Potato is the most common vegetable in our region, despite the cadmium content in it. Therefore, everyone who has even a small piece of land is engaged in its cultivation. Unfortunately, there are very few varieties resistant to diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to timely prevent the spread of a disease, and, if possible, cure damaged bushes. Consider what diseases of potato in our region are most common. We will also talk about methods of their treatment and preventive measures.
Potato Diseases and Methods
Late blight
Blight causes fungus. Accordingly, this is a fungal disease of potato. It occurs most often, which is why we are the first to consider it. If you do not deal with the treatment of late blight, then the yield loss will be about 60-80%.
Symptoms
Determining this disease of potato is not difficult. Its symptoms are not similar to the symptoms of other diseases. At the beginning of the disease, wet spots appear on the leaf plate. The disease develops quickly, and brown spots replace the wet ones. To make sure the diagnosis is correct, you should look at the back of the sheet plate. With late blight, a white coating appears along the perimeter of brown spots. Through this plaque, a potato disease spreads to healthy areas of the leaf. In parallel with damage to the aerial part of the vegetable crop, the fungus infects tubers. Hard spots of brown color appear on them.
Late blight develops very quickly. If you do not treat diseased bushes in a timely manner, then in 25-30 days the disease will spread to all plants that are on the site. And, in addition to potatoes, the mushroom affects tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, buckwheat, strawberries and flowers.
There are signs of late blight, usually during the flowering period of a vegetable crop.
Treatment and prevention
This is a treatable potato disease. If the first symptoms of late blight are detected, we remove the affected leaves of the plant. Then, we process all the bushes with a one percent Bordeaux mixture. An alternative is drugs that are sold in specialized stores. But, before using chemicals, we study the instructions. Some of them cannot be used during flowering or shortly before harvest. But you can only use insecticides if you know exactly what problem you are facing.
The disease develops in conditions of high humidity. Therefore, when planting, tubers should not be placed too close to each other. Between the lips should be free to walk the wind. It is necessary to promptly cultivate the vegetable crop and make sure that water does not stagnate in the soil.
Alternariosis
Alternariosis is another fungal disease. It also has a second name - dry spotting of potatoes. Its causative agents are conidia. In contrast to late blight, alternariosis is manifested with a lack of moisture. As for the damage, in the absence of measures to combat dry spotting, up to 30% of the crop can be lost.
Symptoms
Alternariosis affects all parts of the potato, including tubers. The first symptom of this potato disease is brown spots. If you look closely at the spots that appear, you can see concentric circles. As dry spotting develops, spots increase and may merge with each other. When most of the leaf plate is affected, the leaf dries out, and the spots spread to the stem and petioles.
As for the defeat of tubers, dark brown spots appear on the peel, slightly pressed inward. As alternariosis develops, the diameter of the spots increases, the peel becomes wrinkled. Wrinkles are in the form of concentric circles. The pulp under the damaged skin rots. But not wet but dry rot is formed.
Favorable conditions for the development of alternariosis are hot weather with frequent rains.
Treatment and prevention
Decay can be prevented
To treat this disease of potato, the Bravo fungicide should be used. For spraying 1 ha of area, about 2.5 liters of the drug will be needed. In addition to this fungicide, you can use drugs Mancozeb, Metamil, Polyram, Acrobat MC, Kuprikol.
Prevention of dry spotting involves the cultivation of potato varieties resistant to it (Ogonyok, Lina, Nevsky, Filatovsky, Resource, Zarevo). Also, as a prophylaxis, the drug should be treated with special biological agents (Bactofit or Integral, for example).
Most often, alternariosis develops when growing a vegetable crop on soils in which there is not enough nitrogen and potassium, and phosphorus is in excess. Accordingly, through the application of fertilizers, the content of certain trace elements in the soil should be adjusted.
Brown rot
This is a bacterial disease of potato, which is common in many regions of Russia. It is terrible because often in the first generation it proceeds without symptoms. And when growing vegetables on the field from tubers affected by brown rot, the symptoms appear clearly.
Symptoms
First of all, we make a reservation that the bushes affected by this potato disease lag behind in growth. If you look closely at the leaf plate of potatoes, you can see thin brown strips located along the veins. The same stripes are present in the region of the basal part of the tops. If you cut the tops in the area of the brown strip, then mucous discharge appears, painted in a grayish color. As the bacterial disease develops, the leaves turn yellow and curl, the bush fades.
The disease manifests itself, as a rule, during the flowering of a vegetable crop. It is developing very fast. The stalk turns black and lays on the ground. This is due to rotting of the basal part of the tops.
