Plant Diseases

Prevention and early identification are crucial to minimizing damage from disease in your garden and landscape. Cornell University and our Master Gardener volunteers have several resources available to help you implement best practices to avoid diseases, identify problems when they do occur and to choose appropriate strategies to minimize damage and further contamination.

Visit Cornell Gardening’s Home Gardening page for a fact sheet on best practices for Minimizing Vegetable Diseases as well as flower and vegetable Growing Guides that list common diseases for each plant.

For a comprehensive list of plant disease fact sheets visit Cornell’s Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic website, where you’ll find detailed fact sheets in alphabetical order and instructions for collecting and submitting samples for identification.

What’s Wrong with My Plant?, a user-friendly tool available through the University of Minnesota Extension office, allows you to select a plant (including vegetables and fruits, annuals, perennials, trees, shurbs, and turf) and its symptoms and then view photos and brief descriptions of the likely cause.

Our Master Gardeners and staff are available to assist with plant disease diagnosis and management strategies. Call or email us using the information in the footer of this page.

Last updated December 7, 2023