Peony pests and diseases: description with photos, control and prevention measures

Peony diseases should be treated when the first symptoms appear. Sufficiently harmless diseases in neglected form can destroy the plant. In order to recognize ailments in time, you need to study their main signs.

Causes and signs of pion disease

Peonies suffer from diseases for many reasons. Among the main factors can be listed:

• poor sanitary condition of the site – if the flower bed is almost not cleaned, and a lot of decaying plant debris remains on it, a favorable environment for the reproduction of fungi arises;
• waterlogging of the soil, with excessive watering in the root system of the plant, fungal diseases also develop;
• dense bushes, fungi and viruses develop faster and more actively if the bushes grow very densely;
• lack or excess of individual trace elements, peony bushes may suffer from too acidic or alkaline soil, from a deficiency of potassium or iron in the soil;
• poor quality of planting material – a seedling purchased from a nursery may already be infected with a virus or fungal disease.

The condition of the site affects the health of peonies

The first symptoms of diseases are largely similar to each other. It is necessary to subject peony bushes to a closer inspection if:

• black dots and brown spots appeared on the leaves of the plant;
  
  

  Dark spots appear on the leaves with most ailments.

• peony leaves began to turn yellow and covered with light uneven stains;
  
  

  A diseased plant turns yellow quickly

• the foliage began to curl and dry;
  
  

  When the power is disturbed, the plant begins to dry

• brown spots appeared on the stem;
  
  

  Many diseases affect the stem and lower leaves first.

• a gray or whitish coating appeared on the shoots and leaves.
  
  

  Plaque on the foliage – an alarming symptom

With a careful study, it is necessary to establish which disease affected the peony bushes, and take measures for treatment.

Peony diseases and their treatment

Tree peony diseases with treatment can generally be divided into 2 categories. There are fungal and viral diseases, and their symptoms are similar. But the main difference is that fungi are much easier to eliminate.

Fungal diseases of peonies with a photo and the fight against them

Fungal diseases develop in peony bushes most often against the background of improper care. The reason may be the constant waterlogging of the soil, especially against the background of rainy weather. Often, fungi appear in early spring, if autumn garden cleaning was not carried out, pathogenic spores wait out the cold under plant debris.

Rust

One of the most common diseases manifests itself in peonies with recognizable symptoms. With rust, orange, brown or reddish protruding spots appear on the leaves of the plant, similar to “pads” – these are fungal spores. Over time, the spots become more and more, the foliage of the peony begins to dry out and die, the plant stops growing.

Rust is characterized by reddish-brown spots

Curing rust is easiest at the very beginning. It is necessary to remove all affected leaves from the bush and burn them, and then spray the entire flower bed with 1% Bordeaux mixture. It is important to process, including neighboring healthy plants, so that the fungus does not spread to them.

Mučnistaâ rosa

Fungal disease is easy to recognize by the characteristic plaque on the leaves. When infected with powdery mildew, the leaf plates of the peony are covered with a whitish film in the upper part. At first, the disease does little harm to the plant, but reduces the decorative effect. If powdery mildew is not treated, the leaves will begin to turn yellow and dry, and the peony will noticeably weaken.

Powdery mildew is easily recognizable by its whitish coating.

They usually fight powdery mildew by spraying with soda ash 0,5%, a little laundry soap can be added to the solution. Figon’s 0,2% solution is also suitable for treatment. Severely affected leaves must be cut off, then removed from the flower bed and burned.

Cladosporiosis

A fungus called cladosporiosis affects peony bushes mainly in warm southern regions. The disease usually develops in early summer, characterized by large spots on the foliage – brown, brown or brown-red.

With cladosporiosis, dark spots appear on the leaves.

Gradually, the spots become larger, merge with each other and capture the entire leaf as a whole. In conditions of high humidity, a dark gray fungal coating appears on the underside of the leaf; in advanced cases, not only leaves, but also stems with buds suffer.

Treatment of the disease is carried out with the help of XOM, Fitosporin and others. Affected peony leaves are removed and destroyed.

septoriosis

The septoria fungus affects the leaf plates and stems of pions. Usually the disease manifests itself in June or July, yellowish-brown or brown spots of a rounded and elongated shape appear on the leaves on both sides. The middle of these spots is lighter, and the border is purple-brown. The spots gradually merge with each other, and their color becomes brownish-gray.

With septoria, the spots coalesce with each other

Septoria spreads through the bush from the bottom up, if left untreated, the leaves begin to dry out and fall off. The peony does not die immediately, but its decorative effect decreases, flowering becomes less plentiful, and winter hardiness decreases.

Septoria is treated with standard remedies – Bordeaux liquid, XOM and Fundazol preparations. Spraying is recommended to be carried out three times per season, starting in early spring at intervals of 2 weeks.

