Anthracnose of cucumbers: treatment and prevention

Cucumbers are the most popular and in demand at any time of the year vegetables. Containing a lot of useful substances (vitamins B and C, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, iodine, iron), they are tasty both fresh and canned. A bright advantage of such a useful vegetable is its low caloric content: 130 kcal per 1 kilogram! For people suffering from excess of excess weight, cucumber is the most recommended product, which can be consumed in unlimited quantities.

Cucumber diseases: anthracnose

Growing a high-quality harvest of cucumbers is not an easy task! In addition to providing the optimal maintenance for the vegetable, it is required to prevent the occurrence of diseases that can destroy the expected yield in a single moment. Their occurrence often occurs for 2 reasons: it is watering with cold water and cardinal changes in day and night temperatures.

Anthracnose of cucumbers is one of the most dangerous diseases of such a garden crop, which has received a total spread in the territory of many countries. Presenting a fungal disease, medynka (another name of anthracnose) affects the plant completely. On the stems, it is shown by brown spots, which, "eating out" the living tissue of vegetable culture, simply lead to its breaking. The leaves are affected by spots of yellowish color, which rapidly increase in size; As a result, the fabric dries and falls, forming slit-like holes on the leaves. The next object of anthracnose cucumbers selects directly fruits; On them the disease manifests itself in small, fast-growing pads of pink color, which rapidly merge into one solid, continuous ulcer. Mycelium fungi penetrate deep into the green: 3-5 mm. Cucumbers lose their marketable appearance and become unfit for consumption.

Preventive measures

The field of activity anthracnose is not limited to cucumbers alone, under its influence are such garden crops as melons, pumpkins, watermelons. Anthracnose (or a copper cucumber) can reduce the crop by half, destroying almost all plants; Infection can persist in the soil on plant remains and contaminated seeds. Therefore, to avoid anthracnose, a number of rules should be observed:

• Timely remove and dispose of the remains of vegetation from the site after harvesting;
• To observe a crop rotation, that is, to plant cucumbers at the previous planting site not earlier than in 3 years;
• Collect seeds only from healthy plants;
• Choose varieties of cucumbers that are resistant to diseases;
• Dress seeds with seeds before sowing;
• To disinfect the soil, the construction of greenhouses and working tools;
• Heal the soil by applying organic fertilizers and biologics.

Optimal conditions for the distribution of anthracnose

Anthracnose of cucumbers is a disease that gets its greatest activity at high humidity of air; Dew and rain, plus a plus temperature of 4 to 30 degrees - the most comfortable conditions for its spread. The incubation period lasts from 4 to 7 days. At a temperature of + 20-25 degrees, the maturation of the fungus is shortened and is three days. At humidity less than 60% anthracnose of cucumbers does not appear. In addition to reproduction by conidia during sprinkling, with condensation and irrigation water, the fungus is transmitted by contact of healthy plants with patients, with through ventilation, is transferred to working clothes, aphids and spider mites.

The mushroom hibernates not only on the remaining plants after harvest, but also on the film and glass of greenhouses, as well as their structures. Collected seeds can carry such a plant-specific infection.

Combating anthracnose

In addition to the above preventive measures aimed at preventing cucumber disease, anthracnose, the treatment of which is required to be conducted with a competent approach, can be overcome with the help of chemical preparations. Seeds before sowing are recommended to pickle the fungicide TMTD at the rate of 1 kg - 4 grams of the drug. This operation can be performed 2-3 weeks before sowing. The action of the dressing agent extends over the whole growing season and consists in slowing and stopping the process of dividing the cells and nuclei of pathogenic fungi located in the plant and soil. Before sowing the seeds are also recommended to soak in the solution of the biostimulator "Immunocytophyte". Its effect carries a preventive meaning, forms in plants a high resistance to various diseases (fungal among them), stimulates the active growth of culture and the passage in it of various biological processes.

If symptoms of the disease are found, crops should be sprayed with a 1% suspension of colloidal sulfur and treated with a 0.5-1% Bordeaux mixture, copper oxychloride or "Poliram"; Such a measure at the same time will be a prevention against the occurrence of powdery mildew. To the affected areas it is recommended to apply a 0.5% solution of copper sulfate, then pound with pounded coal, honey or lime. From modern means, it is recommended to use the drug "Zineb" at the rate of 20-30 grams per 10 liters of water or "Tsiram" - for the same amount of water 30-40 grams.

Basal watering as a measure of fighting with a copper seal

In the basal form of anthracnose, a high effect results in a 1% solution of Bordeaux liquor or a 0.5% solution of "Abiga-Peak" under the root of each plant. First, it is necessary to moisten the soil with water, then pour the solution of the preparation under each bush so that its main part gets under the root, the rest - on the stem (at the rate of 0.5-1 liter per unit of garden crops). Such treatment, if necessary, can be repeated 2-3 times a week. It is required to protect the leaves from getting a solution.

No anthracosis!

Anthracnose cucumber, the treatment of which is not only in the treatment of chemicals, but also in the use of preventive preventive measures, will be successfully defeated in carrying out the above-described measures in the complex.