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Spring is the hottest time for gardeners. You need to grow healthy seedlings to get a rich harvest. Pepper lovers, having sown seeds for seedlings, expect friendly shoots.
But it often happens that hopes are not justified: for no reason, no reason, young seedlings of peppers begin to behave strangely: they become weak, the leaves change color. After some time, the seedlings die. If it is possible to save the seedlings of peppers, they develop with a great lag, the yield is minimal.
The reason is most often that the seedlings of only sprouted peppers are affected by a black leg. The disease affects not only weak sprouts of peppers, many vegetable, flower, berry crops suffer from it. Adult garden trees and shrubs do not spare the disease.
What a disease "black" leg
Blackleg is a bacterial, fungal disease. Most often, it affects plants that have just been born. The characteristic features first appear on the leaves of the pepper, but the reason lies in problems with the root system.
Microspores of the disease live in the soil, they are able to survive severe frosts. Bacteria can be found in any soil, without them it loses fertility. But at some point, they begin to process not only the dead remains, but also the living structure. The disease is not capable of affecting healthy plants; it takes into circulation those that, for some reason, have weakened.
The defeat of the black leg through the root passes to the stem, the bacteria begin to draw out nutritious juices from the plant, wedging into the cell membrane. These microorganisms are not just tenacious, they also have the ability to multiply exponentially, at a temperature of + 5 degrees. A humid environment, high temperatures (above +25 degrees) are excellent conditions for a blackleg.
How to identify a black leg in seedlings
Since the causative agent of the blackleg lives in the ground, the disease cannot always be recognized immediately. Moreover, not all plants get sick at the same time, since the black leg is a focal disease.
After a while, dark spots appear on the stem, it becomes thinner, becomes soft. Most often, the disease begins in weak seedlings of seedlings.
How to deal with the disease
For the fight to be effective, it must be borne in mind that the black leg is a lover of acidic soil. Acidity can be reduced by:
- lime;
- dolomite flour;
- furnace ash;
- chalk.
In no case should you use the soil on which the peppers, tomatoes, blue ones were planted in the previous year. More suitable will be the soil where they grew:
- sown herbs;
- garden greens;
- parsley, celery;
- beans, peas, mustard leaves.
Before sowing seeds, the earth is calcined or spilled with a strong dark pink solution of potassium permanganate. It is poured into boiling water.
Watch a video in which an experienced gardener talks about methods of dealing with a serious disease of peppers:
First steps
As soon as signs of the disease appear even on one plant, the fight must be started immediately.
- First of all, do the disinfection of the soil on healthy plants. It is spilled with a pink solution of potassium permanganate, stopping watering for a while.
- Diseased peppers are powdered with ash or crushed charcoal. After that, formalin is diluted and the earth is watered.
Defeat focal development pepper diseases helps to remove plants and soil. It can only be used after thorough disinfection.
Preventive measures
Disease, whatever it is, can be prevented. This also applies to the black leg. Preventive measures taken in a timely manner prevent bacteria and fungi from developing.
What do we have to do:
- Use only sterile containers for sowing seeds and picking grown peppers. The dishes are washed with soapy water and disinfected with a solution of dense pink potassium permanganate.
- Before planting pepper seeds, the ground is specially prepared by spilling disinfectant solutions.
- It is undesirable, if there is no special soil, to add unripe compost. It is in it that spores of the black leg settle.
- It is necessary to reduce the acidity of the soil by adding wood ash.
Pre-planting processing of pepper seeds from a black leg is a mandatory procedure. A pale pink solution of potassium permanganate is prepared, the seeds are placed in it for at least 3 hours. Having slightly dried, you can start sowing.
Microclimate creation - the possibility of plant diseases
- Water the seedlings as the soil dries up. When working with tiny seedlings, it is advisable to use a pipette so that water does not fall on the stem and leaves.
- When the first shoots appear, if the seed pots were covered with a film, remove it immediately. Otherwise, dew drops will accumulate around the stems, and this is harmful. In addition, the pepper seedlings will lack air.
- For pots with seedlings, choose a light window with a warm window sill. Any cooling of the soil is fraught with the development of blackleg spores, as a favorable environment is created.
In thickened crops, the black leg can develop rapidly. It is enough to get sick with one pepper, as spores will begin to infect neighboring plants. Seedlings should not be watered with nitrogen fertilizers, it turns pale, stretches from this. Her immunity is weakened. Temperature differences are unacceptable.
Conclusion
Not always, it turns out, get rid of the disease overnight. If measures were not taken on time, more serious drugs will have to be used. You can use:
- Batholite;
- Fitosporin;
- Fitolavin.
There is a good folk remedy: to shed the soil with an infusion made from onion husks and vodka. For one part of vodka, 10 parts of the infusion are taken. Enough, two-time spraying with a weekly interval.
