Blackberry diseases and pests: types, symptoms, treatment and control

Blackberries have begun to gain the attention of gardeners recently. Therefore, not everyone is familiar with the rules of agricultural technology of the plant. But if the basic methods of caring for a berry crop are clear and simple, then opinions differ about pests and diseases of blackberries. And how to deal with them and what are the preventive measures, not every experienced summer resident knows.

Classification of blackberry diseases

All garden plant diseases can be divided into those caused by:

• improper care and adverse conditions;
• disease-causing fungi moving with the help of wind, rain, man;
• soil bacteria;
• viruses spread by insects.

The connection between garden pests and blackberry pathologies is strong. By damaging parts of the plant, insects contribute to the penetration of pathogenic microorganisms, weakening the horticultural crop.

Symptoms and types of fungal diseases

Determining an infection caused by fungal spores is within the power of even a novice gardener. Leaves and stems are covered with spots, mold patches of different colors are formed on them. They are the site of spore development. Penetration of the fungus takes place by getting into the stomata, lentils of a berry plant. Even a small damage on the bush will become a gateway for parasites to get inside the plant tissues.

Rust

Symptoms of pathology include the presence of small orange dots on the stems, leaves.Growing in volume, they turn the plate into a continuous dried field. The leaves begin to fall off, and the bushes stop developing, weaken. The spots that have appeared on the stems contribute to the cracking of the shoots.

Treatment consists in treatment with Bordeaux liquid or a solution of copper sulphate. Infected branches and leaves are pruned, buried in the ground to a depth of 15 centimeters, where they decompose.

Septoria, or white spotting

Sick seedlings cause blackberry disease. The fungus is especially active in wet and cool summers. Already at the beginning of the season, last year's shoots will be with leaves covered with white spots. The same light areas are visible around the kidneys, internodes. By the end of summer, spores multiply, the fruiting body of the fungus is black dots on parts of the plant.

Timely removal of affected leaves, pruning of diseased shoots will stop the course of the disease. Before the leaves bloom, spray the bushes with Bordeaux liquid in the form of a 1% solution.

Anthracnose

Pathogenic fungus spends the winter in plant waste In spring, it infects leaves, shoots, buds, inflorescences. The description of the signs of infection includes the fact that the leaves are covered with lilac spots with jagged edges up to 2-4 millimeters in size. Due to the fact that the leaves and shoots do not develop, affected by the disease, dry out, then the berries can not wait.

Grey Rot

The disease affects all above-ground parts of the plant, but the berries are most affected. Spores, germinating, have a negative effect on the growth of berry crops. Light brown mold on the berries is one of the clearest signs of the disease. In this case, the fruits do not ripen, fall off, most of the crop is lost. Chorus is considered effective against the fungus. Copper-based products can also be used.

Phyllosticosis

Pathology is called brown spotting, as it is characterized by spots of various shapes and sizes of a brownish color.Then in the middle they are decorated with black dots. At the advanced stage of the pathology, the entire surface of the leaf turns brown, and then dries up. If symptoms are detected, it is necessary to destroy the affected leaves, and treat the blackberry bushes with fungicides.

Purple spotting

In warm, wet winters, the fungus remains viable, settling on bramble bushes in spring. The shoots and stems of the plant covered with reddish spots begin to crack. The leaves dry up and fall off. You can’t expect a good harvest from a plant, there will be few ovaries, and they will dry out ahead of time.

Methods of treating fungal diseases

Preparations containing copper are at the heart of the fight against fungal infections. Bordeaux liquid and blue vitriol are especially popular. Nowadays, biological products are offered that effectively affect the cause of the pathology. A solution of "Trichodermin" is necessary for the treatment and prevention of diseases.It is active against the fungus in early spring before the leaves have blossomed.

It is necessary to process the bushes before flowering and after fungicides. This will help stop the damage to the flowers and ovaries of the berry. If the symptoms of a fungal infection appear, then you can apply the treatment with Fundazol.

Before wintering, you need to take preventive measures. To do this, spray the bushes with copper-containing products.

Classification of viral diseases and their manifestations

Blackberry pathologies caused by a virus are less common than fungal infections. But they do significant damage to berry plantations.

Ringspot

In the spring, on the leaves of the blackberry, you can find a chlorotic ring pattern. In this case, the top of the stem dies, and shoots appear from the axillary buds. The bush becomes untidy, with ugly shoots.The virus is carried by aphids. Its peculiarity is that it is also found on garden raspberries.

