Strawberry diseases: photos, description and treatment

Strawberries are one of the most popular garden crops. This sweet berry is grown in many countries, it is selected and constantly improved. To date, several thousand varieties of garden strawberries and wild strawberries have been bred, some of them are sweeter and more aromatic, others can be stored for a long time, others are not afraid of the cold, and others bear fruit all year round (remontant varieties). Unfortunately, these strawberry varieties not only have their strengths, the plants are also susceptible to many diseases.

You can learn about strawberry diseases with photos and methods of treating them from this article.

What ails garden strawberries

Strawberries are most susceptible to fungal diseases. This situation is especially aggravated during the rainy period, when the air temperature drops, and in cloudy, sunny weather. The fungus can appear not only on the greenery of strawberry bushes; it affects both the roots and the berries themselves.

The most famous and common diseases of garden strawberries are:

• rot: white, gray, black, root and late blight;
• powdery mildew;
• Fusarium wilt of bushes;
• spotting: white, brown and black.

A detailed description of these strawberry diseases with photos, as well as methods of combating the diseases can be found below.

White rot of strawberries

Strawberry white rot occurs due to lack of heat and light, as well as in conditions of high humidity. You can find out about the infection of the bushes by the extensive whitish spots that appear on the strawberry leaves - this is rot.

Later, spots from the leaves of the strawberry move to its fruits - the berries become white and become covered with fungus. These strawberries are not suitable for consumption.

Preventive measures for white rot are:

• planting strawberry bushes in a well-lit, sunny, elevated place;
• purchasing and planting healthy, uninfected seedlings;
• maintaining sufficient distances between bushes in rows;
• timely removal weed, creating additional shade and thickening plantings.

If it was not possible to protect strawberries from this disease, you can try to fight the rot: infected bushes must be treated with fungicidal preparations, for example, use “Svitich” or “Chorus”.

Gray strawberry rot

The most common diseases of remontant strawberries and ordinary garden berries are associated with the appearance of gray rot. This is not surprising, since the appearance of this disease is facilitated by a warm and humid microclimate: this is the weather that prevails in greenhouses and is often observed in the summer throughout most of the country.

If we add to the weather factors the fact that strawberries are grown in one place for a long time, we can talk about up to 60% of the bushes being infected with gray rot.

The disease can be recognized by the following signs:

• Hard brown spots appear on the fruits of garden strawberries, which are subsequently covered with a gray coating;
• affected strawberries shrivel and dry out;
• brown and gray spots of rot gradually spread to the leaves of strawberry bushes.

Fungal diseases of strawberries and the fight against them come down to preventive measures, such as:

1. Regular weeding and weed removal.
2. Sprinkling the ground with ash or lime.
3. During flowering or immediately before, treat strawberry bushes with Bordeaux mixture or a “Barrier” type product.
4. In the fall, after harvesting, you need to wait for the buds of new leaves to appear and remove all the old foliage.
5. A good way to prevent the disease is to alternate rows of strawberries with onions or garlic.
6. Mulching beds with straw or pine needles.
7. Removing diseased flowers, leaves and berries.
8. Regular and frequent harvesting.

It must be remembered that strawberry varieties whose peduncles are located above the leaf petioles are less susceptible to various diseases than others, that is, when the bush and berries do not touch the ground.

Black root rot

Another disease of strawberry bushes is root rot. It first appears on young roots, looks like black spots that gradually grow and merge.

Then the entire bush from roots to rosette becomes brown, the roots will be fragile and brittle, lifeless. As a result, the yield sharply decreases, because there is no “living space” left on the strawberries; the entire bush becomes infected.

Root rot can begin at any stage strawberry growing season and lasts until the death of the bush or until the onset of frost.

Treating root rot is difficult, or rather impossible. Damaged bushes need to be dug up along with the roots and burned, and the ground should be treated with disinfectants.

Ways to prevent the disease are as follows:

1. Feed strawberries only with rotted compost, since unripe fertilizer retains pathogenic bacteria and viruses.
2. As soon as the snow melts, the bushes need to be treated with a fungicide.
3. Before covering strawberries for the winter, they should also be treated, for example, with “Phytodoctor”.
4. Choose only well-lit, dry areas of the garden for planting garden strawberries.

Black rot of fruits

Another disease of garden strawberries is black rot. Hot and humid weather contributes to the occurrence of such an infection. What is characteristic of this disease is that spots of rot appear only on the berries, while the bushes themselves remain healthy.

At first, the strawberries become watery, lose their natural color, and acquire a brown tint. The berries do not have the characteristic strawberry aroma and taste. Subsequently, the fruit becomes covered with a colorless coating, which after some time becomes black.

Strawberry diseases, which are associated with fungal infections, are very difficult to treat. You cannot cure a bush from black rot; you can only pick the affected berries and burn them.

To prevent the disease, the following recommendations must be followed:

• plant strawberry seedlings in high beds (a hill of earth 15-40 cm high);
• dissolve two grams of potassium permanganate in a bucket of water and pour this solution over the bushes - this will disinfect the soil and improve the quality of the fruit;
• use less nitrogen-containing and organic fertilizers.

Late blight rot

The most dangerous fungal disease of strawberries is late blight rot. This disease can very quickly kill the entire crop, down to the last bush.

Late blight affects the entire bush, but its first signs appear on strawberry fruits. First, the skin of the berries thickens, the pulp becomes hard and has a bitter taste, then dark purple spots appear on the strawberries and the fruits dry out.

Then all the leaves and even the stem of the strawberry bush dry. The cause of late blight may be improper watering, because, like other fungal infections, this one appears against a background of high humidity.

Late blight remains in the soil for a long time, and it does not disappear from infected bushes, so it is important to follow agricultural practices and cultivate the soil and the seedlings themselves.