Treatment and prevention
Chemicals that exist today are ineffective. The most popular drug is TMTD.
As a preventive measure, planting material should be treated with Planriz. You should not leave an injured drug on landing. Through the damaged areas, various infections can enter. Be sure to decontaminate the land after harvesting and adhere to crop rotation standards.
Verticillus wilting
Fungal disease
Potato verticillosis is a fungal disease of potato. The most common vertillosis in the eastern regions of Russia.
Symptoms
First of all, some leaves wilt. In parallel with the wilting, a yellow edging appears at the edges of the leaf plates. As verticillosis spreads, brown spots appear on the leaf plates of the potato, which are surrounded by a yellow border, the leaf itself is curled up with a tube. Gradually, the whole plant begins to fade. If untreated, the bush dries.
It is also worth noting that in diseased plants growth is slowed down. The reason for this is the partial death of the root system. Looking closely at the tops, you can see dark brown thin stripes that are slightly pressed inward. Brown grooves are visible in the section of the stem of the affected bush. They are formed due to the filling of the pathogen verticillosis of the vessels of the plant.
In conditions of high humidity, a white coating appears on the affected stems and the back of the affected leaves, which has a dirty gray or pink tint.
Treatment and prevention
There are no chemical drugs to combat verticillosis. The infected plant is cleaned in beds and burned. Together with the infected bush, the upper soil layer, which is overflowed with the causative agent of this disease, should be removed. On infected soil, we plant plants that are resistant to verticillosis (yarrow, peas, carrots, celery, cabbage). Resistant to this disease and all fruit trees.
An effective preventive measure of verticillosis is to maintain crop rotation and proper care of the vegetable crop (hilling, weeding, timely harvesting). Another prevention involves the cultivation of verticillosis resistant varieties, which include Ermak and Lorch.
Blackleg
The black leg belongs to the list of bacterial potato diseases. In addition to potatoes, it affects cabbage. The bacterium that causes the damage to the plant looks like a stick.
Symptoms
With this potato disease, the leaves fade first and turn yellow. First, those leaves that are in the lower tier are affected. As the disease spreads, yellowing of all leaves occurs. In parallel with yellowing of the leaves, the stems rot. Starts to rot the tops at the base.
The defeat of tubers with a black leg does not occur immediately. After the stems begin to rot, the tubers soften. In the section of the tuber, it is seen that the core rots and turns black. At first it acquires a gray-yellow hue, later it turns black. Potato vessels are filled with mucous secretions. Potatoes infected with a black leg cannot be stored. It will provoke the appearance of wet rot.
Treatment and prevention
There are no drugs with which to treat the black leg. But there are bacterial and chemical agents to prevent the emergence of bacterial diseases. They need to process the planting material before planting in the field.
Mosaic
There are several types of mosaics, each of which is dangerous in its own way. All of these potato diseases are viral. But, before proceeding to the description of viral diseases of potatoes, we focus on the fact that all these diseases cannot be treated. If a disease is detected, the bush should be removed and burned.
Symptoms
There are 3 types of mosaics:
- ordinary (speckled);
- banded;
- wrinkled.
The cause of the appearance of different types of mosaics are different types of viruses. For example, the banded mosaic causes the virus Y. The speckled mosaic causes the virus X. But the signs of these diseases are similar to each other. In all cases, bright spots and spots appear on the sheet plate, which eventually turn brown. But, with a striped mosaic, in addition to spots, there are brown stripes that are located along the veins. And with a wrinkled mosaic, in parallel with the appearance of spots, a deformation of the sheet plate occurs.
All types of mosaics from one bush to another carry pests. Mosaic not only potatoes, but also tomatoes. Weeds are also susceptible to disease.
Prevention
As for preventive measures, they, regardless of the type of viral disease, are the same. We choose healthy planting material. We stop the selection of varieties resistant to viral diseases. Timely produce hilling of vegetable crops and monitor crop rotation on the site. We make sure that pests do not appear and get rid of weeds. The most dangerous pest that spreads viral diseases is the aphid. Before laying the harvest for storage, we process the racks in the cellar with disinfectants. They do this to prevent the appearance of viral and fungal diseases. There are other viral diseases of potatoes, but they are practically not found in our region.
We examined the most common potato diseases and methods of dealing with them. Potato cancer, various types of rot and scab were ignored. These diseases are caused by fungal spores. They cannot be treated. Sick bushes are removed from the site, and the soil is allowed to rest for several years, planting it with crops resistant to these types of mushrooms.
