Plant Health Problems

Diseases caused by Fungi:

Powdery mildew, Erysiphe.
White powdery spots or patches develop on leaves and occasionally on stems. Symptoms often first appear on the upper surfaces of the leaves and are usually most pronounced during hot, humid weather. Heavily infected leaves turn brown and shrivel.

Disease can be minimized by avoiding overcrowded spacing of plants and by carefully picking off affected leaves as soon as symptoms are evident. Symptomatic leaves can be placed into a plastic bag in order to avoid spreading the spores of the fungus to other plants. Use of fungicides is usually not necessary. However, applications can be made as soon as symptoms are visible. Among the compounds registered for use in Connecticut are horticultural oil, sulfur, potassium bicarbonate, and thiophanate-methyl. Consult the label for dosage rates and safety precautions.

Botrytis blight, Botrytis cinerea.
Flowers turn a papery brown and become covered with gray, fuzzy masses. Senescing flowers are particularly susceptible. Tan to brown spots with a target-like appearance can also develop on the leaves. These patches are often associated with flowers which have dropped onto the leaf surface. This disease is particularly troublesome during periods of extended cloudy, humid, wet weather.

Good sanitation practices including grooming the plants and removing spent or senescing flowers can minimize the potential for infection. These affected tissues should be carefully removed and discarded when they are dry. It is also important to avoid wetting the flowers when watering and crowding plants. Adequate spacing between the plants can promote good air circulation. Control can also be achieved with the use of fungicide sprays applied as soon as symptoms are visible. Among the compounds registered for use in Connecticut are sulfur and thiophanate-methyl. Consult the label for dosage rates and safety precautions.

Smut, Entyloma.
Symptoms first appear as small chlorotic flecks or spots on the leaves and stems. These eventually develop into whitish pustules that break open to reveal the powdery spores of the fungus. Once the pustules rupture, the leaves dry, turn brown, and shrivel.

Efforts to maximize plant vigor by fertilizing and watering are helpful. However, watering should be done early in the day to give the foliage a chance to dry before nighttime. It is also helpful to pick and remove symptomatic leaves as soon as they develop.

Diseases caused by Phytoplasmas:

Yellows, phytoplasma.
Symptoms consist of a yellowing or clearing of the veins in newly infected leaves, shortening of the internodes of the main stem, and production of long axillary breaks which create a yellowish witches' broom. If plants are infected young, they remain stunted, and if flowers are produced, they are small, abnormal, and exhibit phyllody, a condition in which flower parts revert to green tissues. Symptoms do not always appear on the entire plant, but may show on only one stalk, depending on the time of infection. This phytoplasma is transmitted by leafhoppers. Since the pathogen infects many plants (e.g., daisies, chrysanthemums, plaintain, echinacea, and rudbeckia), cosmos may become infected from neighboring plants.

Strategies for control include promptly roguing and removing diseased plants as well as control of the leafhopper vectors.

Insect Problems:

Aphids, Myzus persicae and Macrosiphoniella sanborni.
The green peach aphid and the chrysanthemum aphid, Macrosiphoniella sanborni, sometimes infest cosmos. They may be managed by spraying with insecticidal soap or ultra-fine horticultural oil, which are among the compounds registered for control of this pest in Connecticut. Aphids on chrysanthemums outdoors can be controlled using malathion sprays or imidacloprid can be applied as a soil drench for season-long, systemic control. Consult the label for dosage rates and safety precautions.

Fourlined plant bug, Poecilocapsus lineatus.
This bug lays eggs in the soft stems. They hatch about the middle of May and the young bugs suck the sap from the tender leaves. They molt five times and when mature, about the middle of June, they have wings and are nearly 1/3" long. The insect body is yellow, marked lengthwise on the wings with four black stripes alternating with three green stripes. The injury to the leaves consists of sunken areas around the punctures. These areas later appear as circular transparent spots and finally as circular holes. This insect injures the new leaves of many different kinds of annual and perennial plants and shrubs. There is one generation each year. The nymphs can be managed by spraying with azadirachtin, ultra-fine horticultural oil, insecticidal soap or malathion, which are among the compounds registered for control of this pest in Connecticut. Consult the label for dosage rates, safety precautions, and preharvest intervals.

Twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae.
This is sometimes a pest of cosmos. It infests the undersides of the leaves, which become light yellow in color, and the plants have a generally unhealthy appearance. Sometimes the mites form webs, which more or less enclose the upper as well as the lower leaf surface. Among the compounds registered for control of this pest in Connecticut are insecticidal soap and ultrafine horticultural oil. Spraying with insecticidal soap will give sufficient control if applied at least twice at 7-10 day intervals. The predatory mite, Neoseiulus fallacis, is most commonly found feeding where there are mite infestations. A single application of ultrafine horticultural oil (1/2 to 1% dilution) can be effective if predatory mites are present. Special care should be taken with soap or oil to obtain thorough spray coverage, because they only work on contact. Abamectin is an effective, restricted use product. Consult the labels for dosage rates and safety precautions. Avoid applying carbaryl or pyrethroids, which tend to be much more toxic to the predators than to the pest spider mites.

Stalk borer, Papaipema nebris.
This borer infests an occasional stalk of many kinds of herbaceous plants. As a rule its presence escapes notice until the plant begins to wilt. Then it is too late for the plant to recover. The larva tunnels up and down inside the stem and the top portion usually wilts and later dies. There is one annual generation. The moths emerge in September and October and lay eggs on the stalks of their food plants, in which stage the insect passes the winter. The eggs hatch in May or early June. The young larva begins to feed on the leaves of the nearest food plant, and later tunnels in the stem. The mature larva is nearly 1 ½" long, grayish brown with one white dorsal stripe and two white lateral stripes on each side. On the front half of the body the lateral stripes are interrupted, and the lower brown stripe extends forward onto the side of the head.
Burning all the old stalks, if allowed, and destroying weeds at the edges of the garden helps control this insect. When needed, methoxychlor, which is among the compounds registered for use against this pest in Connecticut, applied as a dust, in June, should control this pest. Consult the label for dosage rates and safety precautions.