You can protect young strawberries from late blight rot like this:

1. Along with the harvest, collect diseased berries, dry leaves, excess tendrils - thin out the bushes as much as possible.
2. Do not overfeed strawberries.
3. Treat plants before sheltering for the winter.
4. Plant only those varieties that are immune to late blight rot.
5. Maintain an interval of at least two meters between planting different varieties of strawberries.
6. For normal ventilation and lighting, follow a planting pattern of 30x25 cm.

Powdery mildew

This strawberry disease is also a fungal infection.The disease damages both leaves and fruits, so it can significantly reduce the yield or even completely destroy it.

Description of powdery mildew symptoms with photos:

• individual whitish spots begin to appear on the underside of the leaves, which look like plaque;
• gradually the spots grow and merge into a single whole;
• leaves curl, wrinkle, become thicker;
• the growth of the ovaries stops, they become brown and die;
• on those berries that have already formed, a white coating appears, gradually the fruits turn blue and rot;
• even the strawberry's whiskers die, turning brown.

If the air temperature is high and the humidity is high, powdery mildew will develop very rapidly.

The following will help prevent illness:

• before planting strawberry seedlings, its roots are treated with copper sulfate;
• before strawberries begin to bloom, they should be treated with Topaz;
• Strawberry leaves should be sprayed with complex mineral fertilizer.

When the bushes are already infected, you can try to fight the disease. Powdery mildew is treated as follows:

1. Last year's foliage from infected bushes must be collected and burned.
2. Bushes that were sick last season should be sprayed with a solution of soda ash throughout the next year.
3. When the berries begin to plump and ripen, they should be treated with cow whey diluted in water (1:10).
4. If the situation worsens, you can add a few drops of iodine to the serum. Treat every three days.

Fusarium

Fusarium wilt is a disease characteristic of many vegetable and garden crops. One of the reasons for the appearance of infection is considered to be extreme heat, as well as an excess of weeds in the area.

It is easy to understand that strawberries have contracted fusarium blight: the bushes turn brown and dry out quickly. All parts of the plant disappear: stems, leaves, berries and even roots.

It is difficult to treat fusarium wilt; this is possible only in the very early stages of the disease. In such cases, any fungicidal drug is used.

It is much easier to prevent disease:

1. Select only healthy seedlings for planting.
2. Do not plant strawberries where potatoes grew.
3. Do not replant bushes in the same place earlier than four years later.
4. Remove weeds in a timely manner.

White spot

A common leaf disease of garden strawberries is white spot. Oddly enough, the first signs are not white spots, but small round dots of a red-brown hue that appear over the entire area of ​​the leaf.

Gradually, the spots merge into a large spot, the middle of which becomes lighter, and eventually perforates - the leaf becomes holey. As a result of the activity of this fungus, up to half of the green mass of the bushes is lost, which leads to a significant reduction in yield and a deterioration in the taste of strawberry fruits.

White spotting cannot be treated; the bushes will have to be removed. Healthy strawberries without signs of disease must be treated with antifungal drugs that contain copper.

Manifestations of spotting are very dangerous. How to deal with them:

• after harvesting, feed strawberries with phosphorus-potassium compounds that increase plant immunity;
• control the amount of nitrogen and organic fertilizers;
• maintain the recommended distance between bushes;
• change the mulch every spring and remove dry leaves;
• three times per season process strawberries Bordeaux mixture.

Brown spot of garden strawberries

The characteristics of this disease indicate that brown spot is very dangerous, and most importantly, it is insidious, since the course of the disease is sluggish and mild. As a result, more than half of the strawberry bushes may die.

The disease usually begins to progress in the spring - in April. Small brown spots first appear on the edges of the leaves, then merge and cover a large area of ​​the leaf blade.

Over time, black spores can be seen growing through the leaf plate on the outside of the leaves. The inflorescences, ovaries and tendrils of strawberries are covered with blurry crimson spots.

In mid-summer, strawberries begin to rejuvenate, new leaves appear, and at first it may seem that the spotting has receded. But this is not so, the disease will soon return with renewed vigor.

How to combat brown spot:

1. In early spring and late autumn, remove all diseased and dry leaves.
2. Mulch the soil, do not allow it to become waterlogged.
3. Remove pests, as they can carry infection spores (the most dangerous strawberry pest is the spider mite).
4. Feed strawberries with phosphorus and potassium to increase immunity, but it is better not to get carried away with nitrogen.
5. After the harvest is harvested, the bushes can be treated with Fitosporin.

Strawberry anthracnose

This disease is also called black spot; its causative agent is a fungus that affects the entire plant.

The disease develops in rainy weather in spring or June, when the air temperature is already quite high. Fungal spores can enter the garden bed through seedlings, soil, with tools, or on the soles of shoes.

First, red leaves appear on the strawberries, then they crack and dry out. Stems and shoots are covered with ulcers with a light center and dark edges. As a result, the stem dies and the bush dries out.

When strawberries are red, the fungus appears on them in the form of watery spots that later darken. You can’t eat such fruits! Still unripe berries may become covered with depressed dark spots - this is where the fungus overwinters.

Anthracnose is difficult to control. In the first few days after infection, you can try treating with fungicides; later, the bushes are treated with Bordeaux mixture. Strawberries need to be treated with the same drug for prevention; this is done three times a season, adding sulfur to the solution.

conclusions

Only the most common strawberry diseases and their treatment are presented here. In fact, a garden berry can suffer from at least a dozen more infections. In addition, strawberries are “loved” by various pests, such as slugs, ants, chafer larvae, spider mites and other insects. They are the ones who most often transmit fungal spores, so the gardener must regularly inspect the bushes for pests and treat the plants with suitable insecticides.

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