Pansy Growing Guide: Planting, Care & Harvest

Aphids

MajorPest

Small green or black insects cluster on shoot tips and leaf undersides, crinkling the leaves and stopping growth. The honeydew they excrete supports sooty mold that blackens the foliage.

Powdery Mildew

MajorDisease

White patches appear scattered on the upper leaf surface at first, then the whole leaf is coated in a white powder. Leaves later yellow, brown and die back, and reduced photosynthesis cuts growth and yield.

Etiolation

MajorDisorder

Internodes stretch long, stems are thin and leaf color is pale. The plant topples easily and becomes vulnerable to pests and disease.

Gray Mold

MajorDisease

Water-soaked brown lesions form on flowers, fruit and leaves, densely covered by a fuzzy gray mold. Fruit rots and drops, and decay continues in storage after harvest.

Cabbage Armyworm

MajorPest

Young larvae feed in groups on the leaf underside, eating only the tissue so the leaf turns translucent white. Larger larvae chew big holes and can strip a plant bare in a single night.

Fusarium Wilt and Damping-off

MajorDisease

Downy Mildew

CommonDisease

Pale yellow to yellow-brown angular lesions form on the upper leaf surface with a gray-purple mold in the matching spot underneath. Lesions merge, the leaves die back and the plant declines early.

Late Blight

Disease

Dark green water-soaked lesions appear on the leaves and expand quickly into brown dead tissue. White mold forms on the underside and at the lesion edge, and dark brown lesions spread to stems and fruit.

Citrus Melanose

Disease

Tiny dark brown specks are scattered over fruit and leaves, sometimes clustering into tear-streaks or a sandpaper texture. Heavy infection makes the rind rough and badly cuts appearance value.

Rust

Disease

Small raised orange-yellow to red-brown pustules form on both leaf surfaces, then rupture and release powdery spores. Heavy infection yellows the leaves and kills them early.

Southern Blight

Disease

The stem rots at soil level and white silky mycelium spreads over the crown and the surrounding soil surface. Brown sclerotia the size of rapeseed then form and the plant wilts and dies rapidly.

Anthracnose

Disease

Light brown to dark brown round lesions with sharp margins form on leaves and fruit, slightly sunken in the center. In wet weather salmon-pink slimy spore masses ooze out on the lesions.

Bacterial Soft Rot

Disease

The crown or the head becomes water-soaked and soft, then collapses into a slimy mush. The rotting tissue gives off a distinctive foul odor.

Root Rot

Disease

Fine roots rot brown to blackish brown, growth stops and the lower leaves yellow. The plant wilts easily in the daytime and eventually dies outright.

Root-knot Nematode

Pest

The plant wilts in the daytime and does not recover with feeding or watering. Pull it up and the roots carry beaded chains of galls of varying size with few fine roots.

Leaf Spot

Disease

Small round brown to gray-white lesions appear on the lower leaves, the centers turning gray with tiny black specks. As they multiply the leaf yellows and drops early.