Can You Help Me To Identify This Pest?
A pest is destroying my garden again. Can you help me to identify it, so I will at least have a chance to fight it and prevent that my gardening season will be over before it has started?
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Killer Pest
I had a troublesome gardening season last year. I didn't recover from the back surgery as quickly as I had hoped and had to ask others to take care of my crops most of the time. I hated the fact that I had to miss out on all the fun.To top it off, my crops got infected by a pest. It started at one end of my garden, but quickly spread to all corners, infecting everything it came across. No matter which kind of crop it was, it got infected: pumpkins, melons, Chinese Artichokes, Yacon, Chayote, Jerusalem Artichokes, lettuce, sweet potatoes, ....
Surprisingly, my tomato plants were the last ones standing. But they too had to give up.
Early September, my gardening season was over. There wasn't a single crop left.
Hope And Action
I never found out what killed all my crops. Some people suggested it might have been caused by the extreme drought we experienced last summer. Up until today, I held on to that thought.
Just to be sure, I cleaned and disinfected everything: my trellises, both my greenhouses, my tools. If it had been a pest, I definitely didn't want it to return. I made sure all wires I had used were removed, and even all leftover tendrils that had clung to the climbing racks were removed.
Just in case...
The Pest Is Back
Due to circumstances, I only started to prep the garden sometime last week. Of course, I already had loads of seedlings impatiently waiting inside the house, but I didn't bring them to the greenhouse to harden them off - mainly because it had been really cold during the last couple of weeks.
I must admit I was a little paranoid, too. Every spot on a leaf I detected made me worried.
Today, it appears my paranoia wasn't as irrational as I had hoped...
I had seen some strange spots on a couple of plants, but warned myself to not get worked up about it - maybe it was nothing. After all, nature is not perfect, right?!
Yesterday, I noticed that the spots on my two little melon plants were really looking suspicious. This morning, they still looked the same. But by the time it was starting to get dark, I went outside to bring the tender plants inside (the night are still very cold). And this is what I found:
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The container they were planted in was - just like the soil - fresh and brand new. This is, without any doubt, the same pest that hit my garden last year.
If only I knew what it was, then maybe I could do something against it. But as long as I can't identify it, there is nothing more I can do than whatever I've already done.
I went into the big greenhouse, which is placed about 10 meters from the small one where the melons stood in their little container, waiting for the right time to be planted into the soil. I had noticed a couple of days earlier the one tomato plant wasn't looking very healthy. But it had gotten worse overnight.
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On my beautiful kiwiberry plant, I found a couple of leaves that looked like this:
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I don't even know if this is the result of an infection by the same pest or not.
Ideas?
Is there someone who can help me to identify this pest?
Your guess is as good as mine - I simply don't have a clue.
If I can't find out, I don't see the use of continuing to prep the garden, because I already know how this will end - and it is not pretty, that's something I can assure you. I've seen it happen last year.
I can't even imagine what it would be like to go through summer without my fruits and veggies. The garden is normally the only place I can fully relax, I don't want to give it up.
So, if you have any idea, I'd be very grateful if you'd share it with me, so i can look into it further.
Please help me to identify this pest.
All Images in the post are my own.
Posted from my 'MoestuinMomenten' blog with SteemPress : http://moestuinmomenten.be/garden-pest/
That seems familiar to me, I had some plants with those signals in the leaves and it could be due to an excessive use of fertilizers. I'm not an expert though, so maybe it's better to see more opinions about it. :).
Cheers.
Thanks for the tip, but they were planted in regular potting soil, without anything extra added.
I have been asking around, showing the pics, and the best guess up until now is that it is leaf spot disease. Not very good news, because there is not a whole lot that can be done about it 🙄
Could it possibly be some kind of organism or fungus growing in the hoses you use to water everything?
That never occurred to me... I'm using an old-fashioned watering can and rain water since I read your comment.
I hope you are able to stop the spread of the disease to the rest of your plants. I know your gardening means a lot to you, and how much work you put into it.
Thanks, I hope so too
try leaf roller worms more on them here https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/insects/leafroller-damage-control.htm
Yeah, that is what that first photo looked like to me too. Was my first thought.
Though the way she described last year.... That sounds more like a blight...but not really because usually blights are fairly specific (cucurbits or kohls or nightshade).
Thanks for the tip. I hadn't heard of that before.
You too, @em3
But it is probably a result of leaf spot disease that has survived winter. That would explain why everything was infected last year... Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot you can do about it if you want to stay away from chemicals.
For now, I've cover all leafs with a thin layer of lava rock meal, which keeps the leaves dry and prevents fungus from spreading. Fingers crossed!
