Nonparasitic Diseases

Abstract

Plants in poor health from one or more environmental conditions far outnumber those afflicted with diseases caused by parasites – bacteria, fungi, and nematodes. When foliage turns yellow from lack of nitrogen, or from unavailability of iron in an alkaline soil, or from lack of oxygen in a waterlogged soil, we call it a physiological or physiogenic or nonparasitic disease. The adverse condition may be continuing, as it is with a nutrient deficiency, or it may be transitory, an ice storm, perhaps, lasting but a day but with resultant dieback continuing for the next two years. It may be chemical injury from injudicious spraying or fertilizing or from toxic substances in the atmosphere. It may be due to a toxin injected by an insect.