Petunia diseases: causes and signs, how to fight and what to do for treatment

In regions where it gets warm early, petunia seeds are sown directly in the flower bed, but more often flowers are grown from seedlings. Already at this stage of development, diseases often occur in a relative of nightshade crops, petunia attracts harmful insects. The infection is transmitted along with seeds infected with fungal spores and bacteria. You can cure the plant if you notice the problem in time.

What diseases petunia is prone to

Herbaceous shrub native to South America loves hot and humid weather. When planted in temperate latitudes, the plant becomes susceptible to pathogenic microorganisms that provoke the development of diseases. The leaves of the flower begin to wither, the buds fall.

Black leg

Seedling stems soften and darken if petunia seeds are planted very densely in soil with high acidity. With frequent and abundant watering, pathogenic fungi are activated, and the flower is affected by the black leg. To prevent the onset of the disease, thickening should not be allowed. Before sowing the seeds, the soil must be diluted with lime, do not overfill the seedlings, but also make sure that the substrate does not dry out.

The shoots infected with the black leg must be removed from the ground, and a he althy petunia should be treated with Metaxil, Oksadixil, Mancozeb fungicides.

Grey Rot

Strong soil moisture, large doses of nitrogen fertilizers, poor lighting contribute to the reproduction of a harmful fungus that causes gray rot.

The disease attacks the roots, but then:

1. Brown spots appear on stems.
2. The leaves are covered with a fluffy coating.
3. The plant dries up.

If signs of rot are detected in time, petunia is sprayed with preparations "Skor", "Maxim", "Integral". With proper care, the flower is rarely affected by a fungal infection.

Brown spotting

When growing seedlings in a greenhouse, where the air humidity is significantly increased, with frequent and abundant irrigation, the water in the soil begins to stagnate. Brown or brown spots form on petunia leaves. The disease has a fungal nature, to treat the plant and destroy spores every 3 days, the flower is sprayed with Bordeaux liquid or blue vitriol. Treating petunias with ammonia diluted in water helps to eliminate stains.

Powdery mildew

If an ornamental flower grows in a flower bed or balcony, when the temperature drops to 18 ° C and rainy weather increases the risk of powdery mildew.The disease develops with dense planting, excessive or insufficient irrigation and is accompanied by the appearance of whitish spots that quickly increase and turn into ulcers. Plaque interferes with photosynthesis, and fungal spores move to other plants. To deal with the sphere library:

1. Remove the top layer of the earth where the petunia grows.
2. Cut off diseased leaves, remove infected shoots.
3. Flowers are sprayed with fungicides.

The preparations "Skor", "Fundazol", "Vitaros" effectively fight powdery mildew. In the early stages of the onset of the disease, you can use folk recipes. Two tablespoons of soda with soap pour 5 liters of water. Petunia is treated with this composition 2 times. Sprayed flowers:

• potassium permanganate;
• an infusion of garlic cloves;
• blue vitriol.

Do not tolerate mustard fungi, pour 1.5-2 liters of powder into a bucket of water and water the roots of the plant, spray the product over the leaves and stems. Stop the development of the disease helps to treat the flower with serum, which must be diluted in a ratio of 1:10 to the liquid.

Petunia is sprayed with a composition that is prepared from a glass of milk, 600 g of water and 10 s alt. If you do not know how to deal with the spherical library, you can be left without flowers.

Downy mildew

In warm and damp weather, fungi begin to multiply on petunias, snapdragons, poppies, vervain, which leads to the appearance of peronosporosis. From above, the leaves of the flowers turn yellow, a white coating forms on the inside. The shoots become covered with cracks, the petals turn black, the plants lose their decorative appearance. The causative agents of downy mildew live for years in the ground and, under favorable conditions, infect both seedlings and flowering plants.

When the leaves are covered with bloom, it is no longer possible to save them, but at the initial stage of the onset of the disease, the petunia is sprayed with fungicides Ridomil Gold, Fitosporin-M, Vectra, folk remedies are used. A tablespoon of soda ash and 5 g of soap are mixed with half a bucket of water and the plants are treated every 3 days.

Chlorosis

Petunia does not grow well in depleted soil that lacks minerals. For iron deficiency:

1. Flowers are stained.
2. Leaves are curling.
3. The shoots dry up.

Chlorosis leads to the death of the roots, and the plant withers. To cope with the disease, a flower bed or pot is watered with water, adding half a teaspoon of citric acid and iron sulfate to it.Flowers are fed with Ferovit, buds are cut off on affected plants.

