Powdery mildew on phlox - how to cure flowers (+ folk remedies)
HOW TO FIGHT MEALY DEW ON FLOXES
Powdery mildew on phlox is a headache for many gardeners. The disease appears on plants from year to year with enviable constancy. Usually in August, a white bloom is clearly visible on the leaves and if urgent measures are not taken, then powdery mildew can cover the entire collection of phlox in a matter of days.
The causative agent of powdery mildew is a fungus that settles on the leaves. The disease develops rapidly with high humidity and sharp fluctuations in air temperature (for example, low nighttime and high daytime temperatures). Such conditions noticeably reduce the turgor of phlox leaves, and the parasitic fungus easily penetrates into them.
See also: Top dressing for phlox and the fight against powdery mildew
USUALLY INFECTION starts with the most delicate young leaves. Most often on the top, but sometimes on both sides of the leaf, you can find small spots - loose plexuses of the mycelium. They grow rapidly, increasing in size, and soon they completely cover the leaf with a mealy bloom. Gradually, the affected leaves dry out, and the disease spreads to the stems and green parts of the inflorescences. Phlox not only lose their decorative effect - the plants look dirty, burnt, the shoots are deformed and begin to lag behind in development. Since the affected leaves cannot participate in photosynthesis, phloxes are inhibited.
When parts of the phlox become dirty-brown, this means that there is an active formation of cleistocarp-fruit bodies, in the form of which the fungus hibernates. In the spring, under the influence of moisture, the fruit bodies will swell, their shell will burst, and spores will come out, which will be carried by the wind. From year to year, the process repeats itself: the powdery mildew fungus remains on dried leaves and stems, and in the spring it infects plants, spreading more and more.
Powdery mildew symptoms appear roughly the same in all crops. But the causative agents of the disease are highly specialized pathogens confined to only one host plant, they cannot spread to plants of different families, that is, each family has its own powdery mildew.
MEASURES FOR CONTROL against powdery mildew are primarily aimed at preventing its spread. All affected parts of phlox must be removed, removed from the site and burned. But before that, it is necessary to spray the bushes. If you first cut off the infected leaves and stems and only then process the plants, the powdery mildew fungus will enter the soil and continue to spread throughout the garden.
THE FIRST SIGNS OF FLOURY DEW ON FLOXES ALREADY APPEAR IN THE BEGINNING OF SUMMER
It is recommended to use sulfur preparations containing 0,5-1% colloidal sulfur against powdery mildew. Spraying plants with a 1% Bordeaux mixture and other copper-containing agents helps well. It is important to process the bush completely - "from head to toe", necessarily together with the inflorescences, and spray the leaves on both sides.
The spread of powdery mildew is facilitated by excess nitrogen fertilization, which stimulates the growth of new foliage: it is easier for a fungus to penetrate the delicate plates of young leaves than to penetrate into denser and tougher old leaves.
Unfortunately, flower growers carry out treatment against powdery mildew only when there are obvious signs of a disease, fearing to harm the plants or believing that their phloxes are absolutely healthy and they are not in danger. This is fundamentally the wrong approach. It is necessary to start preventive spraying from mid-June - once every one and a half to two weeks. In total, it is advisable to carry out 3-4 treatments during the season.
A GOOD PREVENTION against the disease is mulching phlox plantings with peat or humus. Try not to breed dampness under the plants, water them only after the topsoil has dried. However, overdrying phlox is also not recommended: drought weakens the plants, as a result, again there is a risk of infection with powdery mildew.
IMPORTANT THAT THE PLANTS ARE NOT TOO THICK, the recommended distance that must be maintained from the center of one bush to another is 80 cm.But if possible, it is advisable to increase it to 1 m.Phlox grows strongly, plantings may close, it will be bad inside the bush circulate air, moisture evaporate more slowly and thereby create favorable conditions for the development of powdery mildew.
FLOXES GROWING IN AN OPEN PLACE ARE LESS THAN MUCHY DEW
REMOVE BOTTOM FLOX LEAVES that touch the ground and try to immediately remove fallen leaves and uprooted weeds. As already mentioned, weakened phlox are most susceptible to powdery mildew. To increase plant resistance to disease, feed them every season with a complete mineral fertilizer with trace elements, but do not overdo it with nitrogen fertilizers, as they can contribute to the onset of the disease.