Verticillary wilting

Fungal disease is very dangerous for peonies. The disease becomes noticeable usually during the flowering period, the leaves and stems suddenly begin to fade. On the transverse sections of the shoots, you can see that the vessels of the plant have darkened. The disease spreads from the root collar upwards, the nutrition of the plant is disturbed, and it inevitably dies.

Verticillium wilt is an incurable disease.

Verticillium wilt is almost impossible to treat. A diseased peony bush is removed from the flower bed along with a clod of earth, and then burned in the far corner of the site. The soil in which the peony grew is shed with formalin in order to reliably destroy pathogens.

Gray mold

Another dangerous disease is gray rot, which affects the entire plant. You can recognize the disease by brown spots in the lower part of the stem, by the withering of the shoots and the appearance of a grayish coating on the leaf plates. Peony under the influence of the fungus quickly dies off, and gray rot develops especially quickly in conditions of high humidity.

Shoots, buds and leaves suffer from gray rot

It is necessary to start treatment of the disease immediately after the first symptoms appear. All affected areas are cut and burned, and the flower bed is shed with a 0,6% Tiram solution. After that, you need to carefully monitor the affected plant and neighboring peonies so as not to miss possible relapses.

Phyllostictosis

Phyllosticosis disease manifests itself as small brown spots on peony leaves. As the disease progresses, the spots surrounded by a dark purple border become larger, their center brightens, convex dark dots appear – fungal spores. Under the influence of the disease, the leaves of the peony begin to dry out, and gradually the plant fades completely.

With phyllostictosis, dark spots gradually grow

To save the peony bush, it is necessary to eliminate all affected parts of the plant in a timely manner. After that, the flower bed is treated with a solution of Tiram 0,6%, and the peonies themselves are sprayed with Bordeaux liquid and other fungicidal preparations.

Root rot

Among the diseases of peony tubers, root rot is especially dangerous. It develops under the influence of several fungi at once, but in all cases it provokes rotting of the roots and aerial parts. You can recognize the disease by the withering of the leaves and stems, and if you dig the affected peony out of the ground, it turns out that its roots have turned brown, covered with a whitish or pinkish bloom and began to rot.

With advanced root rot, the bush cannot be saved

If the fungus has not affected the plant too much, then the affected areas can be cut off, and the sections can be treated with activated charcoal or manganese.

Peony viral diseases with photos and their treatment

Peonies suffer not only from fungi, but also from viral diseases. At the same time, the danger of viruses is much more serious. Most of them can be protected only prophylactically, if a peony gets sick, then it is often impossible to save it.

Lemoine’s disease

Lemoine’s disease is a common virus with an unknown pathogen. The disease manifests itself with such symptoms – the shoots of the plant stop developing, the peony becomes smaller and does not bloom. If you dig a plant out of the ground, then swellings can be seen on weak roots. Since the signs of Lemoine’s disease are very similar to the symptoms of a nematode infection, there is a version that the worms are the carriers of the disease.

Lemoine’s disease can be seen by shredding and curling of the leaves.

It is impossible to fight Lemoine’s disease; a diseased peony is dug out of the ground and eliminated. After the destruction of the plant, it is important to treat the land with formalin and not plant new plants in it for several months.

Rattle virus

Rattle virus is a disease of peonies, which is expressed by the appearance of light green or yellowish spots on the leaves. The photo of the disease of a tree peony shows that the spots are in the form of half rings or rings. Often they merge with each other and form a pattern on the sheet plates. Symptoms of the virus appear in May or June.

Rattle leaves light stains on the leaves

Peonies react to the disease in different ways. Some plants bloom without interference, and the next year their leaf blades grow healthy and clean. Other peonies begin to dry, deform and fade. In the latter case, it is impossible to save the plants; it is better to destroy them and disinfect the tools and soil with a formalin solution.

Ring mosaic of leaves

Another viral disease is also characterized by the appearance of light spots and stripes on the leaves of the plant. When the disease is advanced, necrotic spots appear on the leaf plates. When infected with a ring mosaic, peonies quickly stop developing and fade.

Ring mosaic stains sheet plates with an uneven pattern

It is impossible to cure the disease, the only way to fight is the destruction of the diseased specimen and the disinfection of the soil. It is necessary to eliminate the diseased peony as soon as possible, until the virus has passed to neighboring plants.

Peony pests and their control

In addition to diseases, pests threaten peonies in the garden. Parasitic insects feed on plant sap, eat green mass and can completely destroy a flower in a short time.

aphid

Small insects with a greenish body gather mainly in the upper part of the plant – around the buds and at the ends of the shoots. Aphids exist due to the vital juices of the peony and weaken it. With a significant defeat, the flower can completely die.

Aphids feed on the juices of buds and shoots.

If there are few aphids on the peony shoots, then you can collect insects by hand or wash them off with a stream of water with moderate pressure. In case of severe infection, the flowers are sprayed with soapy water, Aktellik or Fitoverm according to the instructions.

