Wilt disease

A wilt disease is any number of diseases that affect the vascular system of plants. Attacks by fungi, bacteria, and nematodes can cause rapid killing of plants, large tree branches or even entire trees.

Wilt diseases in woody plants tend to fall into two major categories, those that start with the branches and those that start with the roots. Those that start with the branches most often start with pathogens that feed on the leaves or bark, those that start with the roots start with wounding or direct entry by the pathogen into the roots, some are spread from one plant to another by way of root grafts.

Pathogens that cause wilting diseases invade the vascular vessels and cause the xylem to fail to transport water to the foliage, thus causing wilting of stems and leaves.

Wilt diseases include:

Bacterial wilt of cucurbits is cause by the bacteria Erwinia tracheiphila, it affects cucumber, squash, muskmelon, pumpkin, gourds; certain varieties of cucumber and squash have different degrees of resistance. Once a plant is infected, the bacteria spread through the xylem vessels from the area of infection to the main stem, and the entire plant wilts and dies. Initial symptoms may include the wilting of single leaves and smaller stems. Infected plants may produce a creamy white bacterial ooze when cut. The bacteria survive winter in the digestive tract of striped cucumber beetles and spotted cucumber beetles. In the spring when the beetles are feeding on susceptible plants, the bacteria, which are contained in the fecal matter of the beetles enters the plant through wounds in the epidermis. The bacteria need a film of water to facilitate infection. The bacteria can also be transmitted from one plant to another when beetles feed on an infected plant and the bacteria becomes attached to the beetles mouthparts.

The bacteria Ralstonia solanacearum and related species cause bacterial wilt of bananas and plantains. The same bacteria also cause wilt diseases of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), aubergine (eggplant) (Solanum melongena), banana (Musa species), geranium (Pelargonium species), ginger (Zingiber officinale), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), sweet peppers (Capsicum species), olive (Olea europea), and others.

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