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Eggplant diseases are an unpleasant phenomenon that can spoil the mood of even the most persistent gardener. By damaging the leaves, shoots, flowers and fruits, eggplant pests force you to react quickly: intensify care and carry out immediate treatment, in general, do everything to fight them. In this article, we will look at what diseases most often affect eggplant, how to deal with pests, and how to properly care for the plant so that its cultivation does not become a big problem.
Diseases
The most common eggplant diseases are late blight, verticillium wilt, gray and soft rot, anthracnose, cercospora spotting. Violation of the conditions for caring for eggplants leads to the fact that these diseases affect the plant in a complex manner, knocking down their normal growth and development. Fighting them is not easy, but the chance of success is quite high.
Fitoftoroz
Fungal diseases are a real curse for greenhouse plants. Their detrimental effect on eggplant leaves could be a good plot for a work in the horror genre.
Late blight manifests itself in the first half of the season, affecting the leaves, stems and emerging eggplant fruits. The green part of the plant is covered with rusty spots with a light green halo around, a whitish coating spreads along the lower part of the leaf. In a short time, the leaves curl, wither, and then fall off.
Why does it appear? Due to violation of crop rotation, with high humidity and lack of plant immunity.
What to do to get rid of late blight? Treatment, in this case, consists in treating the plant with a solution of copper sulfate. It is important to process the bushes in the evening in calm, dry weather. If the disease developed during the fruiting period, then any chemicals are excluded. It is better to use folk remedies, for example, garlic tincture. To prepare it, take 1 cup of garlic cloves, ground into a pulp, pour 2-3 liters of water, leave to infuse in a dark, warm place for 5 days. Strain the finished solution, dilute 1: 3, and then proceed to spraying.
Withering
Verticillium wilt develops with a sharp change in temperature in the greenhouse, affecting the entire plant.
Why does the disease appear and how does it proceed? Eggplant leaves wither due to a violation of the integrity of the vessels, which leads to the imminent death of the plant. The stem turns black from the inside, becomes slimy and soft. Verticillosis spreads through the root system if it is damaged mechanically or due to insects. Affected tissues are overgrown with a whitish coating – spores of the fungus. The main danger of verticillium is that it persists in the soil and plant debris, that is, the risk of re-infection is high.
What to do? The fight against verticillium wilt primarily consists in the preventive destruction of weeds, the treatment of plants with insecticides. Of course, crop rotation should be observed – do not plant the same plants for several years in a row in one place.
Direct treatment can be carried out with fungicidal preparations: Previkur, Topsin-M, Trichodermin. You should also carry out root dressing with infusion of wood ash or superphosphate.
Video “Why eggplant leaves wither”
The reasons for the wilting of leaves on eggplant and how to deal with this phenomenon are discussed in the video.
Gray mold
Growing eggplant in the absence of crop rotation in a greenhouse makes them vulnerable to all fungal microflora.
Why does it appear? Gray rot spreads through soil and plant debris, especially if the relative humidity is quite high. Watery brown spots appear on the leaves, after a few days a gray coating forms on top of the spots.
What to do? Preventive care for eggplants consists in treating with fungicides, disinfecting the soil and seeds of the plant before planting, and observing crop rotation. The greenhouse should be regularly disinfected with Zircon and Fitosporin preparations. Be sure to carry out pinching and pinching.
Treatment of the disease occurs under the sign of normalization of air temperature, humidity, watering. Be sure to remove the affected parts of the eggplant, cover the slices with lime or wood ash. Plants need to be treated with Horus or Antrakol preparations.
soft rot
A rare guest in the greenhouse is soft rot. But when it appears, it will cause tremendous damage to the plantings.
Why does it appear? It develops exclusively in hot weather, with weak watering at any stage of eggplant development.
The plant becomes covered with spots, from which the leaves wither, their appearance is rapidly deteriorating. Due to a violation of the vegetative processes, eggplant, which has survived to the fruiting stage, forms small, weak fruits with a poor taste.
Prevention of the appearance of soft rot lies in the choice of varieties resistant to it: Nancy F4, Alekseevsky. It is imperative to process the seeds before planting, carry out top dressing and plant greens only in the ground previously treated with antiseptics.
It is necessary to treat the disease by spraying with Bordeaux solution, fungicidal preparations based on chlorotolonil, prochlorase.
Antraknoz
As with peronosporosis, the plant affected by anthracnose is covered with gray oval spots, with a brown border. After some time, these spots turn into tubercles, and then overgrow with a fluffy white coating with black dots. The fruits are ulcerated with cracks, quickly begin to rot.
Why does it appear? High humidity in the greenhouse, with a total temperature of 15-20°C, creates ideal conditions for the development of anthracnose.
As a preventive measure, as with all fungal diseases, crop rotation should be observed, air temperature and humidity in the greenhouse should be monitored, and antifungal spraying of plants should be carried out. If a disease is detected, eggplants should be sprayed with Antrakol, Ridomil, Revus preparations.
Cercospora spotting
Diseases of eggplant often affect the quality of fruiting, cercospora spotting is no exception. Affected leaves curl, they are covered with small spots. Over time, they increase in size, lead to the death of living tissues. The spots are brown, blacken at the edges, often decorated with rings.
