It is very important to remember that a correct diagnosis is the most important step in the eventual control of a plant disease.
Most diseases have a fairly well established control protocol.
Most often, failure to control the disease happens because the problem was misdiagnosed in the first place. These methods will be discussed further with examples. Cultural methods for disease control refer to those growing methods that reduce pathogen levels or reduce the rate of disease development. Note the tall sugarcane planted between rows of much shorter pepper. The sugarcane serves as a windbreak to reduce windblown sand injury that might create wounds for entry of pepper pathogens.