What local conditions are favoring right now
Plant disease develops only when a pathogen meets a susceptible host under favorable environmental conditions. Disease control works by weakening one or more sides of this disease triangle. Local weather describes the environment side, giving gardeners clues about which pathogens are favored and which host plants are at risk. Enter a US ZIP code to see what the past five days and coming week favor.
What this does and does not tell you
This forecast reports whether the weather conditions favor a given problem. It does not detect anything, and it cannot confirm that a pathogen or pest is present in a particular garden. Favorable weather with no inoculum around produces no disease at all, and a plant can be sick for reasons that have nothing to do with the weather.
Several of these models were originally calibrated for commercial field crops in specific regions. They are used here as general indicators of pressure, not as spray schedules. Leaf wetness is estimated from relative humidity and rainfall rather than measured by a sensor.
Seeing symptoms, not just conditions?
Knowing that three pathogens are favored this week is a starting point, not an answer. Identifying which one is actually at work on a particular plant — and what to do about it through the rest of the season — is what a consultation covers.
See how a consultation works