Phlox pests and diseases and their control: photos, terms and processing rules

Phlox diseases with photographs and methods for their treatment should be studied by all gardeners who are fond of breeding phlox of different varieties. Plants can be saved from many ailments and pests if the problem is recognized in time and treated.

What are the diseases of perennial phlox

Diseases that affect phlox can be divided into several groups:

• fungal diseases, develop under the influence of spores, cause great damage, but respond well to treatment;
• viral diseases are of particular danger, since it is very difficult to save an infected plant;
• diseases due to improper care, phloxes can change color or stop their growth due to a lack or excess of specific substances;
• diseases of mycoplasmal origin, they are caused by organisms that are an intermediate link between viruses and bacteria.

Beautiful garden phloxes are prone to many diseases.

Phlox fungal diseases and how to deal with them

Fungal diseases represent the largest group. They are often similar in appearance.

Fomoz

When affected by phomosis, the lower leaves turn yellow first, and the shoots at the base turn brown. The leaves rapidly begin to curl around the edges, become covered with black spots and dry out, the stem becomes brittle.

Phomosis affects the plant from the bottom

If phomosis is noticed in the early stages, then perennials can be saved – treated with Bordeaux mixture 1% or XOM. Also, gardeners use a different method – they cut off the still healthy top of the plant, process it in a fungicidal solution and root it like a cutting.

button rot

The disease is expressed in the fact that the phlox withers the lower leaves, and the stems at the root darken. Gradually, nutrition is irreparably disturbed, and the perennial dies.

Button rot starts to spread from the stem to the roots

The method of treatment for the manifestation of symptoms is as follows – you need to dig up the phlox from the ground, treat its roots with 0,5% Bordeaux mixture and transplant it to a new place. If this method does not help, the plant will only be destroyed.

Mučnistaâ rosa

A characteristic symptom of the disease is the appearance of white spots on the leaves, similar to a thick cobweb or mold. The disease spreads from the top of the leaf to the base. As the disease develops, the plaque becomes gray in color, visible mycelium spots appear in it, and the phlox quickly fades.

Powdery mildew leaves a white coating on the foliage

You can cope with powdery mildew with the help of copper preparations – a solution of HOM or copper sulfate. If the perennial is not affected too much, then the treatment method has an effect.

Rust

When the disease appears, reddish-brown spots begin to appear on green leaves. With the development of the disease, their number increases, the spots merge with each other, the affected areas dry up.

Rust abundantly stains the leaves with reddish-brown dots.

The best way to treat phlox is to spray with copper-containing preparations. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the liquid gets not only on the plant, but also on the soil.

septoriosis

Fungal septoria spreads through plants from the bottom up. First, gray and brown spots appear on the leaves in the lower part. Over time, the spots begin to grow, and the disease moves to the upper shoots.

With Septoria phlox becomes stained and turns brown

Treatment of septoria is carried out with preparations containing copper – vitriol and HOM solution. If the disease is in the initial stage of development, this method helps to save perennials.

Wilt

Wilt, or verticillium wilt, is a very dangerous and common disease. The fungus infects the root system and does not allow the plant to eat normally. First, the leaves of the perennial turn yellow, and then the stems themselves begin to turn brown and dry.

Wilt is a disease that affects the roots of a plant, which causes the shoots to wilt.

It is difficult to cure wilt, but this method helps in the early stages – you need to dig up the phlox, wash its roots and soak in a biofungicidal solution. Then the perennial is transplanted to a new place, after adding Trichodermin to the soil.

If it is too late to save the phlox, then it must be destroyed immediately. The soil should be treated with fungicides and no other plants should be planted in this place, at least until next year.

Viral diseases of phlox and their control

Viruses are dangerous because they are difficult to treat, but quickly spread to neighboring plantings. If one of the plants has characteristic symptoms, it is necessary to act immediately.

Necrotic spotting

The disease necrotic spotting is manifested by brown spots that affect the leaves. At first, the spots do not exceed 1 mm in size, but grow rapidly.

Necrotic spotting is not treatable

The cucumber mosaic virus causes necrotic spotting. The virus can get on phloxes from the soil where cucumbers used to grow, or together with insects. Treatment of the disease in this case is not carried out – the affected phlox is simply eliminated, and the soil is thoroughly disinfected and plants are not planted in it during the season.

ring spot

The viral disease is spread by nematode pests, and it manifests itself in ring-shaped spots on the leaves. When the disease is affected, the foliage is deformed, twisted and falls off. The virus cannot be treated, the perennial is simply destroyed, and the soil is treated from nematodes.

Ring spotting can be recognized by characteristic circles and stains

Multicoloredness

It appears as symmetrical radial stripes of a light shade that appear on the petals of a perennial. The plant loses varietal characteristics and degrades.

