Compendium of Rhododendron and Azalea Diseases and Pests, Second Edition

Quickly Diagnose and Control Pest-Related Issues of Rhododendron and Azalea Plants


A compendium is defined as “a collection of concise but detailed information about a particular subject.” Commercial growers, gardeners, and plant scientists alike will find that Compendium of Rhododendron and Azalea Diseases and Pests, Second Edition, fits this definition perfectly.


This comprehensive book does more than provide the most current disease and pest information for commercial and noncommercial growers throughout the world. It provides it in a simple, easy-to-use format that helps readers quickly recognize and control pest-related problems of these valuable and beautiful plants.


This new edition of Compendium of Rhododendron and Azalea Diseases and Pests is an essential tool for gardeners, commercial growers, consultants, and others who cultivate these plants in commercial nurseries, home gardens, park and municipal landscapes, and similar settings. It is also a useful reference for students, plant scientists, and Extension experts working in entomology, plant pathology, horticulture, nematology, and related disciplines.


Symptom diagnosis is improved through a new collection of more than 170 color photos throughout the book and an easy-to-use, symptoms-based diagnostic guide. Management strategies are cover various production systems used throughout the world and are segmented by geography and environment.


Editors Robert G. Linderman and D. Michael Benson, both rhododendron and azalea experts in their own right, selected top authorities on rhododendron and azalea diseases and insects to write this new edition. These contributors offer important new information, updating the first edition first published in 1986:


• Part I, Diseases Caused by Infectious Agents, addresses commonly occurring diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, viruses, higher plants, nematodes, and algae. A new section on virus diseases has been updated to include azalea ringspot disease, Rhododendron virus N, and Rhododendron virus A and related viruses.

• Part II, Diseases Caused by Noninfectious Agents, discusses damage caused by moisture, heat, and cold stress, as well as mineral deficiencies and toxicities, air pollution, and pesticide phytotoxicities. A new section on noninfectious agents covers genetic abnormalities, including tissue proliferation and witches’-broom.

• Part III, Disease and Pest Management, provides a thorough discussion of management strategies, such as exclusion, eradication, quarantine, sanitation, irrigation water treatment, chemical control, host resistance, and cultural practices. A new section, “Biology and Application of Beneficial Microbes,” presents much of the latest thinking and research on a range of crops (not limited to rhododendron and azalea) and highlights new nonchemical approaches to disease and pest management.

• Part IV, Insect and Mite Pests, includes nearly 40 color photos and provides detailed treatments of the full range of pests that affect rhododendron and azalea. The section on pest management has been expanded and includes a table that identifies the insecticides and miticides used to manage these pests.


A comprehensive index, an appendix that presents an updated list of common plant disease names for rhododendron and azalea, and a glossary of terms are provided as well.