Light blight

Petunia, planted in a flower bed or in a balcony box, reacts negatively to changing external conditions. With a sharp drop in temperature, prolonged wet weather, flowers are affected by late blight. The disease begins to develop in the lower part of the shoots, then the entire stem rots, and in a few days the petunia dies. It is not possible to save the plant, but the treatment of land and containers for flowers with copper sulphate, fungicides "Ridomil", "Profit" helps to prevent the appearance of late blight.

Petunia pests

The succulent leaves of an ornamental plant attract insects. Parasites get into a flower bed with seedlings, fly over from other crops.

Aphid

A microscopic pest attacks different parts of the petunia, covering them with a sticky and sweet coating that attracts sooty fungus. Leaves on which aphids settle change shape and curl, flowers and buds fall off.

Destroy the pest beneficial insects in the form of lacewings and ladybugs. The smell of tobacco repels the parasite. To deal with aphids completely, petunia is sprayed with aqueous solutions of Aktara, Decis, Confidor.

Whiteflies

The tiny insect lays hundreds of eggs that hatch into voracious larvae. They drink the juice from the leaves, and the plant turns yellow and wilts. Not all insecticides cope with the whitefly, the pest dies after the petunia is treated three times with Iskra and Aktara preparations, which are produced on the basis of permethrin.

Use these products carefully, as they destroy beneficial insects.

Spider mite

Flowering plants suffer from parasites that pierce the leaves with their proboscis to feast on the juice. The presence of a voracious pest is indicated by the appearance of whitish or yellowish dots, the presence of cobwebs on the stem.To cope with colonies of ticks, use the preparations "Apollo", "Neoron". Instead of using chemicals, you can make an infusion of a liter of water and 20 g of dandelion or garlic cloves and spray the plant.

Why the leaves turn yellow: violations of the rules of care

Petunia has delicate flowers, looks very attractive. However, sometimes the plant begins to wither.

Violation of watering rules

Petunia leaves change green to yellow color, the stem softens when it is affected by rot, which occurs when moisture stagnates. If the plant began to fade, you must:

1. Cut dried shoots.
2. Spray the flower with fungicide.
3. Carefully loosen the ground.

You should try to water the plant with warm water, but not abundantly. The soil must not get wet.

Violation of the temperature regime

Petunia comes from warm lands, but an adult plant in a flower bed normally tolerates cold weather and even slight frosts, but does not tolerate sudden changes in weather, prolonged rains. Flower seedlings develop well at 16-20 ° C, at temperatures below 13 the leaves begin to turn yellow, growth stops.

Iron deficiency

Petunia is demanding on the composition of the soil. With an insufficient number of trace elements, the flower loses its decorative effect. To make up for the deficiency of nutrients, fertilizers are applied to the ground. With a lack of iron, the leaves of the plant curl, turn yellow, the decorative effect and the number of buds deteriorate.

Proper petunia care

The South American guest is an unpretentious plant, but if you do not take care of it, diseases develop, pests attack.

Treatment of petunias with folk remedies

When yellow leaves appear, the bush is treated with copper sulfate, adding a little crushed soap to the solution. If watering is disturbed, fungi are activated in order to prevent them from multiplying, the petunia is sprayed with potassium permanganate for 5 days. The warm composition, which is prepared from 2 tablespoons of soda, 5 liters of water and soap, copes with pathogenic microorganisms. When the leaves wither, petunia is treated by combining a liter of fermented milk whey with a bucket of liquid.

For the prevention of powdery mildew, an ornamental plant is sprayed with a spray bottle, filling it with infusion of horsetail. "Furacilin" helps to cure petunia from the disease. To do this, 10 tablets are dissolved in a bucket of water. Mullein, an infusion of garlic and mustard are used to spray the flower.

Chemical treatment

If the remedies used by the people turned out to be ineffective, the plant continues to hurt, the leaves dry and the buds fall off, you need to get rid of the affected shoots and spray the flower with fungicides:

• Amistar Extra;
• "Fundazol";
• "Bogatyr";
• "Acrobat";
• Topaz.

When purchasing a drug, you need to carefully read the instructions, not every remedy cures all diseases.

When whiteflies, aphids, thrips appear, biological preparations Aktofit, Fitoverm, systemic insecticides Intavir, Desis-Profi, Calypso, Aktellik, Nurell acaricides are used.

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