The appearance of light strokes on the petals indicates variegation

If signs of variegation appear on the phlox, the perennial must be eliminated. It is impossible to carry out a full treatment, but the virus can quickly pass to neighboring plants.

Filiformity

Filiformity is a viral disease in which the leaves become very thin, narrow, covered with notches along the edge of the leaf blades. Phlox ceases to bloom and stops growing, its shoots and stems become weak and fragile

With filiformity, perennial foliage becomes thinner, and the stems weaken

If characteristic symptoms occur, the diseased perennial is eliminated. The disease is not treatable, and its contagiousness is quite high.

Mosaic

The disease is manifested by irregularly shaped light spots that appear on the leaves of the phlox. At the very beginning, the mosaic may even look beautiful, but the health of the phlox deteriorates very quickly. The leaves begin to turn yellow and thin, the stems become brittle, and as a result, the weakened phlox dies.

Mosaic affects the leaves with light yellow-green spots

If the plant is not heavily infected, then you can treat it with Bordeaux liquid. If there is no response to treatment, phlox must be destroyed before it infects neighboring plantings.

rattle

Rattle is a viral illness, due to which light yellow stripes, spots, rings and half rings appear on the leaves. The virus spreads rapidly, phlox slows down in development, begins to weaken and fade.

Rattle leaves light uneven patterns on the foliage

Because rattle is a type of mosaic virus, the treatment is the same. Phlox can be treated with Bordeaux liquid if the perennial has not had time to suffer greatly. A seriously affected plant is best dug up and burned.

Curly

At first, the virus appears as yellowish or black uneven spots on the leaves and browning of the veins. In the later stages, the leaf plates begin to deform and twist in a spiral. As a result, phlox stops flowering and stops growing.

When curly, phlox foliage is deformed and turns yellow

Methods for treating curliness suggest completely removing the affected leaves from the plant and treating the perennial with Bordeaux liquid. But treatment will bring results only if the virus has not had time to develop properly.

Mycoplasma phlox diseases and their treatment

Mycoplasma diseases are dangerous because they affect the plant at the cellular level. Pathogenic organisms of mycoplasma are a cross between a virus and bacteria, develop very quickly and lead to the death of phlox.

Jaundice

The disease jaundice is carried by pests and infects the phlox from the inside. Under the influence of the pathogen, the plant stops growing, the leaves turn yellow and curl, and the flowers turn pale or green. With jaundice, phlox can release numerous but weak side shoots, flower petals and stamens are often elongated in length.

Jaundice is a mycoplasmal disease that has no cure.

There is no way to treat jaundice; the plant can only be protected from it prophylactically. If symptoms of an illness appear on the phlox, then it remains only to destroy the perennial.

Other diseases of perennial phlox and their treatment

Not all ailments are due to fungi and viruses. Sometimes plants start to hurt due to improper care. For example, the health of phloxes is weakened due to waterlogging or lack of moisture, due to the scarcity of the soil or an excess of minerals.

stem cracking

The disease is characterized by the fact that vertical cracks appear in the lower part of the stem. Over time, they become larger and rise up, and cork growths appear on the surface of the wound.

Cracking the stem does not prevent the growth of the perennial, but weakens its strength

The disease develops due to waterlogging of the soil, its acidification and excess nitrogen content in the soil. Therefore, for treatment, it is enough to reduce the amount of watering and adjust the content of minerals in the soil.

Chlorosis

The disease develops on too poor, waterlogged and acidified soils. Leaves and shoots lose their color saturation and turn yellow or white. A light border often appears on the sheet plates. The color changes because the plant does not get the right amount of chlorophyll and cannot carry out photosynthesis normally.

For the treatment of chlorosis, it is necessary to provide phlox with competent watering and top dressing.

A reliable way to treat chlorosis is to revise the irrigation regime and apply fertilizer. Usually top dressing containing zinc, lime, iron and magnesium is added to the soil.

Pests of perennial phlox

In addition to diseases, pests are dangerous for garden phloxes. It is usually easier to deal with them, but it is important to notice the symptoms of damage in time.

Slugs

Gastropods feed on fresh leaves. Most often they hit flower beds after prolonged rains. In wet summers, it is recommended to regularly inspect the leaves of perennials, as well as loosen the soil around the phlox and eliminate weeds.

Slugs can seriously eat the green mass of the plant

If slugs still appear, then the best way to get rid of them is to collect pests manually. To repel mollusks, you can scatter ash or lime along the paths or between phlox bushes.

Cruciflo flea

Small black parasites that live in the upper layers of the soil move to the stems and leaves of phlox in early spring. Cruciferous fleas are omnivorous and eat not only leaves, but also shoots, buds and flowers.

