2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Variegation is a rather unpleasant viral disease that many gardeners face. Tulips with variegated petals look very cool, however, such a color almost always indicates that they are not completely healthy (the only exceptions are specially bred variegated varieties of tulips). But for a long time this ailment was considered a decorative feature of all tulips, without exception. In reality, variegation is a consequence of a violation of the formation of a pigment called anthocyanin, which accompanies the manifestation of the mosaic virus
A few words about the disease
On the corollas of tulips attacked by variegated petals, chaotically located spots, stripes and strokes of a different color appear. Uneven color may appear unevenly and depends mainly on the original color of the petals. For example, varieties with lilac, purple or pink color, affected by an unpleasant ailment, are covered with yellowish or whitish stripes and strokes. And the strokes on red and purple tulips have a more intense color compared to the main color of the petals. The most difficult thing to recognize is the ill-fated attack on yellow and white-flowered tulips.
Some time later, characteristic spots with stripes begin to appear on the leaves with stalks. As a rule, they are painted in white and green tones. Plants take on a depressed look, and the flowers become noticeably smaller. Infected flower petals often do not touch each other at the bases - usually small gaps can be seen there.
It is noteworthy that some resistant tulip varieties, which have a fairly strong immunity, can live with the variegation virus for up to ten to fifteen years. And throughout this time they will serve as a source of infection for all lily plants belonging to the family. True, sooner or later even such tulips also die. Wild tulip species are the most resistant to variegation.
Many people wonder how to distinguish tulips sick with variegated leaves from variegated variegated ones. In fact, it is quite simple to do this: on variegated variegated tulips you can always observe a beautiful symmetrical pattern, and on flowers infected with variegated flowers, all stripes and specks are arranged haphazardly and chaotically. In addition, light green stripes and spots also appear on the stems and leaves of infected tulips, and this is not typical for varietal tulips.
How to fight
Unfortunately, it is not possible to completely cure variegation. To protect healthy plants from harmful scourge, it is important to get rid of sick plants in a timely manner. To do this, the infected tulips are carefully dug up together with an earthen clod and immediately burned. Ideally, if possible, the bulbs are not dug up, but slightly undermined with a pitchfork and abruptly pulled out of the ground. In this case, the roots in the soil should remain as few as possible. For this purpose, you can first carefully loosen the top soil layer.
In order to prevent the spread of variegated leaves, it is systematically necessary to deal with aphids and other sucking parasites, since it is these unpleasant insects that are considered the main vectors of infection. And all used garden tools must be clean.
Since the ill-fated virus is excellently transmitted through pollen, after flowering on healthy tulips, all ovaries should be removed. In addition, the observance of crop rotation will be an extremely important measure - earlier than five or six years later, tulips are not returned to their former places - during this time the virus in the soil has time to die.
Tulips growing in the garden also need to be systematically fed, boosting their immunity with high-quality organic stimulants. It is important not to forget that feeding should be regular. Only in this case it is possible to save beautiful flowers from being hit by a dangerous ailment.
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