Categories: Pest control

Pepper diseases and pests: treatments and methods of control

Despite careful care, pepper, like any other culture, prone to various diseases and pests, which can cause significant damage to seedlings and lead to the loss of most of the crop. Therefore, it is important to know the most common diseases of pepper, methods of their prevention and control. This is our article.

Alternaria

This disease is often called dry spot, which is typical for tomatoes. Alternaria - a fungal infection, arising from a sharp drop in temperature, if, example, strong heat is replaced by frequent showers. Recently planted seedlings are also sick, and already formed bushes in the open ground.

The main features:

appearance of brown spots on the lower leaves, which gradually pass to the trunk and fruit part;
black plaque on the damaged surface of the plant (especially after rain or high humidity, if the care consisted of excessive watering).

Control and prevention measures:

compliance with crop rotation rules, when the pepper is re-grown in the same place not earlier, than through 4 years;
pre-treatment of seeds with fundazole;
immediate treatment of plants with organic means (trichodermin or phytosporin), if the first signs of the disease appear;
application of fungicides Rydomil Gold, Quadris or Tattoo in the advanced stages of pepper disease.

gray rot

The disease is caused by another unpleasant fungus, which affects the fruit at all stages of ripening. Consequently, peppers cover rotten spots and gray mold. The most favorable period for the development of the disease is rainy weather, when the plant grows in open ground.

Get rid of gray rot will help:

fungicide spraying - Barrier and others;
removal of affected parts of the bush.

White rot

Sclerotiniosis is characteristic of many vegetable crops and is accompanied by the appearance of a white fluffy plaque on the basal part of the stem and solid black formations inside it. The fungus causes softening of tissues and disruption of water and nutrients. As a result, the bush was damaged, all parts of which turned white, withers and dies, and the vegetables become pale and watery with a touch of white flakes.

Sources and causes of white rot:

contaminated soil, who did not receive proper care before sowing;
non-compliance with the conditions of storage and keeping in the greenhouse;
acidic and supersaturated with nitrogen fertilizers soil;
rains and cool weather.

Prevention and control measures, helping to get rid of sclerotinosis:

Peppers and other plants should not be grown in the same bed. Usually sick salad, parsley, cucumbers, carrots, cabbage, horseradish, beans and onions.
You need to remove all plant debris after the previous season, as in the open ground, and in greenhouses.
Strongly acidic soils should be treated with lime.
It is necessary to disinfect greenhouses and hothouses before planting seedlings.
You need to do regular inspections of plants (at least once in 10 days) and remove their damaged areas, which have turned white or black, withered leaves and stepsons.
It is important to follow the rules of watering - only warm water and optimal humidity.
Affected areas should be treated with copper-containing drugs, and then powdered with crushed chalk or charcoal.

vertex rot

One of the most common problems with pepper is horse rot, which often affects young plants, especially in greenhouses. At a bacterial form of a disease gray spots with a dark rim on fruits are shown, and for infectious lesions are characterized by watery spots, which gradually thicken and lead to rot of peppers. Another sign of the disease is the curl of the leaves on the bushes, which began to wither.

Most often, this variant of pepper disease is caused by excess nitrogen or lack of calcium in the soil, as well as insufficient care with impaired humidity due to irregular watering, which pepper does not like.

That will help get rid of apical rot:

abundant watering;
burning of affected specimens;
spraying 0,4% potassium chloride (1 ampoule in 30 parts of water) and root feeding with calcium nitrate (20 g of nitrate on 10 And water), conducting 3-4 times during the growing season;
control of the concentration of nitrogen fertilizers in the soil of the greenhouse.

withering

There are several types of wilting peppers. Why they meet and how to deal with them, consider below.

Verticillium wilt, caused by fungi, affects many vegetable crops - tomatoes, potato, eggplants and cucumbers. Shortly before flowering, their leaves begin to deform in the internodes, blacken and lag behind in growth, motley spots appear. If the disease progresses and do nothing, then the leaves turn yellow and die in dry hot weather or hang sluggishly along the stem in case of rain. Dirty white plaque appears on the affected tissues, similar to that, which leaves spider mites on peppers.

Verticellosis spreads from the root to the top of the bush, and gradually the whole plant dies. Fruits or not tied, or become small and wrinkled. Pathogenic fungi persist in open ground or plant debris and enter the plant through roots or wounds, obtained by loosening or transplanting peppers. The disease is characteristic of greenhouses and hotbeds, but can affect the bushes in the open ground, which require very careful care. The fungus can live in the ground for a very long time, forming chlamydospores and microsclerotia, which is very difficult to get rid of. The parasite is actively developing at low humidity and high temperature in the soil with a neutral reaction.

