Despite the undemanding care, the sorrel is susceptible to various infectious pathologies and pest attacks. Each gardener should know what to do in case of damage to the culture of diseases and insects and how to prevent it.
Sorrel diseases: symptoms, treatment and prevention
Sorrel is susceptible to many infectious diseases. The causes of their occurrence can be insect vectors, adverse climatic conditions, ignoring agricultural regulations.
Rust
There are several types of pathology. In temperate climates, gardeners most often come across Puccinia acetosae. Symptom of rust damage to sorrel - yellow-red tubercles. They gradually break, fungal spores fly out of them, transferred to neighboring plants. Rust affects any tissue: stems, leaf plates, petioles.
Plants on which symptoms of the disease are noticeable are torn out of the ground, put in a bag, and burned. The remaining crops to prevent the spread of infection are sprayed every 2 weeks with manganese or copper sulfate. After the growing season is over, the ground on which the affected sorrel grew is dug up, mulched with sawdust and humus.
Of the chemicals to combat rust, you can use drugs Planriz, Fitosporin. The concentrate is dissolved in water in a ratio of 1 to 10.
From folk remedies, you can use the following recipes:
- Dissolve 20 g of laundry soap and 1 g of copper sulfate in 1 liter of warm water. Spray crops 2 times a day for a week.
- Dissolve 5 g of potassium permanganate in a 10-liter bucket of water. Spray sick sorrel 2 times a day until the symptoms of infection disappear.
The risk of rust damage is significantly reduced if the plant does not experience mineral deficiency. Therefore, fertilization with potassium-phosphorus preparations is important for prevention.
Ovulariosis
Fungal infection that affects only leafy greens. Small gray-brown spots appear on the diseased leaves, lighter in the center, bordered by a dark burgundy stripe. The spots gradually grow, reach a diameter of 1-1.5 cm, merge. The affected leaf dries out, falls off. The spots on the underside of the leaf plate are brown. In wet weather, with high humidity, infected areas of the leaves become covered with a pale gray coating.
To prevent an infectious disease, it is necessary to weed and water the sorrel in a timely manner, remove weeds. For preventive purposes, crops are periodically sprayed with 1% solution of copper sulfate.
The treatment consists in removing infected leaves, treating the remaining plants with Fitoverm. 4 ml of the concentrate are dissolved in 1 liter of water. Processing is carried out once.
In the place where the sick sorrel grew, you can not plant the same culture for 4 years.
Powdery mildew
A common fungal disease that is capable of rapid reproduction, since fungal spores are carried by wind, rainfall, and drops of water when watering. Also, the infection is transmitted by the contact of healthy and diseased leaves.
Symptoms expressed:
- whitish plaque;
- dark specks;
- visually it seems that the leaves are covered with lime.
Their chemical control agents are used:
- Fitosporin-M;
- Speed;
- Fundazole;
- Topaz;
- Bayleton.
Bayleton fungicide is dissolved in water before use. For 1 liter of water, take 1 g of the substance, mix thoroughly. The drug is of medium toxicity, spraying is carried out in the absence of wind. The chemical begins to act after 2-3 hours, the effectiveness remains for half a month or even a month. Mechanical events can be carried out on the site 3 days after spraying, work with your hands - after a week.
In the fight against powdery mildew, folk remedies are also used:
- A tablespoon of soda and a teaspoon of laundry soap are dissolved in a 4-liter bucket of water. Sorrel and soil are sprayed 2 times a day for a week.
- Serum is dissolved in water in proportions of 1 to 10. Sick sorrel is treated 3 times a day. Procedures are carried out every 3 days. Spraying is not carried out on a rainy day, as raindrops wash off the protective acid coating from the surface of the leaves.
Prevention of infection is:
- compliance with agricultural recommendations;
- loosening the soil;
- thinning crops.
Peronosporosis
This disease is also called downy mildew. Young sorrel leaves suffer most from it. The fungus actively reproduces in cool conditions with high humidity. Disputes spread with wind and precipitation. The affected leaves are covered with a bluish-gray coating, then they fade, curl down with the edges, dry out, peel off when rubbing with the fingers.
The infection continues to multiply even on dead leaves, so diseased plants are torn from the ground and burned. The remaining crops are treated with chemicals to prevent the spread of the disease. Use fungicides:
- Speed;
- Vitaros;
- Previkur.
Processing is carried out once. Dissolve the concentrate in water at the dosage indicated in the instructions.
Folk recipes against peronosporosis:
- 2 tablespoons of mustard powder is dissolved in a 10-liter bucket of water. Sorrel is sprayed 2 times a day. The treatment lasts a week.
- Fresh manure is dissolved in water in a ratio of 1 to 3, insisted for 3 days. The infusion is diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 2. The diseased plants are thoroughly sprayed with the resulting solution.
For the prevention of downy mildew, spraying with Bordeaux solution or copper sulphate is carried out.
White spotting
Fungal disease is manifested by many whitish spots on the leaf plates. It is impossible to cure affected plants; they are dug up and burned. The sorrel remaining on the site is treated with a store fungicide or a 1% Bordeaux solution.
Prevention is:
- timely weed removal;
- raking fallen leaves;
- loosening the soil;
- mulching with humus of the plot allocated for sorrel after the end of the growing season.
Gray rot
A fungal infection settles on oxal leaves, spreads rapidly, and invades neighboring crops. The main symptom is large, growing spots of brown color. In cool weather with excessive humidity, the surface of the sheet plates is covered with a soft coating. Sick leaves lose their structure, deform, internal tissues become mucous.
At the initial stage of the disease, it is enough to spray the crops with an aqueous solution of ash, copper sulphate and chalk ground into powder. If the infection is started, only fungicides will help.