The cruciferous flea feeds on all parts of the phlox

A popular treatment is treating bushes and the soil around them with wood ash or slaked lime. You can also spray tobacco powder over the flower bed.

Nematodes

Most often, pests infect perennial leaves, sometimes they can multiply in the roots. Nematodes are very thin and almost colorless, it is difficult to see them with the naked eye.

The presence of nematodes is determined by indirect symptoms – by swollen neoplasms on leaves and stems, by slowing down growth and crushing of flowers, by increased brittleness of shoots. Treatment for phloxes affected by worms is not carried out, the only way is to destroy the plant.

Symptoms of nematode infestation appear late and there is no treatment

slobber penny

The pest feeds on the juices of the phlox foliage and prevents the development of the plant. Pennitsa secretes an abundant secret, it covers the leaves and additionally disrupts the processes of photosynthesis. Pest infestation occurs most often in dry weather.

You can find out about the presence of a penny by a characteristic trace

The method of treatment for the appearance of pennitsa is the treatment of perennial insecticides or home remedies. It is important to spray several times at short intervals, this will destroy both the pest itself and its larvae.

Bronze shoes

You can recognize a large beetle by its beautiful golden-green shell. In general, bronze is considered a beneficial insect involved in the processing of plant residues. But at the same time, the insect feeds on the petals, shoots and flower stalks of the phlox, and, therefore, harms the perennial.

Bronzovka is a generally useful, but dangerous insect for phlox

Bronzovki fly throughout the warm season – from May to the end of August. To get rid of them, you can use the manual method and collect insects, or you can spend several sprays of flowers and soil with insecticides.

Caterpillars

The threat to the leaves and flowers of phlox is caterpillars – mainly different types of scoop butterflies. They lay eggs on the stems, from which larvae hatch, feeding on the juices of the plant.

Numerous caterpillars feed on foliage of decorative phlox

You can find out about the presence of caterpillars by the characteristic holes on the leaves. On closer inspection, the pests themselves become noticeable. The treatment is carried out with the help of drugs Karate, Fastak and other chemicals, adult caterpillars are harvested by hand.

Preventive measures

Not all phlox diseases are treatable. The most reliable way to protect flower beds is to carry out quality prevention and prevent infection.

Preventive measures include:

• annual autumn cleaning of the garden, it is necessary to collect and burn all plant debris on the site so that the remains of old shoots and leaves do not rot in flowerbeds with phloxes;
• compliance with the irrigation regime, although phloxes love moisture, fungi often develop in swampy soil;
• proper feeding of plants so that phloxes do not suffer from chlorosis or cracking, it is important not to overfeed them with nitrogen and not acidify the soil.

One of the most important preventive measures is cleaning the garden from plant debris.

Spraying with special preparations plays an important role in prevention. If fungal spores or parasite larvae do appear in the soil, chemicals can help deal with them even before symptoms appear.

Preventive treatments for phlox from diseases and pests

Preventive treatment of phloxes is carried out several times per season, starting in early spring. Perform it according to the following algorithm:

• at the beginning of the growing season, at the end of March or in April, the soil in a flower bed with phlox and in adjacent areas is sprayed with a 0,2% solution of Fundazol, a 0,5% solution of Bordeaux liquid or a 3% solution of ferrous sulfate;
• after a week, the treatment is repeated again, also covering not only the site of phlox planting, but also neighboring areas;
• 10 days after that, a third treatment with the same preparations is carried out.

Spring treatment by spilling the soil or spraying helps to eliminate the spores of most fungal diseases.

To protect phloxes from fungi, you can use systemic preparations Skor and Topaz. In this case, the treatments are carried out twice before the flowering of plants, in May and early June, and again at the end of it – in August or September. The interval between treatments should be at least 10 days.

Flower beds with phlox need to be sprayed 3-4 times per season with interruptions

Phlox varieties resistant to diseases

Absolute invulnerability is not possessed by any variety of phloxes. But some species resist disease better than others. Among them:

• Starfire
  
  

  Starfire – a variety resistant to most fungal diseases

• Fog;
  
  

  Lilac variety Fog is rarely affected by ailments

• Good luck;
  
  

  Decorative variety Success is characterized by increased resistance to fungi

• Sandro Botticelli;
  
  

  The purple variety of Sandro Botticelli is a hardy and disease-resistant variety

Even if the phlox variety is positioned as highly resistant to fungal diseases, it is still necessary to observe agricultural practices when growing. Violations in care endanger health, including hardy, tested varieties.

Conclusion

Phlox diseases with photographs and methods for their treatment help to navigate the many ailments of culture. In many cases, the health of phlox can be maintained if diseases are recognized in the early stages and proven methods of treatment are applied.