Mosaic

The disease manifests itself as a mosaic pattern of yellowish spots on the leaves. The specks are fan-shaped along the veins of the leaf plate. During the growing season, the bushes turn yellow, weaken, do not produce full-fledged berries.

Curly

The disease is caused by seedlings infected with the virus. They learn about the presence of pathology by twisted leaves. Instead of green, the surface of the leaf plate becomes yellow-brown. Internodes and inflorescences look ugly on the bushes. And there will be no fruit set on diseased plants.

Yellow netting

The disease has a sign of chlorosis, when the entire surface of the leaves is dotted with spots, like a fan. The danger of the disease is that the plant stops development, begins to dry.

Prevention and treatment

It is impossible to get rid of the virus from a diseased blackberry bush, so preventive measures play an important role. Among them it is necessary to highlight:

• fight against aphids, nematodes as carriers of viruses;
• careful selection of seedlings, treatment with disinfectants;
• spraying procedure with a special drug that has a detrimental effect on pathogenic organisms - "Pentaphage".

Competent agricultural technology when growing a berry crop will protect plants from serious pathologies.

Bacterial diseases, measures to combat them

Features of bacterial infection is that pathogenic microorganisms penetrate damaged, weakened plants. The disease begins to manifest itself as growths on the roots, which disintegrate as they develop.So the bacteria remain in the ground, remaining until the next year and infecting all blackberry bushes. Weeds serve as carriers of bacterial cancer. Therefore, it is imperative to destroy them, to loosen the aisles regularly. And diseased crops are uprooted and burned.

Root and stem cancer

Manifestations of bacterial cancer include:

• outgrowths, bumps are formed on the roots and shoots of blackberries;
• bushes stop growing, dry up;
• young growth is weak, thin;
• leaves wither.

Since bacteria need wounds and cracks to penetrate plants, they must be covered with var in time, treated with disinfectants to exclude infection. When small bumps appear on the stems and roots, they are cut off, the sections are treated with clay or garden pitch.

Plants need to be sprayed with Pentaphage C. Only in this way can a valuable culture be saved from destruction.

Other diseases

There are such pathologies in blackberries, the cause of which is difficult to explain. Although they are not very common, it is necessary to have an idea about them.

Growth, or dwarfism

Resembling broomsticks sticking out of the ground - this is how berry bushes affected by unicellular mycoplasmas look like. The disease occurs when the plants are weakened after winter, some of their shoots are frozen. It is difficult for a berry to recover even after a long drought. When such “shorts” decorate the garden plot, it is clear that the sick blackberry cannot be resurrected. It must be dug up and burned. It is better to spray the remaining bushes with "Fundazol".

Varieties of pests and signs of their parasitism

Of the harmful insects for blackberries, both those that winter in the ground and those that live on stems and leaves are dangerous. Some parasites need leaf juice to live, which they suck. Others feed on stems and shoots.

Pests of blackberry roots

For the inhabitants of the upper layers of soil in the garden, food must be obtained by making moves. When insect larvae reach the roots of plants such as blackberries, they begin to parasitize them. Therefore, to save the culture, timely control of insects and their larvae is needed.

Medvedka

A large insect with strong paws gnaws through blackberry roots. After that, the bush begins to dry out. It is necessary to determine the cause of the disease. To do this, the earth is raked from the roots to determine the pest. The burrows of the parasite are filled with water with ammonia or soapy water. For baits, manure with straw is used, filling the holes with it. Bears will build nests in them, and then you can scatter organic material and destroy the insect.

Maybeetle

May beetle larvae, or beetle, feed on leaves, blackberry roots. You can destroy the larvae by digging up a bush and placing the root in a mash of clay and tobacco dust. In May, the bushes are watered with water with a few drops of iodine.

Parasitic on leaves

When deforming blackberry leaves, it is necessary to carefully examine them for pests. Seeing insect colonies, you can manually collect them or cut off the affected leaves.

Raspberry leaf sawfly

Pests are leaf-eating, as their larvae destroy the leaves first in the lower part of the bush, then rise up. Wintering is carried out by caterpillars in cocoons, hiding in fallen leaves.

