Buy Garden Pest & Disease Control Supplies from Anderson's La Costa Nursery Encinitas

Anderson’s offers a broad line of plant protection solutions placing an emphasis on providing an organic solution wherever possible. Avoiding chemical pesticides in your home lawn and garden is a great step to ensuring the health and safety of your family, pets, neighborhood and our planet. Understanding (diagnosing) the problem is the first step in deciding an approach to pest and disease management therefore we thought it helpful to provide an overview on the subject of pest and disease management to assist in the decision making process – if in doubt always contact your nursery professional for advice on the solution most appropriate to your problem (please select the sidebar link to order many of Anderson’s pest and disease management products).

Pest & Disease Control & Problems

Insects and diseases can threaten plant health. As soon as you notice any abnormality in your plants appearance you should begin a careful examination of the problem. By identifying the specific symptoms of damage and understanding their causes you may be able to diagnose the problem and select an appropriate treatment.

Stress

Basic elements that influence plant health include sufficient water, light and a proper balance of nutrients. Too much or too little of any of these environmental conditions may cause plant stress. Environmental stress weakens plants and makes them more susceptible to insect and disease attack.

Plants deal with numerous environmental stresses such as shading and competition for water and nutrients in their native environment by adjusting their growth and development patterns to reflect the availability of the resources. Although plants are adapted to living in stressful conditions in nature many times the stresses they experience in the landscape are more than they can handle and may make them more susceptible to insects and diseases.

Diseases:

Three things are required for a disease to develop:

• The presence of a pathogen (the disease-causing agent)
• Plant susceptibility to that particular pathogen
• An environment suitable for disease development

Plants vary in susceptibility to pathogens. Even if a pathogen is present and a susceptible plant host is available the proper environmental conditions must be present over the correct period of time for the pathogen to infect the plant.

Diseases can be classified into two broad categories: those caused by infectious or living agents (diseases) and those caused by noninfectious or nonliving agents (disorders).

Examples of infectious agents include fungi, viruses, and bacteria. Noninfectious diseases, which account for 70 to 90 percent of all plant problems in urban areas can be caused by such factors as nutrient deficiencies, temperature extremes, vandalism, pollutants, and fluctuations in moisture.

Insects

Some insects can cause injury and damage to trees and shrubs. By defoliating trees or sucking their sap insects can retard plant growth. By boring into the trunk and branches, they interfere with sap flow and weaken the plant structure. Insects may also carry some plant diseases. In many cases however the insect problem is secondary to problems brought on by a stress disorder or pathogen. It is important to remember that most insects are beneficial rather than destructive. They help with pollination or act as predators of more harmful species. Killing all insects by using a non-selective approach to the problems can actually be detrimental to plant health.

Treatment

The treatment method used for a particular insect or disease problem will depend on the species involved, the extent of the problem, and a variety of other factors specific to the situation and local regulations. Always consult a professional if you have any doubt about the nature of the problem or proper treatment.