The most commonly faced problem for all indoor plants is Fungal Infection. The fungi are living organisms that cannot produce their food and rely upon other organisms for food. The disease can quickly affect a plant’s health, and the fungus tries to take over the plant from the roots to the leaves. The fungus shows it’s existence in form of black spots, fuzz, or whitish coating on leaves. Sometimes the plant looks healthy but starts to wilt and dies within a short span of time.
Another most common problem faced by indoor plants is Bacterial Infection. This disease causes a rapid decline in plants health by the time it reacts to the invader. Bacteria affects the plant's health only when it has contributory factors to grow and multiply, as bacteria multiply rapidly. The contributory factors for bacterial growth are poor air conditioning, plant stress due to over or less watering, etc. The most common signs of bacteria are spots on leaves that are nothing but dead cells. Even odd-looking bumps may develop on stem or roots of the plants.
Virus, they affect the plant's health most commonly. The bugs feast on one plant and after destroying it, they jump on to other for their meal. Thus, they can quickly destroy all the plants in a garden. Plants can be infected due to the poor quality of seeds too. Plants with viral diseases look stunted or mis-shaped and their leaves roll up with yellowish or whitish colour.
Also, plants face another problem due to the adverse environmental conditions, called as an Abiotic Issue. Its causes are salt burn that is caused due to extravagant use of fertilizers. Another Abiotic Issue is the sunburn, which, as the name suggests, happens due to excessive exposure of plants towards sunlight. Plants also suffer frost damage when they are exposed to severe cold or the leaves are touching the glass resulting the leaves to turn black.
We bet by now, you have known enough about the diseases your plants may suffer from. So here are some ways to prevent and cure your loved plants!
First off, do not overwater your plants. There is a common myth that watering your plants more would result in their rapid growth, which is totally a misbelief. Diseases can find a hospitable environment in overly watered plants.
Second and the most important, do not over fertilize. Even though you may think that it may be more nutritious for the plants, but it is not so. The nitrogen present in the fertilizers weakens the plant’s health and reduces its resistance power towards diseases.
Proper spacing of plants plays a pivotal role in gardening. If too many plants are clustered and crowded together, then many problems may occur. And if one of your plants gets affected, then all of your plants would have to serve the cost.
Isolation also has to take place sometimes. Even though you have put in a great deal of effort into a project, if the disease is the culprit then it is better to start fresh. Because you don’t want all your plants to get affected with the same problem. Also, it is advisable to use the infected tray or the pot for other purposes because even though you would have washed it thoroughly, you might not be able to get rid of all of it!
So here’s all the essential points to keep in mind while dealing with your lovely plants and garden. Happy planting fellow gardeners!
Reference - Indoor Kitchen Gardening by Elizabeth Millard