Verticellosis should be treated comprehensively, this implies the following measures:

growing plants in 4-5-year crop rotation;
destruction of all plant residues;
planting only healthy seedlings, which provides competent care;
soil disinfection;
maintaining humidity levels within 85%, which is achieved by regular and abundant watering;
loosening the soil after moistening as a mandatory criterion for the care of pepper seedlings;
top dressing with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, that no more 3-4 times per season;
increase resistance to the disease through foliar treatment with solutions of trace elements (10 g of manganese, 2 g of copper sulfate, 3 g of boric acid and 2 g of zinc on 10 And water);
treatment of roots with wood ash (1 a glass of 10 And water) and 0,5% extraction of superphosphate;
spraying plants with fungicides (Trichodermin or Previcur), if the disease is in the active stage.

Fusarium wilt is especially unpleasant, which affects the culture at all stages of its development. The disease begins with a characteristic yellowing and leaf fall, which gradually leads to root rot and plant death. Treatment and care rarely help to get rid of the disease, therefore, the most effective way to control - careful digging and destruction of diseased plants.

Measures to prevent fusarium wilt are reduced to the following actions:

choose varieties and hybrids resistant to disease;
for 2 weeks before planting to carry out seed treatment with fundazole (on 10 g seeds 0,1 g means) or dusting their trichodermin in the same ratio immediately before sowing;
get rid of weeds and plant debris in a timely manner, especially nightshade plants.

It is not easy to get rid of spotting, which is often called bronze pepper. The leaves appear brown and gray (or purple) spots, which gradually affect the cuttings and young branches. Eventually, the upper part of the plant withers and dies, and the peppers themselves are covered with greens, brown or yellow spots of annular shape. If the first signs of the disease are detected, watering should be stopped and a mature crop harvested. A good result is obtained by treating planting with fundazole.

Pests also cause wilting, who love plant sap and impress plants in the open ground. The most common pests of pepper - snails, mites and aphids. They are the main carriers of infections and viruses.

Ants can often be found on the plant, who eat paddy, released by aphids. They settle aphids on the young and tastiest parts of the bush, from which the plant begins to wither, if you do not take timely action.

The close proximity of ants has its advantages and disadvantages. So, these restless workers are constantly loosening the soil, which helps to improve its structure and fertility by enriching it with potassium and humus, but at the same time - increases the acidity, which can be detrimental to peppers. Ants are great for getting rid of spider mites and snails, living on the leaves of the plant, but themselves do not mind eating seeds and young seedlings, planted in a greenhouse.

There are many ways to remove ants, starting from the usual destruction of the anthill, which will force them to move to another location, to the use of sweet baits and chemicals. Experienced gardeners do not recommend getting rid of such "neighbors" in the beds. Ants bite painfully and can damage crops and seedlings, but the benefits of their presence will be much greater.

During the season, the ant colony eats a huge number of pests, which form the basis of their diet, which significantly helps in combating them. Ants mix the soil to a depth of 70 cm, enriching the soil with magnesium, potassium, phosphorus and magnesium, improving air access to plant roots. The exception is red ants, pharaoh ants and tree ants, causing irreparable damage to many cultures, which leads to their withering and complete extinction.

Video "Snails on pepper"

After each watering, the snails come to the surface and destroy the peppers. How to deal with them, watch the video.

Black leg

Insufficient care for seedlings and seedlings, especially in the greenhouse, can lead to a fungal disease - blackleg. The fungus is actively developing in low light, contaminated soil, high humidity, too thick ??planting seedlings and lowering the temperature.

Signs of disease in seedlings are:

gray plaque with darkening on the root collar;
stem rot;
root wilting and the death of the whole bush.

In adult plants, the stem becomes dark brown at the bottom, and their leaves turn yellow and wither.

There are few effective methods to combat blackleg, even with very thoughtful care. Some gardeners prefer treatment with Zaslin and reducing the amount of watering. Usually, damaged seedlings are not treatable, and the struggle for their survival becomes meaningless. That is why you should get rid of such seedlings, so that the disease does not spread to healthy bushes.

Prevention and disinfection measures involve watering the seedlings 3% a solution of copper sulfate or manganese (pink color). The soil should be well loosened and sprinkled with wood ash.