Gall nematodes

Of all the pests, nematode worms pose the greatest danger to the peony. They damage mainly the roots of the plant and almost do not manifest themselves in the early stages. As the disease progresses, the leaves of the peony begin to deform and dry. If you dig an infected bush out of the ground, you will see that its roots are covered with numerous nodules.

Nematodes irreparably damage roots

The gall nematode is not treatable, so the peony is simply removed from the flower bed and burned. So that nematodes do not pass to other plants, the soil is treated with formalin.

TRIPS

Thrips are small insects with an elongated black body. Pests appear on peonies from early spring and suck the juice from leaves and shoots. They are especially dangerous during the budding period, as they harm the petals and can interfere with the upcoming flowering. Thrips are very small in size, and it is not easy to spot them on a peony.

Thrips are very small and difficult to spot.

To get rid of pests, it is necessary to spray the flower bed with Karbofos solution three times per season. To combat thrips, homemade infusions of yarrow and dandelion are also suitable.

Ants

In general, ants are not considered pests, but for peonies they are quite dangerous. Plant buds secrete a sweet syrup, and ants feed on it, and at the same time eat petals and leaves.

Ants on peonies harm flowering

To get rid of the invasion of insects, you need to treat peonies and the soil around them with repellent solutions. Iskra and Fufanon are well suited – these are biological preparations with a mild but powerful effect.

Hop spinner

The adult pest is a large butterfly with a silver or yellow-brown color. But for peonies, the main danger is the caterpillars of the fine-moth, they settle in the roots of the plant and feed on their juices. As a result, peonies no longer receive the right amount of nutrients and stop growing.

Hop worm caterpillars feed on peony roots

To get rid of the caterpillars of the hop spinner, you need to spray the peonies with a solution of Sparks according to the instructions. For preventive purposes, it is recommended to regularly loosen the soil and remove weeds.

Bronze

The bronze beetle is an insect with a beautiful golden-yellow-green color of the shell. The beetle flies from May to the end of August, and is dangerous because it eats the petals, leaves and stems of peonies.

Bronzovka can eat peony flowers

When bronzovka appears, it is recommended to collect the pest from plants manually. You can also use insecticidal agents and infusion of tomato tops. In August, the soil in the flower bed must be properly loosened, since during this period the bronze pupates in the ground.

Why peonies leaves curl, what to do

Among the diseases of peonies and their treatment, leaf curl is not the last. Deformation of leaf plates is a very common symptom. If a problem arises, peonies should be carefully examined and try to establish what exactly prevented the normal development of the plant.

The leaves are deformed and twisted mainly for the following reasons:

1. Influence of pests – aphids or ants. When attacked by insects, leaf plates often curl up, and holes and spots appear on them.
2. Lack of moisture. Peony bushes do not respond well to waterlogging, but too dry soil is also harmful for them, the plants stop receiving nutrients, the leaves turn pale and curl up.
3. Lack of light. If the plants do not receive the required amount of sun, then the process of photosynthesis in the leaves is disrupted, and the plates are twisted.
4. Exposure to rodents and insect larvae. When the roots are damaged, the condition of the leaves first of all worsens, they become flabby and deformed.

Leaf curl is a common symptom of fungal and viral diseases.

In order for peony leaves to remain green and healthy, it is necessary to plant the plant in a well-lit area with good drainage and follow the recommended care rules.

Preventive measures

Treating diseases and pests of peonies is quite difficult, and sometimes impossible. Therefore, it is easiest to follow the rules of prevention, this will reduce the risk of infection:

1. At the end of each season, a thorough cleaning of the site should be carried out. The soil is dug up from weeds, all fallen leaves, old stems and dried flowers are collected, taken out to a far corner of the garden and burned.
2. So that peonies do not get sick, you need to monitor the condition of the soil and regulate its composition. Every summer, after flowering, the topsoil should be loosened, fertilizers should be applied three times per season – nitrogenous in early spring, potash and phosphorus during and after flowering.
3. Peonies should be planted freely, no less than 30 cm apart. When planting too tightly, diseases and viruses appear much more often, and it is more difficult to cure them, since the plants quickly become infected from each other.
4. For the prevention of fungal diseases, every spring it is recommended to spray with fungicidal agents – Fundazol, Bordeaux liquid, HOM solution. Processing allows you to eliminate fungal spores even before the first symptoms of diseases appear.

To prevent diseases, the flower bed must be kept clean.

In the treatment of peony diseases and their prevention, compliance with the rules of care plays an important role. Violation of the irrigation regime, lack of light and deficiency of minerals weaken peonies and make them vulnerable to ailments.

Conclusion

Peony diseases are easier to prevent, but even with symptoms, most ailments can be managed. It is important to understand in time what kind of disease the peony suffered from, and apply the recommended treatment measures.