FOLK REMEDIES FROM FLOX POWDER DEW
Currently, there are many drugs available to prevent the spread of powdery mildew. But some gardeners, not wanting to use chemistry on their plots, more often resort to grandmother's recipes for this disease. And some tricks do help.
BAKING SODA. 2 tbsp. tablespoons of soda and 0,5 teaspoons of dishwashing detergent or liquid soap (for better adhesion of the solution to the leaves) are diluted in 1 liter of water and used for spraying. In an aqueous solution, soda gives an alkaline reaction, and an alkaline medium is detrimental to the causative agent of powdery mildew.
HYDROGEN PEROXIDE. An aqueous solution is prepared at the rate of 1 part of the drug to 10 parts of water and is used to spray plants infected with powdery mildew. With a strong spread of the disease, a stronger concentration is used - 1: 8. Hydrogen peroxide is a strong oxidizing agent and should destroy the shell of pathogenic spores.
KEFIR. 1 part of kefir or milk whey is diluted in 3 parts of water. It is believed that the milk proteins contained in such a solution suppress fungal spores. In this case, the effect of proteins is enhanced under the influence of sunlight, so it is advisable to process plants not in the evening, but in the morning.
Reference by topic: How to deal with powdery mildew on phlox
MULY DEW ON FLOXES - VIDEO
© Author: V. DUBROVA, biologist
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I heard that powdery mildew on flowers helps spraying with a solution of ordinary washing powder. Is it worth using this tool?
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- This disease, caused by fungi of various genera, such as Podosphaera, Erysiphe, Oidium, affects plants in warm, damp weather. On young leaves from the lower and upper sides, stems, pedicels and buds, a white powdery coating appears. Single foci grow over time, completely covering the leaf blade, shoots, buds. Later, the plaque thickens and becomes gray. Affected leaves turn brown, dry and fall prematurely, young shoots are deformed, buds do not open. The plant noticeably lags behind in growth and eventually dies.
There is no point in experimenting with laundry detergent like this when gardening stores are full of effective products designed specifically to combat powdery mildew on flowers. Your flowers will be saved by fungicides Skor (2 ml per 10 liters of water), CumulusDF (30-40 g per 10 liters of water). Carry out treatments, starting with the appearance of the first signs of the disease, with an interval of 10 days (hereinafter - if necessary).
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Phlox processing
After pruning the shoots, phlox bushes should be watered with a 1% solution of a copper-containing preparation - 1 tsp. (incomplete) per 0,5 l of water.
Renewal buds are laid at the flower since autumn at the very base of last year's shoots. From them comes the growth of new roots, so there is a gradual bulging of the rhizome from the soil. Because of this, panicled phlox needs to be filled with good fertile soil in the fall.
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Prophylaxis on phlox
By autumn, powdery mildew may appear on phlox, despite summer treatments. Therefore, after flowering, I cut the plants almost to the very soil and, for the purpose of prevention, I treat them with infusion of ash (3 kg per 10 liters of water) or a solution of soda ash with soap (50 g of soda and soap per 10 liters of water).
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For some reason, my phlox's lower leaves began to turn yellow and dry out. And this year, some kind of grayish plaque appeared on the leaves. Do not prompt, than to treat?
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Most likely, your phlox is affected by powdery mildew. Most often this happens in July. I propose such methods of struggle: the affected leaves must be collected and burned, and the plant itself and the soil around it should be sprinkled with a 1% solution of copper or iron sulphate. You need to do this in the fall. If powdery mildew appeared during flowering, you need to spray it twice with any fungicide (again after 10-12 days).
And one more thing: do not thicken the plantings and transplant phloxes every 2-3 years, then they will not lose their rich bright colors.
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Putting phlox in full order
At the end of October, I cut off phlox with a sharp pruner at a height of 10-15 cm from the ground. If the stems are completely cut off, the plants will grow worse in the new season, since the bulk of the renewal buds are located at the bottom of the stems (at a distance of 5 cm from the base). The remaining aboveground part will trap snow.
Some growers do not cut phlox at all. But in spring, old stems, shading the middle of the bush, will interfere with the growth of young shoots.