Study Room/Citrus/Diseases & Disorders
Plant Systems

Diseases & Disorders

Diseases, nutrient problems and herbicide injury recognition. Study the photograph first, compare the field-guide illustration, then prove recall without the name visible.

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Diseases & disorders●

Citrus Greening (HLB)

Look first

Blotchy, uneven mottling and overall decline are stronger clues than a perfectly mirrored nutrient pattern.

Associated with the Asian citrus psyllid vector.
Compare leaf pattern, fruit development and whole-tree symptoms.
Memory cueHLB = blotchy + uneven + decline.
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Diseases & disorders●

Citrus Canker

Look first

Look for raised corky lesions with a distinct yellow halo on leaves, twigs or fruit.

Closest checkAlternaria lesions are flatter and necrotic; melanose makes much smaller raised sandpaper specks.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueCanker = corky crater + yellow halo.
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Diseases & disorders●

Biuret Toxicity

Look first

Look for leaf chlorosis and tip/marginal scorch associated with fertilizer-grade urea containing too much biuret.

Closest checkSalt/fertilizer burn also scorches margins; biuret injury is tied to urea exposure and may include growth suppression.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueBiuret = urea injury + chlorosis/scorch.
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Diseases & disorders●

Copper Deficiency

Look first

Look for dieback, misshapen growth and coarse or gummy symptoms on shoots/fruit rather than a simple uniform yellow leaf.

Closest checkIron, manganese and zinc deficiencies are primarily recognized by distinct interveinal chlorosis patterns.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueCopper deficiency = dieback/deformed growth, not just yellow veins.
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Diseases & disorders●

Diuron Contact Injury

Look first

Look for herbicide injury expressed as irregular chlorotic or necrotic leaf areas rather than a tidy nutrient pattern.

Closest checkNutrient deficiencies tend to repeat predictably between veins; herbicide injury is more irregular and exposure-patterned.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueDiuron injury = irregular chemical burn pattern.
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Diseases & disorders●

Glyphosate Contact Injury

Look first

Look for distorted, narrow or strap-like new growth with chlorosis after herbicide contact.

Closest checkZinc deficiency can also make small narrow leaves, but glyphosate injury is often sudden and irregular on exposed growth.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueGlyphosate = distorted new growth after contact.
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Diseases & disorders●

Iron Deficiency

Look first

Look at the newest leaves: the tissue turns yellow while the veins remain sharply green.

Closest checkManganese deficiency is a softer mottled green-vein pattern; nitrogen deficiency is more uniform and usually starts on older leaves.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueIron = young yellow leaf, green vein skeleton.
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Diseases & disorders●

Magnesium Deficiency

Look first

Look at older leaves for yellowing on both sides of the midrib that leaves a green inverted-V or arrowhead area near the base.

Closest checkNitrogen is more uniform yellowing; zinc/manganese affect leaf size and finer interveinal patterns.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueMagnesium = green arrowhead at leaf base.
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Diseases & disorders●

Manganese Deficiency

Look first

Look for a light-green/yellow leaf with a network of greener veins, usually less sharply contrasted than iron deficiency.

Closest checkIron deficiency makes a stronger green-vein skeleton on the youngest leaves; zinc often also reduces leaf size.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueManganese = soft green-vein mottling.
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Diseases & disorders●

Nitrogen Deficiency

Look first

Look for broadly uniform pale green-to-yellow foliage, commonly beginning on older leaves.

Closest checkIron, manganese and zinc leave greener veins or mottled patterns instead of uniform yellowing.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueNitrogen = overall pale yellow.
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Diseases & disorders●

Salt or Fertilizer Burn

Look first

Look for brown necrotic tips and leaf margins, often with a sharp boundary between healthy and burned tissue.

Closest checkNutrient deficiencies usually change color between veins before tissue dies; burn starts at edges/tips.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueSalt burn = crispy edges and tips.
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Diseases & disorders●

Zinc Deficiency

Look first

Look for small, narrow leaves with interveinal yellow mottling and shortened internodes/rosetting.

Closest checkManganese can mottle leaves but usually does not shrink and rosette the foliage as strongly.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueZinc = little leaf + mottling + rosette.
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Diseases & disorders●

Alternaria Brown Spot

Look first

Look for dark brown necrotic lesions with yellow halos on young leaves and fruit, often with irregular expansion along veins.

Closest checkCanker lesions are raised and corky; Alternaria is flatter, necrotic and haloed.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueAlternaria brown spot = flat brown lesion + yellow halo.
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Diseases & disorders●

Alternaria Leaf Spot

Look first

Look for dark leaf spots that may enlarge or merge and are often surrounded by yellow tissue.

Closest checkGreasy spot develops darker greasy-looking lesions, especially visible on the underside of mature leaves.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueAlternaria leaf spot = necrotic spot + yellowing.
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Diseases & disorders●

Brown Rot

Look first

Look for firm brown leathery fruit decay, often beginning on fruit low in the canopy after wet conditions.

Closest checkGreen mold becomes fuzzy blue-green; sour rot is soft/watery; stem-end rot starts at the stem end.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueBrown rot = brown leathery fruit.
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Diseases & disorders●

Cachexia

Look first

Look for chronic decline with bark symptoms such as gum impregnation, pitting or discoloration in susceptible mandarin/tangelo tissues.

Closest checkExocortis is best known for bark scaling on sensitive rootstocks below the bud union.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueCachexia = internal bark/gum/pitting decline.
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Diseases & disorders●

Citrus Black Spot

Look first

Look for dark fruit lesions that can appear as hard spots, freckles or larger necrotic areas, often with contrasting orange/yellow tissue.

