How to identify and cure pepper seedling diseases

The climate is optimal for growing peppers with hot dry summers. In such conditions, the plant is less susceptible to various diseases. In the overwhelming majority of Russian regions, the warm period is too short or the weather is unstable, so peppers are sown not in open ground, but in a special container, which is usually placed on the windowsill. Pepper seedlings are often affected various diseasesthat are almost impossible to cure, it is easier to prevent them.

What diseases are affected by pepper

Pepper seedlings are attacked by fungal, viral and bacterial diseases. Most often, the sprouts suffer from a fungal infection, in 80% of cases it is it that affects the seedlings. Fungal spores (pathogen) are perfectly preserved in the soil and are carried by insects, rain, wind.

Fungal diseases include:

• blackleg;
• gray rot;
• late blight;
• fusarium.

Diseases of a viral nature are carried by very small insect pests (spider mites, aphids, thrips). Viruses cannot be seen with the naked eye due to their microscopic size. Diseases of a viral nature are quite rare, but they pose a great danger to pepper seedlings.

Diseases of viral etiology:

• tobacco mosaic;
• stolbur.

Viruses develop only after they enter plant cells. As a result, it develops more slowly, the stems and leaves are deformed. Bell pepper seedlings are the least resistant to viruses.

Important! The pathogen persists in dead plants, seeds, carriers (mites, thrips, aphids).

The defeat by bacteria can be local (point) or completely capture the plant, causing its death. Such diseases do not have clear symptoms, the signs of the disease are similar to the manifestations of an infectious or fungal disease. Therefore, it can be difficult for a non-specialist to identify a bacterial disease, and without this, timely and correct treatment cannot be carried out.

Bacterial diseases:

• black spot;
• cancer.

As a rule, infection is a consequence of mechanical damage to the integument, through the holes a bacterial infection penetrates into the plant. The carriers of such ailments are pests, insects, animals; pathogens can persist on rotting plant debris for a very long time (sometimes 5-10 years).

Fusarium

Seedling disease begins with rotting of small roots, a little later the infection penetrates into larger roots. Plants die due to the fact that the fungus clogs the vessels with its mycelium and releases toxins.

Signs: leaves fall from seedlings for no obvious reason, after which the plants wither. If you cut off the basal neck, you can see the affected brown vessels. It is not easy to identify the disease at the initial stage. An already diseased plant cannot be saved.

To prevent fusarium, you will need:

1. Destroy diseased seedlings.
2. Treat the soil with potassium permanganate solution or Planriz. For the prevention of fusarium, the same remedies are suitable that are used for late blight (at home - diluted with water serum, garlic infusion, fungicides "Quadris", "Ridomio Gold").
3. Eliminate sudden changes in humidity and temperature.
4. Provide adequate nutrition for seedlings.
5. Remove weak and damaged sprouts.
6. Provide normal humidity and do not allow it to rise.
7. Before sowing, treat the seed material with Fundazol.
8. Select peppers that are resistant to fusarium.
9. Introduce "Trichodermin" when preparing the soil for planting.

Advice! Fusarium spores persist in the ground for more than ten years. The main source is rotting plant debris, so be sure to destroy them.

Late blight

At the beginning of the disease, constrictions appear on the stem in the area near the roots, after which a white bloom or white spots from the spores of the fungus forms on the affected area.

Control measures:

1. Select varieties resistant to late blight.
2. It is imperative to treat the seed with a solution of potassium permanganate before sowing.
3. Set the optimum humidity level and prevent it from rising during the growing of seedlings.
4. Every ten days, spray the sprouts with whey, diluted with water (in a 1: 1 ratio) or garlic tincture (50 g of garlic for 10 liters of water, leave for 24 hours).
5. If symptoms of infection appear, spray seedlings with iodine solution (for 1 liter of water - 5 ml of substance), alternately with the fungicides "Barrier" and "Zaslon". Also effective are "Ridomil Gold" and "Kwardis". The earlier treatment is started, the more likely the pathogen will be destroyed.
6. Feed the plants with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers to increase their resistance to the late blight pathogen.

Gray rot

The first obvious sign of damage is weeping brown spots at the bottom of the stem, in the area that is in contact with the soil. Later, the marks become covered with a grayish coating. Spores of the fungus persist for a very long time in plant debris and are carried by insects, water currents, and wind. The optimal conditions for spore germination and plant diseases are high humidity and air temperature.

Control measures:

1. Ventilate the room where the seedlings are located more often.
2. Make a pick in time.
3. Do not plant seeds too thickly.
4. Immediately remove diseased sprouts, and transplant those without signs of disease to another place.
5. At the initial stage of the disease, the treatment of peppers with chalk or crushed tablets of activated carbon is effective.
6. Spray the seedlings with garlic tincture: 30 g of chopped garlic in 5 liters of water, let it brew for 48 hours.
7. Potassium permanganate solution, copper sulphate and Bordeaux liquid are also effective.

Fungicides that protect sprouts and treat gray rot:

• "Acrobat";
• Fundazol;
• "Speed";
• "Ordan";
• "Previkur".

