Leek

Rusty-orange to brown, powdery clusters of spores on the underside of leaves, matched on the upper side by yellow spots. Heavily infected leaves turn yellow and drop prematurely, and the plant weakens. It affects roses and mallows among others, and some rusts have an alternate host (for example pear rust and juniper). The pustules (clusters of summer spores, the so-called uredinia) break through the leaf skin and release an orange-rust powder that rubs off onto the finger - this is the most reliable identifying feature. In high summer they appear mainly on the underside of the blade, along the veins and on the leaf stalks, and in some species also on green shoots and sepals. In late autumn the clusters darken to brownish-black - these are the overwintering spores (telia) by which the fungus survives winter on plant debris. Rusts are highly host-specific: a given rust usually infects only one species or genus of host, which is why the rusts of rose, mallow and marsh mallow, bean, leek and garlic, mint, pelargonium or lawn are different, non-interchangeable fungi. The general symptom - yellowing and premature leaf drop - weakens the plant and limits flowering and yield, though it rarely kills it within a single season.

Infected fleshy organs — bulbs, tubers, storage roots and succulent stems — rot wet, turning into a slimy, watery, soft mass with a characteristic, unpleasant, putrid smell. The tissue disintegrates, and the skin often remains as a thin bag filled with decomposed flesh. The disease progresses rapidly in warmth and high humidity, especially in storage; it affects onion, garlic, tulip, daffodil, hyacinth and root vegetables. The first symptom is small, translucent, seemingly water-soaked spots that quickly turn brown and soften; at the site of infection the flesh becomes macerated — the bacteria break down the substances that cement the cell walls, so the tissue loses its cohesion and dissolves into a creamy-brown mush. In cross-section the boundary between healthy and diseased tissue is watery and blurred, and a cloudy, slimy ooze often seeps from the injury. In bulbs and the neck of bulbous plants the infection usually starts from the top or from a wound and descends deeper, producing a soft, slippery 'neck'; in potato, soft rot of the tubers links up with blackleg — the blackening, rotting base of the shoot. The bacterium itself does not form mycelium or a visible bloom — this distinguishes it from fungal rot — and the intense stench comes from secondary decomposition by other microorganisms. Symptoms progress fastest at temperatures above about 20°C, with poor ventilation and a film of water present on the surface of the organs.

Very small (1–2 mm), slender, elongated insects with fringed wings, coloured yellow, brown or black; the larvae are pale yellow and wingless. They suck sap from the cells of leaves, petals and buds. Symptoms: silvery to silvery-grey streaks and blotches on the leaves, tiny black specks of excrement, and distortion of young leaves, buds and flowers. They are especially damaging under glass and on houseplants, and some species transmit plant viruses. The silvery sheen appears once the pest has sucked out the contents of the epidermal cells — the empty, air-filled cells reflect light like metallic streaks; they are accompanied by glistening black specks of excrement, which distinguish thrips feeding from that of most other sap-sucking pests. The mouthparts are piercing-sucking and asymmetric (only a single mandible), so the insect first rasps the tissue and then sucks up the exuding sap. On flowers, feeding produces white or brownish discolouration and distortion of the petals — severe on roses, chrysanthemums, orchids and cyclamens. The life cycle is short and, in warm conditions, the generations overlap: the females lay eggs inserted into the plant tissue, the larvae (two instars) feed on the leaves and then drop to the soil or litter, where they pass through the immobile prepupal and pupal stages. Among the most damaging are the western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) — a key greenhouse pest and vector of tospoviruses (including tomato spotted wilt, TSWV) — and the onion thrips (Thrips tabaci). Only the larvae acquire the viruses, while the adults transmit them, so reducing the larvae also lowers the risk of viral infection.

An inconspicuous, ash-grey fly 6-7 mm long, resembling a small housefly; the damage is done by its larvae - legless, white, glossy maggots up to 8 mm long. The larvae bore into the bulbs and the base of the stem and tunnel through them, causing the plants to yellow and wilt, while infested bulbs rot and become secondarily infected with bacteria. It feeds on onion, garlic, leek and shallot; two to three generations usually develop over the season, and the first, in spring, attacks the youngest seedlings and is the most damaging. The fly overwinters in the soil as a puparium (a barrel-shaped, brown pupa) a few centimetres deep, most often where onions were grown the previous year. The flight of the first generation usually begins at the turn of April and May and is traditionally signalled by the flowering of dandelions and early fruit trees; the females then lay small, white, elongated eggs singly or in small groups at the base of the plants and in soil cracks right next to the bulb neck. The hatched larvae travel downwards and bore into the basal plate and the fleshy part of the bulb. In the bed, an infestation is recognised by the progressive yellowing and drying of the oldest onion leaves, the wilting of whole plants, and the fact that diseased plants can be pulled out of the ground very easily - tunnels and white larvae are visible in a cut-open bulb and at the base of the stem. The damaged tissue quickly turns into a wet, foul-smelling bacterial rot, so that a single larva can destroy an entire bulb, and the focus spreads to neighbouring plants in the row. The later generations (summer and late-summer) damage bulbs that have already formed, reducing their storage life.