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I hate when these things happen! I struggle to figure a lot of things out, so I'm probably going to be no help. The first plant looks like it's had frost damage, but it's hard to be sure, especially from a photo. The next photo looks like something small has been nibbling the back of the leaf. Then the third, could it be fungal?
One way to check for bugs that never seem to be there is to go out at night with a torch. Many of the critters that feast on plants do so at night.
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Thanks for the tips. 👍
Meanwhile, I found out that it is probably leaf spot disease... a nasty fungus that has survived winter 😭
Argh! Fungal is one of the hardest to treat! Good luck with it and let us know if anything works.
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I'm trying to control it by adding lava rock to the soil and spraying a thin layer on the plants.
Fingers crossed 😉
If you do not see any insects, I don't see them, there are only 2 things I can think about: lack of water or too much or... some poison (water or ground).
What material are these containers made of?
Dug out already a plant and had a look at the roots, know what they look like?
Can you keep some, not infected, inside amd/or cover them with a mosquitonet or.. and see what happens?
Since I sprayed with a neem oil/garlic spray and dusted lava rock over the plants, the plants are doing way better.
The musquito net is a great idea... why didn't I think of that myself?? Gonna cover some plants, just in case...
Thanks
You are welcome, ☘💕
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I am 90% sure it's a fungal problem. Especially with the described circumstances. I'd go with a low dose of broad spectrum fungicide and try it on few of the plants first. Keep in mind that most fungicides don't work well on saving already heavy infected plants, they can slow the growth of the pathogen and stop it to colonize more plants. Still you have to be vigilant.
There are a new breed of fungicides in the recent years - a fungus that feeds on other fungus. I know how that sounds but those are the best ecological solutions right now. If you can get your hands on one of those, it's your best bet and it's very safe! Good luck and ping me in Discord if you need to talk, as my time on Steemit is very limited (an hour a week tops). https://discord.gg/cJUQHG
Thanks, @bobydimitrov
I went to ask for some advice from the people that run the organic farm not so far from my house, and they said it is probably leaf spot disease. A bit of a bummer, because there aren't any biological ways to treat it.
For now, I'm trying to keep it from spreading by spraying every inch of every plant with a thin layer of lava rock and adding lava rock to the soil.
For now, it seems to be working. I know it has only been a couple of days, but some plants that were infected and of which I removed the sick leaves seem to grow healthy new leaves.
I'm crossing my fingers!
I'll definitely read up about the fungus that eats other fungi... interesting 👍
Unroll any curled up leaves and inspect carefully for a pale green quick moving little worm. Probably will be some silk on the underside/inside of the curled leaf. Little bugger may be out feeding...so check under other leaves too.
If there is no worm and no silk... Then I am stumped. That would likely be viral or fungal...but how and why!? Idk.
And I dont think there are any viruses...maybe not any fungals that would go through such a variety of crops as you described from last year.
Don't giveup though. Our gardens are our places of solituded and regeneration!
Peace
That's why it's probably leaf spot disease...
For now, I'm just spraying everything with lava rock to keep the disease from spreading. But I don't know... I'm going back and forth about just giving up for this year... I was told that lava rock in the soil and on the plants could contain the dsease, but that the results probably wouldn't be visible this year yet. So I keep wondering if I should put in all the effort or not.
I'll probably decide after I have spoken to the surgeon about my back. If I need surgery again, there's no use in getting the garden started anyway😆😆
It’s a fungal issue by the looks of it mate. I’ve had similar in the past. I got ahead of it by making a homemade spray using three caps of hydrogen peroxide and water. I then took small gauge copper wire and cut it into small stiff rods and drove it into the base of each plant. After that I would apply the spray once a week to the foliage and stems of my plants. Something about the copper inside the plant and the hydrogen peroxide outside made the leaves more leathery and tough. But the end result was fungal blight in all its forms was unable to get a start on the plants thus it didn’t occur again.. it’s also a far more effective and cheaper remedy than using store bought anti fungus sprays.
I only realize now that you were probably the person to ask.
For all I know now, it is probably spot leaf disease. That explains why it is still around (killed my entire garden last year) ánd why it affects all kinds of plants.
I'll need to do some research on the method you mentioned and maybe use a dictionary to look up some words, to make sure I understand correctly. Like 'gauge'... I know the word from buying ear piercings, but I'm not sure whether a 'gauge copper wire' is a hollow one or not.
Never read about that method before. I've tried about everything I knew: neem oil, garlic spray, nettle spray, neem oil, garden soap.
The last trick seems to be slowing it down. For now, at least. I added quite some lava rock to the soil, and sprayed it all over the plants, covering them entirely with a thin layer of it.
I already noticed some good results on the bush that has (peach) leaf curl disease, and so far, only a few of the plants show signs of infection. Removed all the infected leaves, of course.
I'll try to find more about the copper and peroxide and give it a try.
Thanks for the tip! <3