Pepper treatment for aphids, diseases and pests

Even at the stage of growing seedlings, the farmer puts a lot of love and care into the plants, rejoicing at the appearance of each new leaf and it is very sad when various insects and diseases affect green seedlings. Peppers, like many other crops, are not protected from all sorts of ailments and at any time can suffer from the negative effects of pests. That is why, when growing peppers, you need to know the symptoms of diseases and how to deal with them. This will allow you to detect the problem in a timely manner and prevent its development, keeping the plant healthy.

Seed treatment before sowing

Quality seeds are the key to a good harvest. This statement must be remembered even before sowing pepper seeds for seedlings. After all, it is on the surface of the grains that all kinds of fungi and pest larvae can be found. If they are not removed in a timely manner, then after sowing such seeds, the plants will be infected and, when a favorable humid environment with an elevated temperature is created, the harmful microflora is activated, harming still young, unformed plants.

For sowing seedlings, only filled, viable seeds should be used. It is quite difficult to check their germination "by eye", so it is better to use the method using a saline solution. To do this, pour 1 liter of water into the container and add 2-3 tablespoons of table salt. In the resulting solution, you need to lower the seeds and mix the mixture. After 5-10 minutes, seeds suitable for sowing will sink to the bottom of the container, low-quality seed will float to the surface of the liquid. Empty seeds should be disposed of, and full seeds should be rinsed under running water and dried.

It is possible to destroy possible fungi and larvae of pests from the surface of the pepper seed by dressing. The procedure is carried out by soaking the grains in a weak 1% solution of potassium permanganate. The processing time should be no more than 15 minutes. After dressing, the pepper seeds must be rinsed and used for further nutrient processing and germination. An example of dressing pepper seeds with potassium permanganate is shown in the video:

Seeds that have passed the "salt selection" and pickling with potassium permanganate will have a high percentage of germination and good protection from ailments, resistance to adverse conditions.

Soil disinfection

When sowing pepper seeds for seedlings, you need to take care of the "purity" of not only the seeds, but also the soil. Often, it is the soil that can contain the causative agents of various diseases. Particular attention should be paid to the substrate, prepared by yourself using soil from the garden.

You can disinfect the soil by heating or spilling:

• You can warm up the soil for sowing peppers for seedlings in the oven at a temperature of 170-200⁰C for 20-30 minutes. Also, heating can be done over an open fire by sprinkling the soil on a metal plate. Thermal exposure allows you to destroy all harmful microflora and maintain plant health.
• To spill soil, use a weak manganese solution or boiling water.

The disinfected soil does not contain harmful fungi and pest larvae.By sowing properly treated seeds into such soil, you can reliably protect pepper seedlings from all kinds of ailments. You can see an example of soil disinfection for growing seedlings in the video:

Pepper treatment from fungus and viruses

Most diseases of vegetable crops develop in an environment with a certain humidity and air temperature. Fungi or viruses can provoke ailments. More often peppers planted in a greenhouse or greenhouse suffer from them. Unfavorable, rainy outdoor conditions can also contribute to the development of harmful microflora. In order to protect plants and get a good harvest of vegetables, it is necessary to know the signs of infection and methods to prevent diseases.

Potassium permanganate for disease prevention

There are a number of fungal diseases of pepper, in the fight against which processing with potassium permanganate shows high efficiency. Manganese solution can be used to combat and prevent diseases such as:

Verticillosis

This fungal disease can manifest itself in various forms, so it is not always possible to recognize it in a timely manner. Symptoms of verticillium in peppers can be:

• Slow plant growth, in which some leaves turn yellow and fall off. Ovaries fall off in the process of formation, and vegetables at the stage of maturation lag behind in development. This form of verticillosis is called dwarfism;
• The forms of brown and green wilting are similar to each other. At the same time, the infected plant looks relatively healthy, well-formed, but its leaves gradually change color and fall off. With this form of verticillosis, the plant can die in a few days.

Infection with this fungal disease can occur during transplanting or loosening of peppers, when the roots of the plant are injured. It is impossible to cure verticillosis, however, for its prevention it is recommended to grow varieties resistant to this disease. You can also prevent the development of the disease by disinfecting the soil with potassium permanganate or boiling water before planting seedlings.

Phytoplasmosis

This disease, caused by harmful microorganisms, can also be found under the name of pepper stolbur. Infection of plants occurs through contact with insect vectors, for example, aphids, cicadas, ticks.

In the early stages of infection, phytoplasmosis symptoms appear on the tops of the peppers. The edges of young leaves begin to dry out and curl upward. As the disease progresses, all the leaves on the bush turn yellow and curled. Peppers on such bushes have an irregular, curved shape, begin to blush before biological maturation occurs. Seedlings of peppers, like adult plants, can get sick with phytoplasmosis. In this case, young plants develop slowly and stop growing in a dwarf form.

It is rather difficult to prevent phytoplasmosis infection of peppers. For this, first of all, it is necessary to protect the plants from the insect-carriers of the disease. Plants damaged by disease must be destroyed by burning. Garden equipment after working with peppers suffering from phytoplasmosis should be thoroughly washed with a solution of potassium permanganate.

Late blight

Many gardeners are familiar with this fungal disease. It can affect various types of vegetable crops, including bell peppers and hot peppers. With late blight, brown spots appear on the leaves of the plant, which increase over time, affecting the entire leaf plate. On the fruits of the culture themselves, weeping brown spots, like rot, can also be observed.