Closest checkMelanose is typically many tiny raised sandpaper specks; canker is raised and haloed on fruit/leaves/twigs.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueBlack spot = multiple dark lesion types on fruit.
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Diseases & disorders●

Citrus Blight

Look first

Look for an established tree with thinning canopy, wilt, twig dieback and chronic decline despite apparently adequate soil moisture.

Closest checkRoot rot often includes obvious feeder-root decay and foot rot at the crown; blight is a vascular water-uptake decline.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueBlight = mature tree wilts and thins.
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Huanglongbing (HLB/Citrus Greening)

Look first

Look for asymmetrical blotchy mottling that does not mirror across the leaf midrib; fruit may be lopsided or unevenly colored.

Closest checkNutrient deficiencies usually produce more symmetrical vein-related patterns.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueHLB = blotchy, uneven, asymmetric.
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Citrus Scab

Look first

Look for raised corky, wart-like lesions that distort young leaves and fruit.

Closest checkCanker is typically rounder with a cratered/corky center and yellow halo; scab is more irregular and wart-like.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueScab = rough corky warts.
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Exocortis

Look first

Look for scaling, shelling or cracking bark on susceptible rootstock tissue below the bud union, often with dwarfing.

Closest checkPsorosis also causes bark scaling but usually on trunk/scaffold areas rather than the classic rootstock-below-bud-union pattern.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueExocortis = bark scales below the graft.
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Diseases & disorders●

Foot Rot

Look first

Look at the trunk base for dark water-soaked bark, gum exudation, cracking and decay near the soil line.

Closest checkRoot rot is primarily in feeder roots; foot rot is visible at the crown/trunk base.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueFoot rot = gum and bark rot at the ground line.
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Diseases & disorders●

Greasy Spot

Look first

Look for yellowish leaf spots above and dark, greasy-looking raised lesions on the underside of mature leaves.

Closest checkAlternaria is more necrotic and haloed on young tissue; sooty mold is a black surface coating.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueGreasy spot = greasy underside lesions.
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Diseases & disorders●

Greasy Spot Rind Blotch (Pink Pitting)

Look first

Look on grapefruit rind for numerous small dark specks or pits that can create a pink-pitted or rind-blotch appearance.

Closest checkMelanose makes raised sandpaper-like specks; black spot creates larger defined lesion types.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueRind blotch = many tiny rind pits/specks.
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Diseases & disorders●

Green Mold (Post Harvest)

Look first

Look for postharvest fruit decay that starts soft/watery and quickly develops white mold followed by blue-green spores.

Closest checkSour rot is soft and sour-smelling without the classic blue-green mold mass; stem-end rot begins at the stem end.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueGreen mold = white first, then blue-green spores.
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Diseases & disorders●

Melanose

Look first

Look for many tiny raised dark specks that feel like sandpaper; on fruit they may run in tear-stain streaks.

Closest checkBlack spot lesions are larger and more variable; canker lesions are larger, corky and haloed.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueMelanose = sandpaper specks / tear stains.
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Diseases & disorders●

Mesophyll Collapse

Look first

Look for sharply defined translucent or water-soaked-looking patches between veins that later turn tan or necrotic.

Closest checkNutrient deficiencies make patterned chlorosis; mesophyll collapse looks like sections of internal leaf tissue failed suddenly.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueMesophyll collapse = patchy tissue collapse between veins.
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Diseases & disorders●

Postbloom Fruit Drop

Look first

Look for orange-brown lesions on flower petals followed by dropped young fruit and persistent enlarged green calyx 'buttons.'

Closest checkMost fruit rots attack developed fruit; postbloom fruit drop leaves the characteristic persistent button after bloom.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cuePFD = petal lesions + leftover buttons.
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Psorosis

Look first

Look for scaling/flaking bark on trunk or scaffold limbs; young leaves may show temporary flecking patterns.

Closest checkExocortis classically scales sensitive rootstock bark below the bud union.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cuePsorosis = scaly trunk/scaffold bark.
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Diseases & disorders●

Root Rot

Look first

Look for brown decayed feeder roots together with a thinning, yellowing canopy and poor vigor.

Closest checkFoot rot centers on the trunk base/crown with gum and bark lesions.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueRoot rot = bad feeder roots + thinning top.
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Diseases & disorders●

Sooty Mold

Look first

Look for a black soot-like coating on leaves or fruit that sits on the surface over insect honeydew.

Closest checkIt can often be rubbed/scraped away; true leaf lesions are part of the tissue.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueSooty mold = black surface soot from honeydew.
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Diseases & disorders●

Sour Rot (Post Harvest)

Look first

Look for very soft, watery postharvest fruit decay with a sour odor and pale fungal growth.

Closest checkGreen mold develops blue-green spores; brown rot stays firmer and leathery.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueSour rot = soft watery sour decay.
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Diseases & disorders●

Stem End Rot (Post Harvest)

Look first

Look for decay beginning at the stem/button end and spreading downward through the fruit.

Closest checkGreen mold can start at wounds anywhere; stem-end rot is anchored to the stem end.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueStem-end rot = decay starts at the button.
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Diseases & disorders●

Citrus Tristeza Virus (CTV)

Look first

Look for decline or quick decline on susceptible rootstocks; stem pitting and vein symptoms may occur in some hosts.

Closest checkExocortis and psorosis are bark-scaling diseases; CTV is strongly associated with decline/stem pitting and rootstock interaction.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueCTV = decline/stem pitting, especially with susceptible rootstock.
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Diseases & disorders●

Wind Scar

Look first

Look for superficial corky/russet scarring on fruit where leaves or twigs rubbed the rind during growth.

Closest checkDisease lesions usually have spots, halos, mold or raised structures; wind scar follows rubbing/contact patterns.
Contest habitname the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.
Memory cueWind scar = rub marks, not infection.