How to Identify Houseplant Disease

Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature, Houseplants, Gardening and Plant Care

Maria Failla- Happy Plant Lady and Author of Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness

Education, How To, Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Home & Garden, Leisure

4.8 • 883 Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2023

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Is your houseplant suddenly dropping leaves, getting spots, or just looking sick? Plant diseases can strike fear into any plant parent's heart. One day your plant baby is thriving, and the next it's on the decline! Plant diseases happen to the best of us. Even expert growers deal with fungal, bacterial, and viral plant infections. The good news is that many common houseplant diseases are treatable if caught early. But plant friends, you need to first know how to accurately identify them.

In the third episode of the Grow Better series with my dear friend, Leslie Halleck, we explore how to spot symptoms, diagnose plant illnesses, build a first aid kit, and nurse your plants back to health.

In this episode, we learn:

[07:00] What is a plant disease?
[09:55] Why do plants get these diseases? (the disease triangle)
[11:47] Factors involved when a pathogen meets a host
[13:11] Difference between signs and symptoms
[16:36] Challenges of identifying plant symptoms
[20:17] Is it enough to know what the disease is before you start treating it?
[20:51] General guidelines for identifying different types of diseases (fungal, viral, and bacterial)
[24:37] What are some common misconceptions about bacterial and fungal disease infections?
[28:19] Disease #1 Powdery Mildew
[30:46] Enjoy a 15% discount on Soltech’s Grove LED Bar Light as a member of the Growing Joy community!
[32:30] Does the idea of gifting mindfulness through resonating wind chimes intrigue you?
[34:30] Disease #2 Molds
[38:12] Disease #3 Leaf spots
[41:14] Importance of having fungicides in a houseplant care kit!
[43:14] Disease #4 Root rot
[45:05] Considerations for propagating specific species (e.g., African violets)
[48:23] Why do viruses generally have no effective treatments?
[48:43] What are the go-to resources for diagnosing plant disease?
[56:26] What is the best course of action for treating black rot on a Dracula or any orchid?
[59:25] Keep your plants healthy by practicing prevention and environmental management

Mentioned in our conversation:

For disease-specific treatment guides,

check out the full show notes and blog here!

Thank you to our episode sponsor:

Soltech Solutions

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Visit windriverchimes.com and use code GROWINGJOY to receive free engraving on all Corinthian Bells wind chimes.

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Order my book: Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness (and Plants) by Maria Failla, Illustrated by Samantha Leung

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Our Sponsors:
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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	There is no worse feeling than seeing a beloved house plant wither away in front of your eyes,
0:05.6	especially when it's because of a disease that you don't know how to identify a treat or understand.
0:10.9	For some reason, plant diseases feel trickier than pest or environmental issues
0:15.5	when it comes to plants failing because it's what's happening within the plant
0:19.4	inside of the plant. It's something that we can't see, we can't feel it, we can't physically remove it like we could with a pest, right? We can't just change the lighting environment. We've got to figure out what's going on under the hood.
0:30.0	But plant diseases are surprisingly treatable if you have the savvy to identify the disease before it's too late and if you already have the materials on hand to treat it quickly.
0:39.0	That's what this episode is all about empowering you to be ready to go when a plant inevitably gets a disease
0:46.1	and needs treatment. And of course we are joined again by our beloved horticulturist Leslie
0:51.3	Halleck for another installment of the Grow Better series, which is all about
0:56.4	Leslie and me teaming up to make episodes to help you grow better house plants, rooted in a
1:01.2	scientific understanding of what is happening beyond a basic care card or blog.
1:07.3	So let's dive in.
1:08.8	Welcome to the Growing Joy Podcast where we not only learn how to care for plants successfully, but how to simply
1:15.2	and affordably use our plant babies to cultivate more joy in our lives.
1:19.6	I'm Maria, author of Growing Joy, The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness,
1:24.0	speaker, podcaster, and most importantly, an epic plant killer turned happy plant lady.
1:29.0	On growing joy, you'll find conversations about plant care, plant community, and wellness through
1:34.4	the lens of plants.
1:37.0	Plant Care is self-care on Growing Joy, the podcast.
1:41.3	Hello, Plant Friends. Welcome. I hope you've had beautifully
1:45.2	plenty weeks. I have to say I am having like a massive bird bum moment. I was
1:49.9	recording the intro to this podcast and I had to stop because my baby
	...

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