Cabbage Diseases: Saving The Harvest

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

The beginning of the summer cottage season is eagerly awaited by both inveterate gardeners and their sworn enemies - pests and causative agents of dangerous diseases of vegetable crops. Fortunately, armed with useful knowledge about the weak points of our enemies, we will be able to apply special tricks, thanks to which any misfortune to our pets in the beds will not care

Terrible keela is afraid of liming

Huge hordes of enemies are ready to sweep white cabbage and its closest relatives from the beds. And among the most dangerous parasites are invisible enemies that manifest themselves in the form of diseases. Keela is one of the most harmful on this list. As a rule, an extremely strong blow falls on the cauliflower and white cabbage varieties of early maturing varieties. Also damages radishes, radishes, turnips. Such a disease leads to poor plant development, the leaves lose their elasticity, wither and turn yellow, and the root is severely deformed.

The disease can affect both seedlings and an adult plant. If the characteristic bulges and growths of the keels were found on the roots of the seedlings, it becomes unsuitable for planting in the beds. The disease is transmitted through soil. And when it becomes infected, earlier than after 4 years, or even 5 years, it is not recommended to grow cabbage in this place. But, if you protect the area from the plants on which the parasite nests, disease-causing spores will disappear over time. The main thing is to withstand quarantine not only from garden crops, but also from wild representatives of the cabbage family. These include field mustard, yarutka, shepherd's purse.

Another subtlety is that the disease develops more strongly on heavy acidic soils. Therefore, it is necessary to engage in the cultivation of the site in a timely manner, as well as the liming of acidic soils.

How to deal with a black leg

The black leg is a common enemy for a large number of garden crops, which is equally dangerous for cabbage, and for tomatoes, and for salad, and for root crops. The causative agent of the disease can also lurk in the soil, but more often it happens that improper care of the seedlings by the gardener himself leads to the development of this ailment. The factors that contribute to the disease are:

• thickened crops;

• waterlogging of the soil;

• poor quality airing;

• sharp changes in temperature conditions;

• too humid microclimate.

Signs of the disease are manifested by blackening and thinning of the stem. Then the seedlings begin to rot and lie down.

To disinfect the soil, it is watered with an aqueous solution of copper sulfate. Experts recommend adding soil to the stems so that additional roots form above the site of the disease. The black leg is more common on acidic soils, therefore, for prevention, such areas should also be limed. And of course, in order to save the seedlings, you need to correct the mistakes made when caring for it.

And the dew is false

Peronosporosis or, as the people say, downy mildew, can bother cabbage both at the seedling stage and already in the phase of an already formed plant. For the purpose of prevention, it is advisable to disinfect the seeds by heating, and also do not forget to air the seedlings that grow up in greenhouses and hotbeds.

But in the future, you need to stay alert and, when spots covered with a whitish bloom appear on the leaves, take such control measures as dusting with ground sulfur. Treatment of plants with a solution of Bordeaux liquid will also help to save the harvest. This procedure must be repeated again after a week and a half.

It is important to remember that fallen leaves affected by the disease are still the focus of infection. Therefore, they should not be left in the greenhouse or within the boundaries of the vegetable garden. Such waste, toxic to plants, must be taken out and destroyed.