For the prevention of rot, they take such measures:
- thin out the crop;
- choose for the sorrel a well-lit area;
- in the midday heat put an awning for shading;
- To preserve soil moisture, mulching is used.
Sorrel pests: symptoms, treatment and prevention
Many people think that a sorrel containing a lot of acid is not attractive to insects. But this is not so, a variety of insects can attack the culture. The likelihood of pest damage increases with non-compliance with agricultural technology and crop rotation rules. Harmful insects inhabit a groomed area, where there is a lot of weed vegetation and organic debris.
Leaf beetle
If small beetles with shiny black-green shell appeared on the oxal leaves, then it is time to fight the leaf beetle. In winter the pest spends in the ground, in the spring multiplies, eats young greens. Lays eggs mainly on the underside of leaf plates. During the season, the female makes 2 or 3 clutches, so the species reproduces very quickly.
Fight the leaf beetle with the following methods:
- Process sorrel with powder from ash and tobacco powder. Both substances are combined in equal proportions. Dusting is carried out regularly for 5 days.
- Make a burning remedy: mix a glass of ash, a tablespoon of mustard powder, the same amount of black ground pepper. The mixture is treated crops.
- Prepare a garlic soap solution: a whole bar of laundry soap is dissolved in 3 liters of water, chopped garlic cloves and feathers are added. The tool is infused for 12 hours, filtered, used for spraying. For humans, it is harmless. Sorrel can be cut off for eating 3 days after processing, only you need to wash it well to remove soap deposits.
For prevention, you can surround the area where the sorrel grows with pyrethrum (Persian chamomile). A perennial flower from the Astrov family will not only scare away the pest, but also decorate the garden.
Do not forget about weed removal and autumn digging of the soil.
Winter scoop
This is the name of a butterfly with motley gray-beige-brown wings. Its caterpillars are incredibly gluttonous, able to completely bare the beds. First they gnaw holes in the sheet plates. When there is nothing left of the foliage, they are taken for the stems.
Against caterpillars use a burdock infusion. Half a bucket of fresh leaves of the plant is poured with water, insist 3 days. Crops are processed every other day. The treatment lasts a week.
Traps are used to kill adults. They are placed in different places of the infield a meter above the surface of the earth. Inside put sweet rotting and wandering fruit. Trapped butterflies are killed.
Wireworm
This is called not an adult insect, but the larva of a nutcracker. It looks like a thin solid caterpillar up to 15 mm long. It lives in the soil, feeds on the roots.
Experienced summer residents are advised to scatter pieces of raw potatoes around the site. This is a favorite wireworm treat. When the larvae get out of the ground to eat potatoes, they are collected and destroyed.
You can deal with pest and chemicals. A wide spectrum of insecticides is used: Spark, Aktara. Processing is carried out in the fall, after the completion of the growing season and harvesting.
Prevention of the appearance of wireworms:
- timely removal of weeds;
- compliance with crop rotation rules;
- soil application.
Aphid
Intensively breeding pest sucks juices from plant tissues. The root system weakens, the affected plant withers and dies. On shoots and leaves numerous microscopic insects of green color are noticeable.
Fighting aphids is relatively easy. It is enough to spray the sorrel with a decoction a couple of times:
- tomato tops;
- garlic
- onion husks;
- burdock leaves;
- tobacco
- dandelion.
Powders sorrel with a mixture of ash and tobacco dust.
Effective folk remedy: add laundry soap to the ash solution. One treatment is enough for the aphid to disappear for a long time.
Medvedka
The most terrible pest of gardens, with which it is necessary to wage a difficult fight. Belongs to the species of Orthoptera, it looks like a large brown-brown insect with a hard shell and front legs-shovels. It devours roots, as a result of which the plants dry out, are easily pulled out of the ground.
To combat the hated bear, summer residents invented many means:
- Pour 2 liters of soap solution into the hole of the insect. The little bear creeps out, she is immediately killed.
- A glass jar is dug up into the tunnel dug by the pest. Moving along the old route, the bear falls into the bank and cannot get out of it.
- Calendula, basil, coriander, marigolds - plants that repel the pest are planted next to sorrel.
- Sorrel is sprayed with infusion of onion husks.
- Egg shells are crushed, seasoned with unrefined vegetable oil. The resulting mixture is buried in the soil at the site. Medvedka willingly eats treats, but for her it is fatal, and for sorrel it is a good top dressing.
If none of the above funds has given effect, you will have to use insecticides:
- Rembek;
- Phenaxine;
- Medvetsid;
- Boverin.
Naked slugs
These are not insects, but terrestrial mollusks. In our latitudes, the most common are net and plow slugs. The first reaches a length of 7 cm, has a gray-brown color. The length of the second is 5 cm, the color is grayish yellow. Pests eat holes in the leaves and leave a mucous mark.
If there are not many mollusks, they are collected manually. With a large number of pests, the following measures are applied:
- cultivate the soil between the beds of ash, lime, crushed eggshell;
- spray sorrel with 10% ammonia;
- make a trap into which a fermenting drink is placed.
Slugs prefer to live under a layer of fallen leaves, organic residues. Therefore, the best prevention is to keep the garden clean.
Sorrel sawfly
An adult insect with double-membered webbed wings, reaching a length of 5 mm, is harmless to plants. The damage is caused by its larvae. They devour leaves, leaving only streaks. Juicy sorrel leaves are their favorite treat.
With proper standard preventive treatments, the insect usually does not appear. If the sawfly attacked the sorrel beds, then spraying the plants with chamomile decoction, combined with laundry soap, will help. Processing is carried out once a week.
There are many effective ways to combat diseases and pests of sorrel, you can choose chemicals or folk remedies. The main thing is to take the necessary measures in a timely manner, while the problem has not yet been launched. The ideal option is its prevention.