2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Alternaria, otherwise called brown spot, affects the stalks of pepper, as well as its leaves and fruits. This dangerous ailment provokes huge losses during the transportation of the crop. Often, its first symptoms can be detected already at the stage of growing seedlings, and during the period of mass fruiting, Alternaria reaches its greatest development. At the same time, it is quite rare in greenhouses. In general, losses as a result of being hit by this harmful disease can easily reach thirty percent
A few words about the disease
On the leaves of sweet pepper affected by Alternaria, small, round, watery specks first form. They are usually limited to leaf veins. After some time, these spots grow, merge with each other, dry out and turn dark brown, and subsequently also fail.
On the fruits, from the very stalks, saturated water spots are formed, gradually turning into large depressed spots of a dark color. Also, as the disease develops, the infected areas are covered with fungal mycelium, which is initially colored in light colors, but over time acquires a dark olive color. Mushroom mycelium develops especially quickly on the surface of growing peppers (forming at the same time bizarre rounded areas) in case of high air humidity. Gradually, such fruits begin to mummify. Even if the fruits of sweet pepper are not particularly affected by Alternaria, the mycelium in any case manages to penetrate and infect the tiny seeds.
Most often, Alternaria develops on such varieties of pepper, the fruits of which are tomato-shaped. At the same time, a harmful disease can progress even after the harvest of fruits is harvested.
The causative agent of the unpleasant disease is the pathogenic fungus Alternaria solani Sor, which spreads from infected crops to healthy ones with the help of conidia. The infection is perfectly preserved in the form of mycelium inside the infected seeds, as well as on post-harvest plant residues.
To a large extent, the development of sweet pepper alternaria is facilitated by the air temperature in the range from twenty to twenty-five degrees and its high humidity. Dry and hot weather is especially favorable for this, combined with light rains and night dews. And the peak of development of Alternaria usually falls on the second half of the growing season.
The most susceptible to Alternaria are fruits that have sunburn and mechanical damage. Peppers affected by apical rot are also very vulnerable.
How to fight
When growing sweet peppers, it is necessary to observe all agrotechnical methods that provide the most favorable conditions for the development of plants and for their growth. All post-harvest residues must be eliminated from the beds, and in greenhouses it is necessary to additionally carry out chemical or thermal disinfection of the soil. Also, in order to increase the resistance of crops to Alternaria, it is necessary to periodically feed them with high-quality fertilizers.
Infected fruits selected for seeds should be carefully discarded, and seeds should be disinfected before sowing.
Cultures attacked by Alternaria should be sprayed with a suspension of copper oxychloride (for ten liters of water - 40 g of the product) or Bordeaux liquid (for ten liters of water it will need 100 g).
It is also possible to limit the development of a harmful ailment by carrying out preventive spraying (no more than two times per season) with agents belonging to the strobilurin group. It is quite acceptable to alternate them with contact drugs like "Tiovit" or "Cumulus".
During harvesting, it is important to ensure that the fruits do not receive any damage - all damaged and infected peppers must be discarded.
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