2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Tomato mosaic is a viral disease, the harmfulness of which is directly dependent on the growing conditions of this popular crop, its varieties, as well as the age of the plants. Most often, this ailment affects tomatoes grown in insufficient lighting. Infected cultures develop very poorly, are characterized by oppression, and sometimes even die. The largest losses occur when the seedlings are affected by mosaics in the early stages
A few words about the disease
The tomato mosaic initially appears on tomato leaves in the form of a rather variegated mosaic color, in which there is an alternation of light green tones with dark green ones. If the disease develops strongly enough, then deformation is characteristic of the leaves. The deformed leaves wrinkle, sometimes turning into threadlike. Also, leaf-like specific outgrowths are often formed on them.
On fruits, the symptoms of such an unpleasant ailment can appear only from time to time and be expressed both in uneven ripening and in the acquisition of brownish shades by the inner walls of the fruits. Most often, yellow spots gradually begin to appear on tomatoes. And the inner walls of the fruit turn brown, as a rule, a few days before the appearance of the corresponding symptoms on the leaves. Affects such russeting usually growing on the first two clusters of fruits.
Under unfavorable conditions, in a number of tomato varieties, necrotic stripes or spots may form on the fruits, leaves, petioles and stalks.
The spread of a destructive virus occurs when using a working tool without the necessary disinfection, herbivorous mites, with the juice of infected plants, sucking insects (aphids and others), as well as with infected seed. And in the soil, the pathogen of the mosaic does not lose its viability for more than twenty-two months.
How to fight
Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to cure viral diseases and it is far from always possible. All infected plants with characteristic mosaic symptoms should be removed and destroyed immediately, in the same way as plant debris. An equally important measure is the control of numerous weeds, which must be eliminated even from row spacings. It is systematically necessary to combat aphids by spraying with various insecticides.
One of the most important measures to prevent tomato mosaic is to select the most resistant varieties for growing. Seeds for growing this crop should be taken exclusively from healthy vegetation. Also, before planting, you can disinfect the seeds for half an hour with twenty percent hydrochloric acid. After such a procedure, they must be rinsed with special care in running water.
When growing tomatoes, you should strictly follow the rules of crop rotation, in no case should you allow too sharp temperature fluctuations, and in greenhouses it is necessary to replace the upper soil layer annually (layer up to fifteen centimeters). It is strongly discouraged to grow tomatoes in soils where any crops infected with mosaic have previously grown.
For growing tomato seedlings, it is important to create all the necessary conditions - especially you need to take care of the organization of good lighting. Experts advise sterilizing pots and soil mixtures intended for seedlings with steam. Every seven days, you can also carry out prophylactic treatment of seedlings with skim milk diluted with water (in a ratio of 10: 1). And a few days before its disembarkation, spraying is carried out with the notorious solution of boric acid.
When pinching a tomato, you need to thoroughly disinfect all the tools used with a 5% solution of potassium permanganate or tear off the stepsons, trying not to touch the plants.
It is recommended to regularly spray growing tomatoes in the evening hours with solutions of all kinds of trace elements.
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Cabbage Mosaic
Cabbage mosaic affects different types of cabbage - kohlrabi and collard, Savoy and white cabbage with Brussels sprouts. This viral disease does not bypass a number of other cabbage plants belonging to the family - rutabagas, turnips, horseradish and radish with radish. If cabbage seedlings are affected by the ill-fated mosaic in the early stages, the losses will be especially great. Therefore, when growing seedlings, you should be especially vigilant
Pepper Mosaic
Pepper mosaic is a fairly common disease. In addition to pepper, celery, potatoes, beans, clover, peas, sweet clover, beans and an impressive amount of weeds can also suffer from it. Heavily infected crops are characterized by oppression, develop very poorly, and sometimes even die. With a defeat in the early stages of seedlings, losses are especially large. The situation is significantly complicated by the fact that getting rid of viral diseases is extremely difficult
Raspberry Mosaic
Raspberry mosaic is a dangerous viral disease that is far from always amenable to treatment. The symptoms of this ailment are especially pronounced at the very beginning of summer, as well as with the onset of late autumn. Infected raspberry bushes are characterized by rather weak fruiting, and the berries become tasteless, tough and woody. As a rule, such berries are unsuitable for consumption. Despite the fact that infected raspberry bushes rarely die, fully recover from the ill-fated
Gooseberry Mosaic
The gooseberry mosaic is also called vein border. Berry bushes affected by this disease practically do not grow and bear fruit very poorly. Aphids are considered the main vector of gooseberry mosaic, therefore, the fight against harmful insects must be included in the complex of measures to prevent this scourge. And, of course, it is equally important to follow the basic rules for growing this crop
Plain Cucumber Mosaic
An ordinary mosaic, in addition to cucumber, often attacks cabbage and beans with dill. It can also attack parsley, peppers, lettuce and tomato. This is the most harmful kind of mosaic. The growth of the crops attacked by it is significantly inhibited, their internodes are gradually shortened, the bases of the stems often crack, and the area of leaves and the number of flowers decreases. As a rule, this attack is found mainly in greenhouses, however, on the territory of the Voronezh region, one can
