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Anthracnose

© Carla Goodloe

We've been looking mostly at bugs and animals as being pests in your garden. Did you know, that diseases and viruses are also garden pests? You can't sit and watch it move around your yard, but you do wake up the next day and see what your plants has starting doing....dying. In many cases, disease or viruses cannot be stopped or controlled and the plant should be destroyed. You could lose great numbers of plants to these "pests".

Our first disease is Anthracnose. This disease is usually looks like small yellowish brown patches on leaves. They look like water spots, but are angular not generally round. As the disease ages, leaves turn brown and papery and eventually crumble.

Lettuce is affected by the disease since it's a cool weather crop requiring lots of water. Chances are, this is the crop that will be affected most, but other plants can catch it as well. The disease lives in soil for about 4 years so if you get it, move your plants to another spot for the next planting season, or plant something less likely to be affected by the disease.

Other plants affected include corn, tomatoes, vine crops, berry bushes, grapes, some shrubs, dogwood trees, turfgrass, ash trees, and other shade trees.

If you have cool, damp conditions, then this condition can affect your yard. Watering the garden from above can cause the spores of the disease to get on leaves. Rainy weather can also cause movement of the spores to disperse all around.

Make sure you add adequate amounts of phosphorous and potassium to your garden. Avoid overhead watering. Use drip irrigation or soaker hoses. Use fungicides, preferably organic ones.

Prune affected leaves and twigs until you just can't keep doing it.

Most people have seen anthracnose and don't even realize they have.

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