Why does it appear? If the crop rotation is disturbed, fungus spores pass from the soil and plant residues to the planted eggplants. In warm, humid weather, the fungus becomes active, quickly spreading through the greenhouse with wind and water drops.
Preventive care involves regular treatment with fungicides, seasonal transplantation of plants to a new place, removal of old plants from the site, thinning of eggplant.
When a disease is detected, it is important to remove infected leaves and shoots, treat eggplant and earth with fungicidal preparations.
Improper care
Caring for plants is an important component of their abundant fruiting and tasty fruits. Eggplant diseases are actively developing and spreading because vegetables usually grow in unsuitable conditions. It is necessary to maintain an adequate microclimate in the greenhouse so that the cultivation of the plant takes place without unnecessary problems.
Eggplant loves abundant heat and moisture, a comfortable temperature for it is 25-30 ° C. It is very important to ensure that the high temperature is supported by air humidity and timely watering. In this case, eggplants grow by leaps and bounds, their cultivation is noticeably accelerated.
Despite the exactingness of the frequency and abundance of watering, it is not recommended to fill the plants, especially with cold water. Water several times a day, moderately, so that the plant has time to absorb moisture, but does not run the risk of root rot.
With a lack of mineral and organic fertilizers, especially nitrogen, eggplants grow more slowly, their leaves curl, spots appear on them. Complex fertilization is one of the ways to develop and strengthen eggplant immunity. And regular foliar and root feeding will provide the plant with a reliable airbag, even if the surrounding conditions are unstable.
You can’t refuse pinching – this is how you prevent the plantings from becoming dense, provide access to fresh air, light. Moreover, it stimulates the eggplant to produce more flowers and produce more fruits.
vermin
Eggplant pests are numerous, dodgy and difficult to deal with. This is mainly because most species of insects (their ancestors) have developed immunity to a number of chemicals, which forces gardeners to use strong pesticides. This harms the plants, making them more vulnerable to disease. But growing eggplant without pests is possible if you know the enemy’s weak points in advance and do not let things take their course. It is important to ask the question “Why do they live so well in the garden?” and disrupt favorable conditions.
aphid
The aphid invasion is a real disaster for eggplant. Small insects literally stick around the plant, eating away its flesh and drinking vital juices, significantly complicating the cultivation of the crop. To combat their invasion, it is necessary to treat eggplant with insecticides. But if the plant has already begun to bear fruit, then only non-chemical preparations remain. For example, spraying with infusion of wood ash (1 cup of ash, 1 cup of tobacco ash is mixed in 10 liters of water, infused for a day) or soapy water (1 cup of grated household soap is dissolved in 5 liters of warm water). Processing is best done in the early morning so that the film formed from the solution dries up and prevents insects from reaching the plant. Such care will help the eggplant cope with the harmful activity of aphids.
Colorado beetle
This insect loves to ruin not only potato beds, but also not averse to eating eggplant leaves. Growing eggplant during the invasion of the Colorado potato beetle is practically impossible, especially if you missed the moment of its appearance and it managed to spread throughout the greenhouse. Adult beetles should be carefully removed with a broom in a saline solution. It is also recommended to use baits: dig in jars with potato wedges and treated with potato juice. The bugs will crawl, and you will only have to destroy them.
Often, decoctions of herbs are used to rid the garden of the Colorado potato beetle. For a decoction, you can take horsetail, dandelion, celandine, wormwood, bitter pepper, poplar leaves, elecampane, garlic. Mix the ingredients in equal proportions, infuse for 24-30 hours, and then spray the plants.
Mite
The spider mite is one of the most frequent guests in greenhouse beds. Microscopic insects abundantly flood the plant, often penetrating the stem and feed on eggplant juices. This leads to the fact that the sheet plates are twisted, spots appear on them. Insects braid the occupied spaces with a thin web, which prevents a sufficient amount of sunlight from entering, and also damages the delicate structure of the leaf. Their gluttony not only slows down, but endangers the cultivation of eggplant.
In the case of spider mites, care for the plants and their surroundings is important. All weeds should be carefully removed, eggplants should be pinched, the ground should be disinfected, and the soil should not dry out. The tick easily overwinters in plant debris, so be sure to remove the tops from the greenhouse.
In order to get rid of the spider mite, you can spray with Actellik or Envidor.
Medvedka
Of the insects living underground, the bear is the most dangerous and annoying. She moves in the upper layers of the soil, building a whole network of passages in which she lays her eggs. Why is she so dangerous? The fact is that the bear eats the roots of plants. Under such conditions, cultivation is impossible, since vegetative processes are disturbed, leaf plates are twisted and require emergency care.
Medvedka eats not only roots, getting to the surface, she devours stems, leaves, sometimes even fruits. You will have to regularly carry out deep loosening of the soil in order to destroy the underground passages. Place jars with swollen wheat grains and sunflower oil around the greenhouse. Pour holes and passages with a hot solution of copper sulphate (trying not to scald eggplant roots), or with soapy water. Be sure to apply preparations against the bear into the soil: “Bankol”, “Thunder”, “Medvetoks”.
Video “Features of eggplant care”
How to properly care for eggplant, it is said in this video.
