Rust Diseases and their Management in Production Nurseries
Rusts can be very damaging to a large number of plants grown by the production nursery industry and are sometimes difficult to manage. Rusts are highly specialised, obligate parasites of plants that obtain their nutrients from living plant cells; they cannot gain nutrients from dead plant material. Rusts may parasitise one species of a plant during their life cycle or may sometimes attack two unrelated species. They have complicated lifecycles, producing up to five different types of spores that serve different functions. Rusts are generally quite host-specific, attacking only a small number of closely related plant species, but exceptions occur. Successful management of rust diseases generally involves a range of integrated approaches including cultural practices and pesticides during high risk periods.