Plant Health in Private Urban Gardens

Authors: STEPHAN HELFER

Abstract: Private garden plots present a vast area for growing plants for food or enjoyment. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh provides a plant identification and advisory service to the public. This includes a service to advise on plant health problems, which is not advertised. In the past 17 years a moderate number of individuals made use of this service, with an average of 67 enquiries and some 100 specimens per year. Relevant data from the enquiries were entered into a database and analysed. The majority of enquiries concerned tree problems, followed by ornamental and fruit plant problems. Fungi ranked highest, with arthropod pests and physiological conditions coming second and third, respectively. Cultural control was most frequently recommended, followed by chemical control and integrated approaches. No control was necessary or possible in 22% of cases.

Keywords: Urban gardening, plant pathology

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