{"id":561,"date":"2026-10-09T00:28:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T22:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.60.121\/en\/problems-pests-and-diseases\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T18:38:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T16:38:00","slug":"problems-pests-and-diseases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/en\/problems-pests-and-diseases\/","title":{"rendered":"Problems, pests and diseases in a pot: the honest guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a pot, pests and diseases are more frequent than in the ground, because the substrate is small and conditions change fast. Most causes come down to a few: <strong>water, air and space<\/strong>. This guide is diagnostic, not a recipe: identify the symptom, find the most probable cause, intervene.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image oib-infographic\" data-oib-fig=\"g9-parassiti\" style=\"margin:0 0 2.25rem;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/g9-parassiti.jpg\" alt=\"Parassiti e malattie: sintomo, causa, rimedio \u2014 Pests and diseases: symptom, cause, remedy\" width=\"1672\" height=\"941\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/figure>\n<h2>Pests and diseases: the most common causes (from the data)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Water stress<\/strong> (too much or too little): the number one cause of yellowing or wilting.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Heat and wind<\/strong>: dry the substrate and stress the plant.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Poor aeration<\/strong>: encourages aphids, mites and fungal diseases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Diagnosis method<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Look at the symptom<\/strong>: yellow, wilted, spotted leaves, insects, slow growth.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Check the substrate<\/strong>: is it soggy or dry? Waterlogging and drought are treated in opposite ways.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Change ONE thing at a time<\/strong>: don&#8217;t fix everything together, you won&#8217;t know what worked.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Isolate if needed<\/strong>: if you suspect a pest, separate the plant from the others until you understand what&#8217;s there.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>When to ask for help<\/h2>\n<p>For extensive damage or doubts about treatments, consult a qualified technician: with pests and diseases, isolation comes before treatment. Don&#8217;t apply treatments (even &#8220;biological&#8221;) across the board: many problems are solved with the right water, light and space.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"\/en\/tools\/\">Problems, pests and diseases<\/a> tool guides you through the symptom \u2192 cause \u2192 fix method.<\/p>\n<h2>Sources<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/powo.science.kew.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew \u2014 Plants of the World Online<\/a> \u2014 taxonomy<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rhs.org.uk\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Royal Horticultural Society<\/a> \u2014 plant care<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umd.edu\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">University of Maryland Extension<\/a> \u2014 container growing<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umn.edu\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">University of Minnesota Extension<\/a> \u2014 container + climate<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.psu.edu\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Penn State Extension<\/a> \u2014 urban container growing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a pot, pests and diseases are more frequent than in the ground, because the substrate is small and conditions change fast. Most causes come down to a few: water, air and space. This guide is diagnostic, not a recipe: identify the symptom, find the most probable cause, intervene. Pests and diseases: the most common [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_GB","_original_post":"560","oib_translation_group_id":"","oib_affiliate_link_limit":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guide","tag-guide","en-GB"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}