10 common plant disease symptoms

Loss of Turgor Pressure (decrease in water pressure within plant cell walls) Causes: abiotic factors, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, insects Examples: Ralstonia solanacearum, Verticillium dahliae, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus   Enations (scaly leaflike structures that lack a vascular system) Causes: viruses Examples: Cherry raspberry leaf virus, Pea enation mosaic virus   Stunting (dwarfing or loss of vigor) Causes:…

buffer zones & buffer strips – what they are and why we need them

Buffer zones and buffer strips are the areas between aquatic and terrestrial zones.  The best-known buffer strips are wetlands and riparian zones.  They can consist of natural or planted vegetation and serve as a place for water and matter storage.   The two types of limitations that impact buffer zones are internal limitations and external…

what is the difference between plant resistance and plant tolerance?

Plant tolerance and plant resistance are ways that plants deal with stressors in their environment. Resistance and tolerance are plants’ best defense mechanisms. At the most basic level, the difference between tolerance and resistance is related to how the plant defends itself. In the case of tolerance, the plant has strategies that helps it to…

a brief introduction to plant diseases

A disease, as it relates to plants, is a disturbance from plant pathogens or environmental factors that interfere with plant physiology.  When a disease is present, plants will express symptoms. Symptoms are the detectable expression of a disease, pest or environmental factor.  These symptoms are usually the result of complex physiological disturbances.  They result in changes…

the greenhouse effect

The term greenhouse effect has some pretty negative connotations.  On the one side, there are those who hate all the tree-hugging hippies who are against progress and technology, and think that global warming is a giant scam developed by Al Gore in order to ruin the United States’ economy and turn the country into a…

8 essential questions to ask before installing an irrigation system

Irrigation systems offer a variety of benefits.  They allow for the growth of a wider variety of crops.  They can be timed so that the hands-on portion of crop production is a little less cumbersome.  They protect crops from irregular and dry weather conditions.  They support leaching, which can remove harmful, crop-damaging salts within in…

the benefits of fire

We have all read about them…the insane, previously unseen and completely out of control fires that are ravaging parts of America’s west. The lack of water has taken its toll. Reservoirs are tapped. Rivers are running dry. Famous people are illegally hoarding water. Lakes are at all-time lows. Northern parts of states are at odds…

why are humans reluctant to take global warming seriously?

“A new idea is first condemned as ridiculous and then dismissed as trivial, until finally, it becomes what everybody knows.” – William James Folks, I am just going to come right out and say it: Denying that there is no human impact on the global climate is foolish. Of course, there is valid evidence demonstrating…