Why Do Plants "rust"?

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

We usually associate rust with iron, but experienced gardeners and flower growers can safely say that this attack also affects plants. We are talking here about the harmful rust fungus, which loves to settle on flowers and leaves of both domestic and wild plants. How to scare him? And how to protect your green pets from him?

The culprit is a rusty mushroom

Rust is a fungal disease that affects all types of plants, whether in the wild, in the garden or at home. Initially, thickening of the characteristic rust color appears on the plants. Take a closer look at the thickening in the lumen or on the cut and you can see the spores of a fungus called rustworm. If this disease is started, then the rustworm occupies almost the entire area and the affected plant dies.

Rust is one of the most dangerous of all existing diseases in which a plant is attacked by a fungus. It spreads most often by air or with water. The spores of this parasitic disease go through 5 stages of their development before the plant dies completely. Although, sometimes a few stages are enough to lead to death.

Has one or more farms

Rust can adapt to a variety of plants. Many species live on the same plant, feeding and destroying it at the same time without having an intermediate host. These types of parasite are called single-household. Most often mint, asparagus, roses and chrysanthemums suffer from them. Spores remain to winter in already diseased plants, and in the spring they infect a new victim.

There is another, no less common type of rust, which is called mixed-use. In spring, it most often migrates to a coniferous tree, then, having developed, returns to its original victim.

Take care of the tubers

Rust is very harmful for corms, this applies to gladioli or hyacinths. But often inhabited by spores of this pest, carnations, irises, snapdragons, asters, peonies, roses, chrysanthemums and sweet peas. On cruciferous plants, rust is not brown, but white in the form of swellings, similar to drops of paint. Experts call this pest white rust, it is also very harmful to plants.

What is the danger of this type of pest? It is transmitted by seeds, air and water. Landing on a plant, it devours it from the inside, takes away all the nutrients and does not allow breathing. Horticultural crops are most often affected by rustworm in humid, warm weather. But rustworm can also infect a plant at home. The spores of this fungus completely suppress the entire plant.

Loves dampness and rain

Rust can often be seen on some rose bushes in the garden. In the spring, when buds bloom on them, red spots are already clearly visible on the stems. Then they gradually grow, and in the summer the crust begins to crack. From the bark, the spores are transferred to nearby plants. Rust damages plants especially strongly in damp, or humid, rainy weather and during sudden temperature changes. In infected plants, the shoots begin to bend, it sheds its leaves and eventually suffocates from lack of oxygen and gradually dies. The most resistant plants to this disease are hybrid roses and white phlox.

Better not to cure, but to prevent

If we talk about the best protection against this pest, then this is prevention. It is easier not to omit its appearance than to treat the plants for a long time. To date, experts have bred many hybrid varieties of indoor and garden plants that are practically not susceptible to rust infection.

In the fight against such an unpleasant and dangerous disease, traditional methods are most often used, such as loosening and digging the soil. But for the purpose of preventive measures, in the spring or autumn, plants are abundantly treated with a solution of copper sulfate. Ten days before flowering, you can carry out the treatment with Bordeaux liquid, and if the weather is damp outside, then spraying is carried out three days before flowering.

If, despite all the precautions, the plant was infected with rust spores, then you should immediately collect the diseased leaves, shoots and buds, and burn them. If bark tears are noticeable on garden plants, then it must be carefully cleaned and lubricated with a solution of the same copper sulfate or copper oil. In this case, lubrication of the bark with Bordeaux liquid or carbolineum solution will also be effective. Many people use sulfur-lime liquid to treat infected crops, but it should be remembered that the treatment should be carried out two weeks before cutting the flowers.

If we talk about the bulbs, then it would be best to disinfect them immediately before planting. To do this, they are warmed up in a water bath, preheated to 50 degrees. This approach often eliminates rust spores completely.