Strawberry leaves curl: why and what to do, how to process the bushes

One of gardeners' favorite treats is strawberries. Many people who have a summer cottage are engaged in growing this berry. Some of them are experiencing strawberry leaf curl.

Why do strawberries curl their leaves?

Before treating the disease, you should familiarize yourself with the main causes of twisting strawberry leaves.

Pests

Quite often, this problem appears due to the attack of insects on strawberry seedlings. There are several dangerous pests that are most often found on strawberries.

Aphid

Aphids are a small and dangerous insect that appears on many garden and horticultural crops. The attack of the pest leads to the fact that the strawberry shoots weaken and stop growing. Aphids also impair the immunity of bushes, which contributes to the emergence and further development of dangerous ailments.

Signs indicating the appearance of aphids include:

• twisting and gradual fading of leaves;
• the appearance of a large number of ants near the leaves;
• drying of the upper stems;
• formation of a sweetish liquid on the surface of shoots;
• the appearance of small growths on the stems.

If an aphid appears on a plant, it is immediately disposed of. Bushes are treated with fungicidal compounds and folk remedies that repel insects.

Spider and strawberry mites

Tick is considered a dangerous parasite, which is difficult to notice on strawberry leaves. The insect becomes noticeable only after the global defeat of seedlings.

The main danger of mites is that they not only damage the leaves, but also worsen the yield of berries.

Among the signs of damage to the bushes by ticks are:

• leaves begin to curl;
• bushes stop growing;
• the inside of the foliage is covered with a silvery coating;
• premature drying of the leaves;
• crop drying before the end of the growing season;
• Deterioration of resistance to low temperatures.

Diseases

Twisting leaves on strawberry bushes may occur due to the appearance of viral or infectious diseases. There are two common diseases that most often affect strawberries.

Powdery mildew

Powdery mildew is a dangerous fungal disease that begins to affect horticultural crops in the first half of May. It is easy to identify the disease in a timely manner, since it is accompanied by pronounced symptoms. At first, shrubs affected by powdery mildew turn pale and do not grow upwards. The youngest bushes immediately dry up and die.

The development of the disease is promoted by an increased level of humidity and high temperature, which exceeds 25 degrees Celsius. Under such conditions, the fungus infects plants and develops rapidly. If temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celsius, the powdery mildew pathogen will die.

To prevent the development of fungal pathology, bushes should be regularly sprayed with fungicides.

Viral diseases

Viral pathologies that cause foliage to curl into a tube include:

• Mosaic. This pathology develops if undisinfected seeds or already infected seedlings are planted in the soil. The strawberry mosaic causes the leaves to become mottled with yellow, curling up over time and starting to dry out.
• Mottling. A viral disease that spreads between plants by aphids. Signs of the onset of the disease include weakening of the ovaries, the absence of young mustaches on the bushes and light spots on the leaf plates.
• Wrinkling. This pathology results in necrotic spotting on stems and curling of young foliage.

Insufficient soil moisture

Some gardeners poorly moisten the soil in the area where strawberries are grown. This leads to the fact that seedlings absorb nutrients worse, which is why their leaves curl.

In order for strawberry bushes to develop normally, they must be properly irrigated. Watering should be carried out at least four times a week in the evening or morning. In this case, you can not use cold water, because due to hypothermia of the soil, the berries can get sick with viral diseases.

Lack of nutrients in the soil

Common causes of leaf curl in planted horticultural crops include nutrient deficiencies in the soil.

Signs of micronutrient deficiencies appear if you rarely fertilize the soil. Most often, strawberries lack magnesium, which is needed for photosynthesis. Due to the deficiency of this substance, the leaves turn purple and begin to deform.

To avoid this, a solution of magnesium sulfate is regularly added to the soil.

Overdose of chemicals

Sometimes gardeners treat bushes with chemicals as a preventive measure against the appearance and development of diseases. If you use such drugs too often, the strawberry will weaken and will not be able to resist certain diseases. Therefore, before processing plants, you should familiarize yourself with the dosages of the use of chemicals.

How to eliminate strawberry leaf curl

Many people are interested in how to process the bushes if the strawberry leaves curl. There are several effective remedies that fight curl:

• Bordeaux liquid. The mixture is used to spray the stems and foliage of diseased bushes. In order to independently prepare an effective mixture, 20-25 milliliters of Bordeaux liquid are added to a ten-liter container with heated water. Spraying is carried out in the late evening when there is no sun.
• Manganese solution. Manganese is considered an effective soil disinfectant. It is used to get rid of pathogens that can lead to leaf curl on strawberry bushes.

Prevention

In order for the remontant strawberry bush not to suffer from leaf curl, care must be taken in advance to prevent the occurrence of such a problem.

To reduce the likelihood of sheets folding, it is necessary to prepare the soil in advance where the berries will grow. Its acidity should not exceed 7 pH, as strawberries often get sick in acidic soils. Also, the soil is saturated with nutrients in advance so that the plants do not suffer from a deficiency of top dressing. Gardeners recommend adding low-lying peat with coarse-grained river sand to the soil.

Conclusion

Gardeners who grow strawberries for a long time sometimes experience leaf curling. It is necessary to familiarize yourself with the causes of deformation of the sheet plate in advance and with the main methods for eliminating this problem.

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