Cucumber anthracnose treatment
Growing cucumbers is a laborious process. It is important to follow the care and prevent the occurrence of diseases. Cucumber anthracnose is a dangerous disease that can not only reduce yields, but also completely destroy the bush.
Cucumber anthracnose treatment
Characteristics of the disease
Cucumber anthracnose is a type of fungal infection that spreads throughout the bush, even affecting the fruit. There is a second name for the disease - Medyanka.
The source of the disease is a fungal bacterium, it penetrates into the structure of the fetus, to a depth of 5 mm. After that, the fruit ceases to be suitable for sale and consumption.
Symptoms
Cucumber anthracnose has the following symptoms:
- Yellow spots begin to form on the leaves, grow and grow in size. In this regard, the leaves begin to dry and disappear, holes form on the surface of the leaf;
- Brown spots begin to develop on the fruits, which then grow into small pads: if the disease is started, they will converge and an ulcer will appear on the surface of the cucumber.
Causes
Cucumber anthracnose begins to develop actively at temperatures from 4 to 30 ° C. The ideal condition for its development is high humidity (about 90%). Most often, the spread of the disease occurs in the temperature range from 20 to 25 ° C. In this case, the incubation period is 4 days to a week.
At low temperatures, the incubation period is 10-14 days. When the air humidity does not exceed 60%, the disease does not manifest itself in any way and does not affect the growth of the cucumber and the ripening of the fruit.
An infection can be transmitted from a diseased plant to a healthy one in several ways. The most common methods are rainwater, direct contact of two plants, watering, ventilating the greenhouse, farmer's clothing, or parasites.
Preventive measures
It is important to remember that anthracnose affects more than just cucumbers. Even melons or watermelons can be affected by this disease.
Anthracnose (or copperhead of cucumbers) is characterized by the fact that it can reduce the amount of the crop by 2 or 3 times. And even if an infected bush is removed, bacteria can persist in the soil for a long time. For this reason, it is imperative to prevent the disease, because it is better to spend time and energy on preventing the disease than treating it.
The main methods of prevention are:
- all infected plants must be removed from the garden and burned;
- planting the next harvest of cucumbers in this place should be carried out no earlier than a few years later;
- seeds should be harvested only from tested, not diseased fruits;
- give preference to varieties that have a high immune system;
- do not forget to disinfect the seeds before planting;
- disinfect soil and working tools;
- the soil should be fed with organic matter or biological products.
Infection control methods
Only chemical preparations are suitable for treatment.
If you do not take into account prevention, then you can get rid of anthracnose using certain methods that have been developed by experts. Treatment should be carried out not with folk remedies, but with chemicals.
First of all, seeds should be disinfected. For these purposes, it is recommended to use a drug called TMTD. About 2 kg of seeds should take about 10 g of the preparation. Such actions should be carried out several days before the intended landing. This drug will act during the entire growing season of the plant. It will allow you to save not only bushes and fruits, but also allow you to immediately disinfect the soil.
If you managed to find the first symptoms of the disease on your site, then you need to immediately use the Bordeaux mixture. You can also use a solution from a drug called Poliram. It will allow you to get rid of not only anthracnose, but also protect the plant from powdery mildew. Diseased plants can be treated with copper sulfate. If we consider modern means, then the drugs Tsineb and Tsiram will come to the rescue.
Root watering
If the cucumber anthracnose began to develop in the lower part of the stem, closer to the roots, then slightly different activities can be carried out. To do this, prepare Bordeaux liquid 1% and pour it into the root system of each bush. But before that, you need to pour a sufficient amount of water into the soil (at least 1 liter per bush), otherwise the soil will completely dry out and the plant will die.
For this, it is advisable to use a solution of the drug Abiga-Pig. It is applied in the same way as Bordeaux liquid. Please note that cucumber processing should be carried out every 2 days until the disease is completely eradicated.
Conclusion
Copperhead is a very dangerous disease that can destroy not only the yield of a cucumber. But also affect other adjacent cultures. Therefore, you should be especially careful about cucumbers so as not to be left without a crop.