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This seedling disease plunges even experienced gardeners into panic. In fact, it is not often possible to grow seedlings so that they are not affected by diseases. The appearance of black legs in tomato seedlings. - one of the most unpleasant surprises (after all, it appears suddenly). The stems, which so recently stood vigorously, fall as if cut down and die. This often happens after the seedlings have been picked. The article will discuss protecting tomato seedlings from blackleg.
Causes of the disease
If you look at the fallen stems, you will notice that near the surface of the soil they darken and become thinner, like burnt matches.
Vegetable crops that are most vulnerable to this disease are grown in a closed way, in greenhouses and greenhouses.
The cause of the disease is a fungal infection of seedlings. The fungus attacks the root system. The disease spreads from one plant to another through the roots. In addition to tomatoes, cabbage and radish seedlings are susceptible to this disease.
Good lighting is especially important for tomato seedlings. In order to have as much light as possible, you should place foil behind the boxes or pots in which the seedlings are planted.
How to cure sprouts
Before you start treatment, know: the disease develops only in overly acidified soils. Working the soil with chalk, dry limestone or wood ash helps neutralize the soil. A remedy such as dolomite flour also helps.
The harvest can only be saved with this approach.
True, many gardeners consider treatment a thankless task. Even if the plant can be saved, it lags behind in growth and bears fruit much worse. They remove not only diseased plants, but also some healthy ones that are nearby.
So what needs to be done?
- Disinfect the soil. Watering with a solution of potassium permanganate helps for this.
- Limit watering of plants. This is good disease prevention. The fungus does not develop in dry soil. This means there is a chance to save the harvest.
- Cover the diseased seedlings with wood ash or powdered coal.
- You can also disinfect the soil with a formaldehyde solution. In this case, it is necessary that the soil is thoroughly loosened.
Effective and complete replacement of soil in the place where the seedlings were affected with disinfection of the soil around the lesion. This helps prevent the spread of the disease to other shoots.
Prevention
It is important to prevent the disease from the very beginning. Seed preparation is very important. It is advisable to choose varieties that are resistant to this disease.The tomato variety "Lyana" has good immunity - a combination of unpretentiousness in care, disease resistance and good yield.
Before sowing, you need to treat the seeds with a solution of potassium permanganate (soak the grains placed in a fabric bag for 20-30 minutes in the solution). After this, you need to rinse the seeds in the same bag and dry them. A mandatory procedure is to disinfect the container into which planting will be carried out using a solution of potassium permanganate.
If soil from the garden is used for planting seeds and picked plants, it should be slightly warmed up before planting. Oven calcination in old dishes is often used. It is undesirable to do this in a residential area, since when heated the soil emits a specific smell that can hardly be called pleasant. The calcined soil should be shed with a solution of potassium permanganate. After disinfection with a solution of potassium permanganate, it is necessary to keep the soil for 2-3 days without planting so that the seeds do not burn out.
Proper watering helps avoid disease. Water too generously, and even more so, you should not overwater the seedlings. Increased importance can cause illness. Advice! Young plants need to be watered with warm water.
A good preventive measure is regular loosening of the soil to ensure air access to the roots. To prevent the top layer from drying out, it can be covered with sand. Sprouts affected by the disease must be removed and disposed of so that the disease does not spread to healthy plants. When planting plants in the ground, the Barrier preparation is added to each hole and only then the seedlings are planted.
Folk remedies against blackleg
- Do not over-moisten the soil; use a spray bottle or watering can to water the seedlings.
- Don’t be lazy to pick up seedlings, as this procedure promotes better development of the root system.
- Excess nitrogen fertilizers are harmful to plants and can provoke the development of disease.
- When growing seedlings, humus cannot be used as a fertilizer, since humus contains fungus.
- Watering with a solution of onion peels helps prevent blackleg and has a healing effect for diseased plants.
Preparations for blacklegs
To date, two drugs are known that destroy the fungus that causes blackleg disease.
- Fundazol. Quite an effective remedy. However, the ingredients included in its composition are toxic. It is not recommended to use the drug if you are growing tomatoes at home. This is especially true for families with small children and pets.
- Previkur. Despite the fact that it is no less effective, less toxic. It is used both in gardening and in growing home flowers.
These two drugs can be classified as preventative.
Now you are fully armed in the fight against such a formidable enemy as the blackleg. And preventive measures will allow you to reduce the risk of disease to a minimum.
