What's Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?): A Visual Guide to Easy Diagnosis and Organic Remedies - Hardcover

Deardorff, David; Wadsworth, Kathryn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1604690984 ISBN 13: 9781604690989

Publisher: Timber Press, 2009

Synopsis

Dealing with a sick plant is one of the most frustrating situations a gardener can face. More often than not, we have no idea what is causing the problem, or how to fix it. Fortunately, help is at hand. "What's Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?)" provides an easy visual system for diagnosing any problem - and matching it to the right cure. This innovative and easy-to-use guide is split into three parts. Part one presents easy-to-follow, illustrated flow charts - organized by the plant part on which the symptoms appear - that allow readers to accurately diagnose the plant. The format is so simple it doesn't even require knowing the name of the plant; all you need to know is whether the problem is affecting the plant's roots, stem, flowers, or leaves. It does not matter whether the plant is a houseplant, perennial, vegetable, tree, or shrub. Part two offers a 100 percent organic way to fix the problem. Whether it's caused by improper growing conditions or environmental factors, or whether the culprit is a pest or disease, every problem has a safe, natural solution. Part three shows photographs and drawings of stressed, damaged, and diseased plants that help with accurate comparison. Whether your garden consists of herbs on a kitchen windowsill, a vegetable garden, an elaborate backyard border, or a container on a patio, "What's Wrong With My Plant?" is an indispensable resource. If you can see it, you can fix it. Curing a sick plant just doesn't get any easier.

About this title

About the Author

David Deardorff, Ph.D., is a plant pathologist and botanist who uses public speaking, writing, and photography to explain the science and beauty of the natural world. Together, David and his co-author, Kathryn Wadsworth,(www.deardorffandwadsworth.com) present classes and workshops with a focus on diagnosing and curing plant problems. They live and garden in Port Townsend, Washington. Naturalist Kathryn Wadsworth shares her love for gardening and the outdoors through writing and photography. Together, Kathryn and her co-author, David Deardorff, (www.deardorffandwadsworth.com) present classes and workshops with a focus on diagnosing and curing plant problems. They live and garden in Port Townsend, Washington.

From the Back Cover

Dealing with a sick plant is one of the most frustrating situations a gardener or houseplant owner can face. More often than not, the plant’s owner has no idea what is causing the problem, or how to fix it. Fortunately, help is at hand. This innovative, easy-to-use book enables you to recognize what’s plaguing your plant and then implement an appropriate cure—without resorting to toxic chemicals.

Part 1 presents easily understood, illustrated flow charts—organized by the plant part on which the symptoms appear—that enable you to accurately diagnose what is ailing your plant. Part 2 tells you how to fix the problem; whatever the cause—growing conditions, pests, or disease—you’ll find a safe, organic solution. Part 3 is a photo gallery of common problems; compare your plant to a photograph in order to verify the malady you’re dealing with.

Whether your garden consists of herbs on a sunny windowsill, a vegetable plot, an elaborate mixed border, or a container on a patio, What’s Wrong With My Plant? will be an indispensable resource. You don’t even need to know the plant’s name. If you can see it, you can fix it. Curing a sick plant just doesn’t get any easier.
 

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Whether your garden consists of herbs on a kitchen window sill or a densely planted parking strip, a terraced half-acre in Maine or containers on a lanai in Hawaii, it contributes to the well-being of life on earth. Plants are the basic building material for the community of life. All the creatures in our gardens, backyards, balconies, or patios, including us, depend completely on plants because none of us can make energy, we can only consume it.
    
Those of us who love plants may eventually develop close relationships with them. They have subtle and intriguing ways to communicate with us. Healthy green leaves let us know that the plant is growing well, manufacturing food from the sun’s energy. Yellowing leaves with dark lesions tell us the plant is in trouble. Flowers that are ragged and full of holes let us know something is eating them. All these symptoms, things you can easily observe with your own eyes without a microscope, are the ways in which a plant communicates its health, happiness, or distress.
    
“What’s wrong with my plant?” is the question we hear most from plant owners in distress. This book will help you answer that question, as well as the second most frequently asked question, “How do I fix my plant—without using toxic chemicals?” What’s Wrong With My Plant? provides a unique step-by-step method to diagnose and treat diseases, disorders, and pests of the plants entrusted to your care. Be your own plant doctor. No Ph.D. required.
    
In Part 1, organized by plant part, we present easy-to-follow, illustrated flow charts that lead to a diagnosis, the specific cause of the symptoms you are seeing. We developed the flow charts from years of working with distraught gardeners and plant owners who brought us samples of their problem plants. We found ourselves asking the same questions repeatedly—how much sun is the plant getting each day? how often do you water? have you seen pests? With David’s background in plant pathology and botany, we soon realized we could arrange these questions in dichotomous pairs. In the flow charts, we present these questions, step by step, to filter all the many possibilities down to only one, the diagnosis (sooty mold, for example).
    
In Part 2, organized by general type of cause (fungi, in Chapter 9, to continue the example), we recommend safe, organic solutions and discuss both the destructive and benign aspects of the culprit. Sample photographs of common problems appear in Part 3.
    
Using the diagnostic flow charts, you can find out what ails sick plants by observing symptoms. No need to collect bugs or get lost in reference books trying to identify plant species or pathogens. All you need to do is look at the roots, stems, or leaves, note the symptom, and follow the illustrated flow charts to a solution.

Above all, do no harm. Before leaping to the conclusion that your plant is dying and then reaching for a toxic chemical to treat it, examine the plant. Whether it is potted up on the sill above your kitchen sink, in a container on the deck, or out in the garden, decide which part of your plant shows symptoms. Then turn to the flow charts in Part 1 for the plant part that exhibits symptoms. Follow the flow charts to identify the problem. Answer the questions. Whenever the answer is yes, follow that arrow or turn to the page listed under the question. When you encounter a diagnosis, turn to the page(s) indicated, for solutions in Part 2 and photographs in Part 3.
 

Edition details

• Publisher: Timber Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1604690984
• ISBN 13: 9781604690989
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 452