Blackleg

The main symptom of the disease is darkening of the root collar and a black constriction in the lower part of the stem. In conditions of high humidity, the stem after a while in the place of the constriction becomes soft, breaks, and the seedlings die. The disease threatens sprouts during the period from pecking to the appearance of two or three true leaves.

The causative agent (spores) of the black leg is located in the upper part of the soil and, in contact with the roots of the seedlings, passes to them if the room is humid.

Lead to the disease:

• too dense crops;
• abundant and frequent watering;
• sharp temperature drops;
• increased air temperature in the room where the seedlings are grown;
• lack of ventilation or its implementation immediately after watering.

Advice! After planting the seeds, sprinkle the soil with crushed activated carbon, ash, or oven-calcined river sand.

It is advisable to start the fight against the black leg immediately after the seed is sown, an effective method is the acquisition of disease-resistant varieties.

Control measures before sowing seeds:

1. Ignite in the oven, freeze or steam the soil.
2. Spill the soil just before sowing with a pink solution of potassium permanganate or one of the following means: "Revival", "Shining", "Baikal". Soak the seeds in a solution of potassium permanganate before sowing.
3. Treat seeds to strengthen their immunity with Agat-25K, Immunocytofit or Epin-Extra. No less effective is to collect the seeds in a bag and place them in a solution of the fungicide "Fitosporin-M", "Vitaros" or "Maxim" (the concentration is given on the packaging of the funds).
4. Add "Trichodermin" to the soil - it suppresses the development of about sixty types of root rot.

Prevention and treatment after disembarkation:

1. Timely picking and watering: it is preferable to moisten the ground more often and little by little.
2. Set the optimum humidity and temperature, avoid rising or falling.
3. Immediately remove and destroy the sprouts affected by the black leg: they can no longer be saved.
4. Transplant healthy sprouts to another place and pour with Bordeaux liquid or pink potassium permanganate solution. For the next watering, apply a fungicide solution.

Advice! The best option is to grow sweet peppers, their seedlings, in special peat tablets, which have already been treated with a fungicide and have been disinfected.

Pillar

It is a viral disease. Stolbur symptoms: the plant stops developing, so that it becomes dwarf, the leaves are yellow at the edges, twisted. The virus is carried by spider mites, aphids and other small insect pests.

Sign spider mite infestation - pimples on the leaves, aphids - small tubercles on the stem and leaves.

Important! There are no disease-resistant hybrids or pepper varieties, and no effective treatment has been developed.

Control measures:

1. Remove and burn diseased plants.
2. Disinfect soil and seeds.
3. Observe the crop rotation and replace the substrate if the seedlings are grown in a greenhouse.

Tobacco mosaic

It is a viral disease of pepper leaves. The pathogen enters the plant cells and destroys the chlorophyll, as a result of which a marble pattern appears on the leaves interspersed with dark green and beige. The cells infected with the virus die.

Control measures:

1. Be sure to disinfect the seed before sowing.
2. Take seedlings as carefully as possible, since the pathogen penetrates the cells through the damaged tissues.
3. Eliminate ticks, thrips, aphids and other insects that carry the virus. It is preferable not to allow them to appear.
4. If possible, replace the soil in the greenhouse.
5. Seven days before transplanting seedlings in open ground or spray it on a permanent place with a solution of boric acid. Repeat the activity seven days after the transplant. This will significantly increase the resistance to the virus.
6. Do not leave plant residues in a greenhouse or greenhouse, since the pathogen of tobacco mosaic remains in them for up to five years.

Cancer

Pepper seedlings suffer from bacterial cancer at high air humidity and temperature (in the range of + 25-30˚ C), as well as if the crops are too thick. Plants can be infected by carelessly working with a garden tool, often pathogenic bacteria are carried by pests.

All parts of the plant are affected by cancer, a characteristic symptom is dark brown spots, colored in the central part slightly lighter. Over time, individual specks merge into one, which is covered with a crust.

Control measures:

1. If signs of cancer appear, spray the seedlings with copper sulfate, copper oxychloride or any other preparation that contains copper.
2. Remove all diseased sprouts.
3. Treat the greenhouse or greenhouse where diseased plants were found with methyl bromide in the autumn and spring months, it is recommended to completely change the soil.

Black spot

The disease affects bell peppers as soon as seedlings appear. On the leaves and stem of diseased seedlings, small dark spots with a yellow border are visible, which become larger over time. Plants cannot be cured.

Control measures:

1. Acquire seed material of varieties that are immune to the pathogenic bacteria.
2. Before sowing, soak the seeds in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for ten minutes, then wash. It will also be effective to pickle seedlings with Bordeaux liquid.
3. Immediately remove diseased sprouts.
4. Before planting seeds, freeze the soil, steam it or ignite.

Advice! Instead of potassium permanganate, use the preparation "Fitolavin-300" for seed dressing.

Diseases affect peppers at any stage of development: from seeds to mature plants. Most infections cannot be cured, so special attention should be paid to prevention. One of the first measures is the disinfection of soil and seed material. It is equally important to provide seedlings with constant comfortable conditions during the growth process.