Infection with this disease occurs with phytophthora spores, which can be airborne or in the ground. Getting on the leaves of the peppers, the spores are in a "dormant" state, but with an increase in humidity they become more active. Only 4-5 hours is enough for the development of the disease.

Late blight can become a real problem for the gardener, since spores at the stage of active development can damage plants and fruits. You can fight the disease with the help of chemicals "Ordan", "Oksikhom", "Ridomil Gold". Biological product "Fitosporin-M" is a drug that shows high efficiency in the fight against late blight in the early stages of infection.

For the prevention of the disease, it is necessary to shed the soil with copper sulfate or potassium permanganate even before planting the seedlings of peppers. With the onset of active flowering, peppers should be sprayed with products containing copper. These simple preventive measures will reliably protect plants from disease.

Blackleg

This disease is typical for seedlings of peppers and adult plants in greenhouses. Blackleg infection occurs with seeds. That is why the planting material must be disinfected before sowing.

The disease develops in conditions with high humidity and poor air circulation. The symptoms of the disease are the appearance of dark spots on the trunk of the pepper and the gradual wilting. If the problem is not detected and eliminated in time, the death of the peppers is inevitable.

Preventive measures to prevent the disease must be taken care of at the stage of sowing seeds, processing and sowing grain in accordance with the recommended distances. Already grown seedlings are treated with potassium permanganate for the same purpose. Compliance with the humidity regime will also protect the peppers from blackleg at all stages of growing.

Chemical treatment of peppers

In addition to the ailments above, peppers can suffer from:

• Spotted wilt (bronze)... This disease stains young leaves of peppers with a bronze or gray-purple color. Over time, brown spots appear at the base of the leaves, spreading over the entire leaf surface. On the fruits of infected plants, you can see spots in the form of rings of various colors. You can treat peppers from bronze with "Fundazol".
• Cladosporiosis, which is manifested by the appearance of brown spots on the outside of the leaf and gray bloom on the inside. With the development of the disease, the leaves of the peppers fall off, the plant itself dies. Preventive measures in the fight against the disease are the observance of the humidity and temperature conditions in the greenhouse, the treatment of soil and equipment with copper sulfate. For the treatment of plants from this disease, you can use the drugs "Barrier", "Zaslon".
• Mosaics... The symptom of this viral disease is the variegated color of pepper leaves, which combines shades of light and dark green tones. The disease is not able to destroy the plant, however, it significantly reduces the yield of the crop. To combat mosaic pathogens, you can use the drug "Commander".
• Gray rot, which develops at high humidity and temperatures up to +20⁰C. Fungal disease affects stems, leaves and fruits. Peppers infected with gray mold become moldy and unusable. It is possible to treat the disease with the "Barrier".

When growing sweet Bulgarian varieties and bitter peppers, it is necessary to remember, first of all, measures to prevent diseases. So, all fungal ailments can be prevented by treating pepper seeds, soil, walls and structural elements of the greenhouse, garden tools with potassium permanganate. Spraying peppers with boric acid allows you to feed the plants and make them more resistant to various diseases.Treatment of seeds, seedlings and adult peppers with "Athlete" will also allow the plants to gain enough strength to resist all kinds of diseases.

Pepper treatment for pest control

Insect pests cannot destroy the crops of pepper, however, their activity negatively affects the crop yield. In relation to pepper, aphids, slugs and spider mites often show their activity.

Aphid

This insect, familiar to many, parasitizes on the stems, leaves and flowers of peppers, sucking juices and nutrients from plant cells. As a result of this effect, the leaves curl and dry out, the ovaries and flowers fall off, and the fruits acquire an ugly shape.

To combat the pest, you can use special preparations, for example, "Karbofos", "Keltan". Some gardeners in the fight against insects use an infusion of their own preparation. To do this, add a glass of wood ash and a tablespoon of liquid soap to a bucket of water. The prepared solution is used for spraying plants.

Slugs

Slugs do not mind eating the fruits and leaves of pepper. In places of their "meal", as a rule, rotting is formed, which can lead to leaf fall and loss of yield. In the fight against this pest, you can use the chemical "Strela", but there is also a popular way of dealing with slugs. It consists in protecting the plant by making a moat along the perimeter of the ridge. Ground hot pepper or mustard powder is poured into it. When watering, it is necessary to ensure that the water does not wash out these substances, and after rain, the soil in the grooves must be loosened and sprinkled again with mustard or hot pepper.

Spider mite

The presence of this pest can be signaled by a characteristic cobweb on the inside of a pepper leaf. As a result of this effect, the leaves curl, flowers and ovaries fall off. Spider mites negatively affect crop yield. You can fight the tick with the help of "Karbofos", "Fosbecid" or "Fufanon".

It should be noted that boric acid can be an excellent measure to protect peppers from pests. It contains poisons, consuming which insect pests die after 8-10 hours.

Conclusion

Preserving your harvest is easy enough if you know who and how to fight. So, every gardener should know the symptoms of plant infection and methods of protecting them, as well as how to deal with various harmful insects. Preventive measures based on the use of heat treatment and treatment with manganese, boric acid, allow you to prevent a lot of problems in advance, protecting the plants from the moment of germination of the seed until the end of fruiting.