Written by Rhoda Burrows, former Professor & SDSU Extension Horticulture Specialist.
Plants vary tremendously in their ability to tolerate salt in water. Their growth can be restricted by the stress of “pulling” water away from the salt. Soil salt level–salinity–is one of several stresses that limit plant growth.
Aster yellows is a phytoplasmal disease carried and introduced by aster leafhopper. It is known to infect over 80 different plant families, as the aster leafhopper has extremely broad feeding habits.
It’s August and field bindweed, one of our most-persistent perennial weeds, is flowering. Although field bindweed is not statewide noxious, it’s locally noxious in Bennett, Bon Homme, Clarke, Lake, Stanley, and Yankton counties.
X-disease is the name given to a set of diseases caused by a strain of the bacteria “Candidatus Phytoplasma pruni” that primarily affects stone fruits. Infected plants will typically display yellowing or reddening of their leaves by mid summer.