tailieunhanh - Plant health in private urban gardens

Private garden plots present a vast area for growing plants for food or enjoyment. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh provides a plant identification and advisory service to the public. This includes a service to advise on plant health problems, which is not advertised. | Turk J Bot 32 (2008) 485-488 © TÜBİTAK Plant Health in Private Urban Gardens Stephan HELFER Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR Scotland, UK. Received: Accepted: Abstract: Private garden plots present a vast area for growing plants for food or enjoyment. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh provides a plant identification and advisory service to the public. This includes a service to advise on plant health problems, which is not advertised. In the past 17 years a moderate number of individuals made use of this service, with an average of 67 enquiries and some 100 specimens per year. Relevant data from the enquiries were entered into a database and analysed. The majority of enquiries concerned tree problems, followed by ornamental and fruit plant problems. Fungi ranked highest, with arthropod pests and physiological conditions coming second and third, respectively. Cultural control was most frequently recommended, followed by chemical control and integrated approaches. No control was necessary or possible in 22% of cases. Key Words: Urban gardening, plant pathology Introduction In the UK urban environment there are an estimated 200 private garden plots per 1000 population. Estimates for other western countries are similar. Data for countries in Eastern Europe, Asia, and developing regions are not yet available. However, judging from satellite images TM (such as GoogleMaps ) it can be seen that private gardens in urban areas are also important features in South-West Asia. These plots serve mainly as recreational areas, but to some extent they are also used for the cultivation of fruit and vegetables, and their importance for the provision of a wide range of horticultural crops should not be underestimated. This is especially true in poor economies (van Bruggen, personal communication). Helfer (2005) published a preliminary account for Scottish gardens. Private garden plots represent an exceptional .