If you find a greyish-white coating on the plant leaves or brown balls, the plant is affected by powdery mildew. The light coating gradually begins to thicken and at the end acquires a brown tint. This is nothing more than a mycelium that lives at the expense of a plant. Brown balls are fungus spores. The danger of this disease is as follows: the plant completely loses the decorative appearance, and the affected areas gradually turn black and die. If inflorescences are affected, they can not form ovaries. In addition, this disease significantly reduces the resistance during wintering.
As a rule, the onset of infection occurs at the beginning of the summer. During this period, spores are released from the fruit body of the fungus. In dry times during the heat, when there are sharp fluctuations in temperature and humidity, ideal conditions for the development of powdery mildew appear. It happens that the appearance of the disease provoked too intensive use of nitrogen fertilizer. If a strong rejuvenating pruning is done, the plant can not resist.
Powdery mildew is a fungal disease. It is transmitted by the wind or with splashes of water during irrigation.
How to get rid of powdery mildew?
Combating mildew begins with prevention. In the summer, pollination should be carried out at least 4 times. If possible, do not use nitrogen fertilizers during budding, this significantly increases the risk of the disease. Increase the stability of potassium and phosphate fertilizers.
The fight against powdery mildew should be started on time, otherwise it threatens an entire epidemic. The fungus prefers to winter on plant remains, so it is very important to remove them in time and burn them or deepen them in the soil.
On the bushes of gooseberries and currants should be cut off the affected ends of the shoots in the spring. Be sure to feed bushes with "correct" fertilizers. Before and after flowering, it is necessary to treat the plant with calcined soda. Once in 2-3 years it is permissible to apply eradicating spraying with ferrous sulfate solution.
In strawberries, raspberries and dogrose, disease affects only the aerial part. In this case, the leaves begin to coarsen and collapse. You can spray plants with colloidal sulfur once a week. Here are a few recipes:
- mix 50 g of sulfur with 5 g of copper sulfate and dilute in 10 liters of water;
- mix 100 g of laundry soap and add to it 5 g of vitriol, all diluted in 10 liters of water;
- you can prepare a solution of Mullein in a ratio of 1:10, insist at least 4 hours.
There are also folk ways how one can get rid of powdery dew. Here are a few recipes:
- in 1 liter of water, dissolve 4 g of soda ash and 4 grams of laundry soap. The solution is sprayed with plants twice weekly;
- in 1 liter of boiling water dissolve half a glass of ash. Insist for two days. Dissolve the solution and add to it 4 g of dissolved soap. Process the plants twice at an interval a week.
Powdery mildew on flowers
For a flower grower, this problem is no less urgent, because the disease often affects indoor flowers.
But all the same, measures to combat powdery mildew on flowers exist. To save the plant, you need to respond as soon as possible. There are special means of powdery mildew, which can be purchased in stores for florists. The drug "Topaz" is used according to the instructions for all plants, even healthy ones. It is often enough to process the flowers once.