Bacterial diseases

What is a disease

Disease is an impairment of the normal state of the plant or of any of its components that interupts or modifies the performance of the vital function, being a response to environmental factors, to specific infective agents, to inherent defects of the plant, or to combinations of these factors.

What are bacteria

Bacteria are mostly single-celled organisms that reproduce through fission (cell division) and when they infect the plants, they are difficult to control. There are three common symptoms; abnormal growth, rotting, and wilting. The important distinguishing characteristics of a bacterial infection are the sticky and slimy materials secreted by the bacterial cells that later on become smelly and fishy.

Meanings of sign and symptom

Sign is the infectious disease itself and its products, examples are; fungal spores, fungal growths, sooty molds, cankers, galls, slimy ooze, and fishy odor

Symptom is the plant's response to the disease causing organism, examples are; changes in plant color, death of infected tissues, and wilting.

Signs and symptoms of bacterial diseases

Abnormal growths are outgrowths like galls or swellings of un-organized plant cells.

Soft rots are watersoaked spots or blights on leaves, stems, and fruits or the entire plant that lead to plant's death.

Wilts are bacterial damages wherein the plants' water conducting vessels are plugged causing the leaves to wilt and die.

Prevention and control

1. Properly select your planting materials. Make sure that the seeds and transplants are diseased-free.
2. Select cultivars that are diseased- resistant.
3. Have proper plant spacing by following the recommended planting distances. This enables light penetration and air flow.
4. Prune the infected parts immediately. Disinfect pruning tools with bleach solution in between cuts. But remember to avoid working on wet plants.
5. Uproot the heavily infected plants. Properly dispose them.
6. Always practice proper field sanitation.
7. Control the weeds.
8. Spray your crops with homemade plant extracts and/or other homemade solutions like any of the following;
   Aloe
   Horsetail
   Malabar nut
   Mint
   Pongam
   Animal manure
   Animal urine
   Milk
   Horticultural oil
   

References

• Brooklyn Botanic Garden. (2000): Natural disease control: A common-sense approach to plant first aid. Handbook # 164. Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Inc. 1000 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
• Ellis, B.; Bradley, F. (1996): The organic gardener's handbook of natural insect and disease control. Rodale Press. Emmaus, Pennsylvania.
• Gilberg, L. editor. (1993): Garden pests and diseases. Sunset books. Sunset Publishing Corporation, California.
• Ploetz, R.; et. al. Editors. (1998): Compendium of tropical fruit diseases. APS Press, The American Phytopathological Society. Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA.