to rid their plants of pests.
Be careful, however. If you find a lot of these creatures on your plant, it could be due to the fact that they are eating it alive! If this occurs, you need to take action since a few ladybugs won’t hurt your plant, but an entire colony will.
Damselflies: These creatures are often confused with their cousins the dragonflies. While both have prominent wings and can fly, these are the only two things they have in common. Unlike the dragonflies, damselflies are beneficial to plants since they eat harmful insects. If you find one of these on your plant, consider it a good sign.
Dragonflies: Like the damselflies, these creatures have many myths surrounding them. People often believe that if one flies into your home then someone you know is going to die. While this is not true, they are still not good creatures to have around. Dragonflies eat harmful insects and while this isn’t a problem for your plants, if there are enough dragonflies in the area they can become a nuisance to your yard (and house) since they will constantly be flying around looking for food.
Ladybugs: Like the ladybugs, these creatures are often confused with their cousins the damselflies. Unlike the damselflies, these creatures are bad for your plants since they are known to eat the leaves. If you find one of these on your plant, it’s time to take action since there will be more of these creatures around.
Beetles: These creatures have a wide variety of species (over 450,000) so it’s hard to describe all of them. In general, however, most beetles are predators who eat other insects. While this is good since they will eat the bugs that hurt your plants, if there are enough beetles in the area they can become a nuisance since they will be constantly flying around looking for food.
This doesn’t mean all beetles are bad. In fact, you want to encourage a few beetles around since they will eat pests. This means you still have to do some weeding, though (see below).
Weeds: Weeds are often considered to be pests by most gardeners. While most are hard to eliminate, there are a few that can be beneficial to your plants since they attract the bugs that will eat the harmful insects. This means you may have to let a few weeds grow here and there.
While this is all fine in theory, it’s hard to determine which weeds are good and which aren’t unless you really know what you’re doing. If you do decide to let some weeds grow in an attempt to get beneficial insects, you’ll have to do some extra weeding since most weeds out-compete your plants.
Unless your plant is in a shady area or somewhere where the ground is always covered with leaves, you probably won’t have too many problems with creatures crawling on your plant. If there are problems, it’s often easy enough to eliminate them since bugs tend to congregate in large groups and are slow movers.
One thing you may notice, however, is that where your plant’s stem and leaves come into contact with the ground, they may become discolored. This is because the stem and leaves are absorbing some of the minerals in the soil. This is good since it means your plants can be healthier. It also means that pests such as slugs and snails may be attracted to these areas since they too are feeding on the minerals in the soil.
Aphids are a type of tiny bug that feeds on plants and they often congregate in large groups. These little creatures can quickly suck the life out of your plants so you need to act quickly if you notice a bunch of them on your plant. Other bugs to look out for are the caterpillars, earwigs, and grasshoppers.
The best way to get rid of these pests is to use something natural since pesticides can be harmful to the environment.
Sources & references used in this article:
Control of powdery mildew and Cercospora leaf spot on bigleaf hydrangea with Heritage and MilStop fungicides by AK Hagan, JW Olive, JC Stephenson, ME Rivas-Davila – 2005 – aurora.auburn.edu
CDNA-NBS PROFILING OF HORTENSIA RGA-LIKE GENES RESPONSIVE TO LEAF SPOT FUNGAL INFECTION. by P Woodrow, I Kafantaris, F Iannuzzi… – FIFTH CONGRESS …, 2013 – iris.unicampania.it
Effects of Light Density on Resistance of Bigleaf Hydrangea to Cercospora Leaf Spot by Y Li, M Windham, R Trigiano, A Windham… – …, 2012 – researchgate.net
Diseases of hydrangea by Y Li, M Mmbaga, B Zhou, J Joshua… – … ‘ crops diseases …, 2016 – researchgate.net
Evaluation of Hydrangea macrophylla for Resistance to Leaf‐Spot Diseases by MT Mmbaga, MS Kim, L Mackasmiel… – Journal of …, 2012 – Wiley Online Library
Assessment of resistance components of bigleaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla) to Erysiphe polygoni in vitro by Y Li, R Trigiano, S Reed, T Rinehart… – Canadian journal of …, 2009 – Taylor & Francis
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