How To Recognize Diseases Of Garlic?

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

Garlic is one of the most popular garden crops. There is hardly a vegetable garden where it does not grow. In order for the harvest of garlic to be rich, and garlic heads to please with their size and strength, it is important to protect this crop from all kinds of diseases. To do this, it does not hurt to get acquainted with the main ailments affecting growing garlic

Mosaic

The causative agent of this disease affects mainly leaves with inflorescences. Garlic leaves are covered with tiny elongated specks and wide stripes of cream or light greenish color. In some cases, the leaves become slightly corrugated, begin to lag behind in growth and quickly lie down. And the arrows of infected plants gradually bend, and mosaic longitudinal stripes appear on them. Garlic inflorescences are noticeably loosened, and the flowers contain either very few seeds or no seeds at all. By the way, instead of pistils with stamens, in this case, rather long leaves can develop, and bulbs often appear instead of flowers.

As for the germination of seeds obtained from infected crops, it decreases markedly. And the bulbs are usually elongated and able to germinate long before maturity is reached.

Yellow dwarfism

This infection manifests itself mainly on the testes, and it can only be detected after the mother liquors have been planted. The main signs of damage are corrugated or folded yellowed leaves that become flat and droop to the ground due to the loss of turgor. Garlic peduncles begin to turn yellow and curl, as a result of which the plants acquire a dwarf appearance, and flower heads and seeds are characterized by much smaller sizes than their counterparts developing on unaffected plants.

Rot of the bottom (fusarium)

The very first signs of defeat by this scourge can be observed during the ripening of the bulbs. The leaves of crops attacked by fusarium begin to turn yellow and die off quickly, starting from the very tops, and most of the roots gradually rot. In addition, whitish, pinkish or yellowish bloom can be seen on the bulbs in the area of the bottom. Also on them you can see pads formed by colorless and sickle-shaped slightly elongated spores, each of which is equipped with five septa. And between the scales, with the naked eye, clusters of numerous spores and mycelium are visible. The tissues attacked by rot begin to dry out, and closer to the end of storage, the infected bulbs are mummified. Elevated soil temperatures are especially favorable for the development of fusarium. However, if you store the crop at a high temperature, the disease will also progress.

White rot

Plants of any age can become a target for this disease, and they can be affected by white rot both throughout the growing season and during storage. In case of damage to the young garlic growing on the site, the yellowed leaves will die off, starting from the top, which entails the inevitable death of the plants. On the roots and scales of diseased bulbs, a whitish mycelium forms, and the garlic cloves become watery and begin to rot. On closer inspection, you can also see tiny sclerotia, the size of which does not exceed the size of a poppy seed.

Bacteriosis

On the stored cloves of garlic, the appearance of deepened ulcers or stripes going upwards from the bottom is noted, and the diseased tissues change their color to pearlescent yellow. In addition, the infected areas are actively colonized by the harmful fungus. It is noteworthy that when diseased bulbs are planted, they almost always germinate and develop absolutely normally.

To the greatest extent, the development of bacteriosis is facilitated by the hasty harvesting of unripe garlic with its further storage, as well as the storage of not completely dried garlic. And non-observance of storage conditions plays an important role in the development of this ailment.