Plant Disease Identifier: What Apps Can and Cannot Diagnose
You noticed something is off. The leaves have spots, or they’re yellowing in a pattern you don’t recognize, or there’s a fuzz on the stem that wasn’t there last week. You pull out your phone, open a plant disease identifier app, snap a photo, and wait. The app returns a result in seconds – “Alternaria leaf spot” or “bacterial blight” or “iron deficiency.” Now what? If you’ve never heard of Alternaria, you’re back to square one with an extra step in between. And if the app is wrong – a real possibility when several causes produce the same symptom – you might treat for the wrong problem entirely. ...