Rust diseases affect several popular species of bedding plants, including antirrhinum, bellis, cineraria, dianthus, fuchsia, pelargonium and sweet william, and pot plants such as campanula, chrysanthemum and pot roses. Disease impact varies, but crop losses of 2–5% are not uncommon and total loss is possible if outbreaks are left untreated with some crops like bellis.
Control of rust diseases on protected ornamental crops is challenging for several reasons:
- The diseases are often not noticed until the infection is advanced, when sporulation is easily seen
- Fungicides for the control of rusts with approval for use on ornamental crops are very limited
- The efficacy of a fungicide can differ between rust species
Some years will be worse than others for outbreaks of rust diseases depending on environmental and weather conditions.
On these pages, we’ll cover the factors to help understand and control rust infections on bedding and pot plants, including:
- Symptoms, mechanisms of spread and pathogen life cycles
- Cultural control
- Chemical control
- Fungicide resistance management
- Crop safety/phytotoxicity
Click here to select from the pages on ahdb.org.uk for more information.
For more information:
AHDB
ahdbpetition@gmail.com
www.ahdb.org.uk