How To Recognize Physalis Diseases?

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

Physalis is an amazingly beautiful and useful plant. It not only pleases our eyes with its bright flowering - you can also make delicious jam from it, because wonderful berries inside bright lanterns are edible! But physalis, just like all other crops, is susceptible to a wide variety of diseases. How to understand what kind of disease has overcome these bright plants?

Penicillosis

In most cases, this attack develops on cracked or mechanically damaged physalis fruits. Infected tissues turn brown, gradually rot and are abundantly covered with a greenish and rather dense bloom of sporulation. And the fruits of a beautiful plant become unfit for human consumption.

Often, penicillosis also manifests itself during prolonged storage of fruits (about two to three months) - in this case, the collected fruits are re-infected with their subsequent decay. And the preservation of infection occurs mainly on the remains of vegetation.

Mosaic

When this most dangerous viral disease is affected, a clearly visible yellow speck first appears on the leaves of the physalis, and after some time, a light green or dark green mosaic begins to develop on them. The leaves wrinkle and deform, often becoming filiform. At the same time, leaf-like specific outgrowths are often formed on them.

Fruits on infected plants are characterized by extremely uneven ripening and noticeably smaller. And the main distributors of this virus are aphids.

Fusarium

This attack manifests itself in the form of withering of the physalis during the growing season. First, its root system is affected, and subsequently the infection covers the vessels of the stalks. Physalis bushes are painted in brownish tones and wither long before fruiting begins. The persistence of infection is observed mainly on plant debris and in the soil.

In the case of a slow development of the disease in a sunny and hot summer, the fruits still ripen, but at the same time they instantly become infected through the vascular system. And during storage, brownish specks begin to form on them, on which the whitish mycelium actively develops. After a while, such fruits turn brown and dry out.

White rot

This infection with equal force affects all parts of the growing physalis - both fruits, and leaves, and stems. Extremely unpleasant mucus appears on the yellowed infected tissues, and a little later a flocculent whitish plaque also forms - rounded and slightly flattened sclerotia are formed in it.

Ripening fruits, attacked by white rot, quickly soften, and their delicate skin cracks and is densely covered with a characteristic cotton-like mycelium. The pathogen that causes the development of this scourge is perfectly preserved in the remains of plants and in the soil.

Gray rot

It mainly affects the stems, fruits and tops of the shoots, on which vague brownish specks are formed, which are covered in humid conditions with a smoky bloom of sporulation. And if the lower parts of the stems are affected, the mycelium penetrates deep enough into the stems, provoking their drying and subsequent death. Such stems turn brown, are drawn in by the mycelium with harmful spores and, gradually drying out, are mummified.

Alternaria

On the leaves of physalis, this ailment manifests itself in the form of dark brown angular-rounded specks, equipped with concentric circles reaching 0.5 - 3.5 cm in diameter. Often, these spots coalesce, and the infected tissue shrinks and cracks. As for the damaged leaves, they gradually deform and begin to fall off. On stalks with petioles, the spots are usually elongated and rather dark. In case of damage to the lower parts of the stems, their tissues dry out, and the stems instantly break.