Mosaic on cucumbers: treatment of the disease, how to process and prevention

It's a shame to lose crops due to unexpected diseases. Cucumber mosaic destroys plants entirely (with severe infection) or stops the formation of ovaries. Gardeners are waiting for the fruits, but they are not. Planting new seedlings: everything repeats.

Why is this happening? Necessary measures were not taken, time was lost. The summer resident should be familiar with the signs of the disease. To know the enemy by sight is half to win.

What is this disease

The reason for the failure is the cucumber mosaic virus. An inexperienced gardener misses the onset of plant damage. The infection may already be present in the dacha. It takes a combination of factors to motivate her.

Conditions for the development of the disease

The virus needs favorable conditions to activate. It starts working at:

sudden temperature changes;
warming above 25 ⁰С;
night chill.

The dormant virus is awakening. The disease affects cucumbers. Spreading infection:

weeds;
contaminated soil;
dirty equipment and gardener's gloves;
seeds of a diseased plant (when using own material);
aphids and sap-sucking insects;
wind carrying the remains of diseased plants.

Timely disposal of cucumber lashes, leaves, disinfection of soil, inventory will help reduce the risk of infection transmission.

You should regularly inspect the leaves of plants. There are several types of mosaics. A common feature: greenhouse plantings get sick, cucumbers in the open field are sometimes damaged.

Tobacco mosaic

This virus (TMV) is the most common. It affects nightshade, cucumbers - rarely. Recognizing the threat is easy: you should carefully examine the plants. Signs:

beige stains appear on cucumber leaves;
green parts blistering;
plates dry up and die off;
fruits become ugly, change color.

The ovaries fall off. The number of fruits is decreasing. VTM lives in the ground for 5 years. Before opening, completely destroy the plantings of tobacco plantations. Today, a gardener can protect cucumber beds.

Insidious CMV virus

CMV leads to common mosaic disease. It affects young greenhouse plants. The symptoms are easy to spot. The condition of the leaves should be assessed:

plates become marble in places;
the color of the affected leaf successively changes to light green, dark green, yellowish;
edges roll down;
distance between plates decreases;
leaves are getting smaller;
plant slows growth;
ovaries fall off;
plant stem cracking lengthwise (in severe cases).

Defeat has a mosaic structure.The scale of the disease depends on the resistance of the variety or hybrid, climatic conditions (humidity and temperature in the greenhouse), and the degree of neglect. There is no cure for mosaic on cucumbers. The gardener should prevent infection when planting.

English attack

The disease is caused by the CGMMT virus. This enemy is capable of destroying half the crop. Green mosaic affects young and old bushes. Outdoor plants rarely suffer. Signs of infection:

leaf color remains green in the first days;
the shape and texture of the plate changes (tubercles form);
light streaks appear;
plant growth is inhibited;
fruits change taste (become bitter);
cucumbers are shortened, covered with spots;
seeds do not develop.

The disease will manifest itself a month after planting young cucumbers. Prevention, compliance with the rules of care will help to avoid plant diseases. Biologists call the green mosaic English.

Comorbidity

Often, along with green, there is a white mosaic on cucumbers. It is caused by the CV2A virus. It is activated in hot greenhouses and dense plantings. Signs of disease:

blurred white-yellow spots appear in the area of the veins;
then they merge, change color to white-green;
leaf plate turns white or yellow;
plant development stops.

The virus persists in plant debris, soil, seeds. Seedling resistance to infection increases with proper cultivation.

How to deal with a formidable enemy

Viral infections of cucumbers should not be treated with chemicals. When the first symptoms of the disease appear, it is required:

remove the entire affected plant or just the leaf;
lower the temperature in the greenhouse <30 ⁰С;
increase humidity (place water containers, spray paths);
disinfect the tool;
sprinkle the soil with ashes or water with a light pink solution of manganese;
remove weeds around.

Additionally, you should inspect the site and eliminate anthills. This will stop aphids from spreading. It transmits the infection to he althy plants. Some gardeners, along with the affected bush, take out the soil. It is replaced with he althy soil. Sick plants should be burned.

It should be remembered: the English mosaic virus is resistant to changing external conditions. It remains viable when the temperature rises to 90 ⁰С, freezing, drying.

Restoring favorable conditions in the greenhouse will slow the spread of the disease. To fix the result, it is required to treat the plantings with serum (1 part to 10 parts of water).

Infection prevention

A competent gardener knows: it is easier to prevent than to treat them later. To save the harvest of cucumbers, save your own time and effort, you need to follow the simple advice of agronomists:

Monitor the condition of the soil in the greenhouse. Remove dead plant parts. They are accumulating the virus.
Mosaic is a disease of cucumbers, but the virus overwinters beautifully on the roots of harmful plants. Weeds need to be pulled out regularly. The infection nests in the underground part of thistle, couch grass, wood lice.

Plant plants according to the norm (the seed manufacturer indicates the scheme on the bag). Remove side shoots (if the type of fruiting on side lashes is not indicated).
Apply top dressing according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Do not abuse fresh organic matter (nitrogen).
Cucumbers do not tolerate drafts. To cool the air in the heat, you should whiten the greenhouse or cover the plantings with white non-woven fabric.
Avoid sudden changes in daily temperatures. To do this, it is enough to place several basins of water in the greenhouse. During the day, the liquid cools the air, at night it warms.
Monitor the humidity. Basins of water will help, spraying the paths.

Observe the rule of turnover of vegetable crops. Cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, watermelons are bad predecessors for cucumbers. Solanaceae (tomato, pepper), cruciferous (radish, turnip), legumes (peas, beans) are good.
Siderate the soil regularly. Planting oats, rye, vetch, mustard will improve the top layer of soil. Seedlings must be planted in the ground when digging.
Inspect the site in the spring. Destroy the discovered anthills: ants settle aphids. Blood-sucking insects carry the virus.
Spray plants with green aphid soap solution. Garlic infusion helps well (pour 1 grated clove with a glass of boiling water, insist, dilute with 2 liters of water).
Factory seeds do not require processing. Be sure to warm up your own for 3 days at a temperature of 50 ⁰С (or a day at 60 ⁰С).

Hygiene is also needed in the garden. Wipe the tool regularly with vodka, alcohol, red manganese solution. Wash gardening gloves frequently.
Plant only he althy seedlings. Twisted stems, unusual leaves are suspicious. Such seedlings are rejected. Sick plants should be destroyed immediately. Decontaminate the soil with a solution of copper sulphate or ignite it on fire.
Should not be placed next to the greenhouse planting gourds. Insects, when pollinating, can transfer infected pollen to he althy plants.
Cucumbers rejoice in composting. Only fully mature organics (3 years old) should be applied to the beds.

The most important thing is to choose virus-resistant varieties and hybrids. The seed manufacturer must provide information about this on the label.

Gardeners treated plantings at the initial stage of the mosaic with a disinfectant solution: mix 1 liter of whey in 10 liters of water, add 15 drops of iodine. Cucumbers were sprayed on the leaf. The spread of the disease stopped. But it was not possible to save the affected plants.

Mosaic is a formidable disease. In a few days leads to crop loss. There is no 100% method of getting rid of adversity. To protect cucumbers, gardeners should carry out simple prevention.