2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Late blight affects the stems, leaves and green fruits of eggplant. The development of this harmful scourge is accelerated by prolonged cold snaps, sudden temperature drops and frequent morning fogs. Merciless late blight can attack eggplants at almost any stage of their development. This destructive ailment is widespread enough, therefore, when examining eggplant plantings, you should always be very careful
A few words about the disease
On eggplant leaves, late blight manifests itself in the form of rusty brownish specks framed with pale green zones. These spots are rather vague and large. When wet weather is established, a whitish bloom can also be noticed on the inner sides of the leaves. In dry weather, the leaves dry out slowly, and in wet weather they begin to rot. On the petioles with stalks, the spots are painted in dark brown tones. As a rule, they are elongated and often merge.
On green fruits, the first signs of a harmful disease appear first in the form of solid rot, and a little later, the symptoms of late blight begin to appear on ripening fruits, only in the form of blurry light brown or brown specks of solid consistency. If the infection was early, then the fruits can easily deform. As for the light whitish bloom, consisting of the sporulation of the fungus, it appears on the fruits only under conditions of prolonged moisture (fogs and rains contribute to this to a large extent). As late blight develops, the eggplants attacked by the misfortune completely rot, turning into a mushy brown mass. And on their surface, numerous saprophytic fungi often settle. After some time, infected tissues become covered with a whitish, olive, black, pinkish or sooty bloom.
The causative agent of late blight of eggplant is a harmful fungus called Phytophthora infestans.
To a large extent, the development of this ailment is facilitated by frequent fogs, rains and dews, high air humidity, as well as sharp temperature drops (for example, when the temperature is about 22-24 degrees during the day, and at night it is about 10-12 degrees).
How to fight
When growing eggplants, it is very important to follow the rules of crop rotation and, if possible, cultivate varieties that are resistant to the harmful ailment.
In the treatment of late blight, eggplant leaves are treated with a solution of copper sulfate or some other copper-containing preparation. It is best for such spraying in the evening - in the morning the solution, mixed with dew, has a weaker concentration, and in the afternoon it can evaporate rather quickly.
A good effect in the fight against late blight can be achieved by using drugs such as the fungicide "Quadris", the contact drug "Antracol" and a systemic fungicide called "Consento". After disembarking the seedlings, eight to ten days later, the first treatment is carried out with "Quadris" or "Antracol". Subsequently, these drugs must be alternated, processing eggplants with them at an interval of twelve to fourteen days. All treatments are stopped at least ten days before harvest.
Planting eggplants, on which fruits have already begun to form, should not be sprayed with chemicals, since such treatments can harm human health. In this situation, it is better to use folk remedies. Infusion of garlic helps well in the fight against late blight. A glass of minced garlic for the preparation of such an infusion is diluted with three liters of water. The resulting composition is insisted for ten days. Before you start using it, it is recommended to dilute the prepared infusion by half with water. There are no restrictions on the consumption of this tool, since it does not have a negative effect on growing crops and does not lead to overdose. And you can spray from the most ordinary sprayer. Garlic infusion treatments are considered an environmentally friendly method and contribute to the early healing of eggplants from a harmful ailment.
In the event that you have wood ash at hand, you can sprinkle it with parts of growing crops attacked by late blight - ash in this situation serves as an antiseptic.
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