If you do not fight the sawfly, the bushes will soon be left without greenery. To protect planting berries from pest attacks, it is necessary to dig up the ground around the plants. He does not like it when they are sprayed with infusion of garlic, tobacco.

Blackberry Aphid

This type of aphid is large. It has dark patterns on its yellowish back. They parasitize aphid colonies on the reverse side of the leaf. The fight against them is carried out both by spraying with insecticides and folk remedies.

Raspberry leaf aphid

From spring, when blackberry leaves become ugly and covered with sticky secretions, aphids begin to suck out the juices of plants of the aphid family. In summer, a huge number of small pests can be seen on the shoots. From them, the plant becomes infected with fungal infections, viral diseases. Of the drugs to combat aphids, they use "Confidor" or "Fitoverm".

Common spider mite

A small spider with four pairs of legs is visible only with a magnifying glass. But the harm brought to the berry culture is enormous. He settles on the underside of the leaves, sucking out the juices and braiding everything with a thin cobweb.Because of this, the leaves begin to turn brown, die. After fertilization, females find refuge in fallen leaves, lumps of earth.

You can prevent the action of the pest by cleaning and burning garbage in the fall, digging the soil, fumigating with sulfur.

Raspberry Hairy Mite

Spider web, entangling the shoots, leaves and berries of blackberries, indicates the defeat of the plant by a tick. White dots are found at the bottom of the plate. The leaves begin to deform, and the plant lags behind in development.

On the shoots of the bush

The damage to the shoots is hard to find, since the insects are so microscopic as the damage they have done. But from them, blackberry bushes can become infected with pathogenic viruses, fungi that penetrate plant tissues.

Raspberry Nutcracker

A small hymenopteran insect with its pathogenic action causes the growth of elongated swellings on the shoots, gall.After that, the berry begins to dry out, stops in development. As soon as blisters are found on the branches, they try to cut them off and treat the affected areas with Actellik.

Raspberry shoot aphid

The buds on the tops of the shoots are affected by shoot aphids. Having fed on the juices from the branches, the parasite hurries to destroy the inflorescences, petioles, then moving on to the fruits. Insect colonies increase several times over the season, threatening to destroy the entire blackberry bush. To eliminate the pest, it is necessary to cut out the shoots infected with the parasite, and spray the bush with a Fitoverm-type preparation.

Raspberry stem fly

Flies with transparent wings circle over the blackberry bushes, laying their eggs. The emerging larvae bite into the tissues, making passages inside the stems. From here comes the withering of the berry culture with sagging branches. So that the fly does not have time to fly out, early in the spring they mulch the soil around the bushes with a layer of compost or humus.

Raspberry gall midge

Feeding on the juices of a blackberry plant, fly larvae hide in special growths, galls. After pupation, after some time, they turn into adult gall midges. The color of an adult is interesting: a long body with orange stripes rests on high legs. The danger is represented by the habitats of the larvae, as cracking of the shoots occurs here, they begin to break.

You can prevent pest attacks by carefully inspecting the bushes, cutting out weakened and diseased shoots.

On buds, flowers, buds and berries

Delicious and he althy berries are valued in blackberries, and when the fruits do not appear, it is either due to diseases or pests. Among the harmful insects, there are many who themselves are not averse to eating black drupes. Then it becomes clear why the berries dry.

Raspberry Bud Moth

Young buds, as well as inflorescence buds and ovaries are a delicacy for the parasite. The insect does not allow black berries to develop. They do not reach ripeness, they immediately begin to deform, become rigid. You can get rid of butterflies by shaking the adults off the bushes. After collecting pests on a plastic bag, they are burned.

Flowerworm

This is the name of a bug with a body length of 3 millimeters, gray with black color. After gnawing the pedicel, the female lays eggs there. And already hatched, the larvae are engaged in eating blackberry flowers. You can get rid of the pest by picking insects manually or by spraying with Vofatox, a solution of wood ash.

How to deal with the invasion of insects

Only timely treatment of plants helps save them from death.Examining the blackberry bushes regularly, they notice all the changes in the aerial part. It is necessary to pay attention to the condition of the leaves, flowers, shoots. If drying leaves are found, the webs on them immediately take action. They start with benign options, switching to insecticides if insect reproduction threatens the varietal berry.

Agricultural practices such as digging the soil in spring and autumn, mulching, cutting out weak shoots will stop parasites, destroy them.

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