Pests and diseases of peonies: photos, signs and treatment

Diseases of peonies must be treated when the first symptoms appear. Quite harmless diseases when neglected can destroy the plant. In order to recognize ailments in time, you need to study their main signs.

Causes and signs of peony disease

Peonies suffer from disease for many reasons. Among the main factors are:

poor sanitary condition of the site - if the flower bed is almost not cleaned, and a lot of decomposing plant debris remains on it, a favorable environment for the growth of fungi arises;
waterlogged soil, with excessive watering, fungal diseases also develop in the root system of the plant;
thickening of the bushes, fungi and viruses develop faster and more actively if the bushes grow very densely;
lack or overabundance of certain trace elements, peony bushes may suffer from too acidic or alkaline soil, from a deficiency of potassium or iron in the soil;
poor quality of planting material - a seedling bought in a nursery may already be infected with a virus or fungal disease.

The condition of the site affects the health of the peonies

Important! Viral diseases can spread to peonies from neighboring plantings - for example, from tomatoes, cucumbers, raspberries. Often, bushes become infected with viruses when planted in an area where vegetable crops used to grow.

The first symptoms of diseases are very similar to each other. It is necessary to subject the peony bushes to a more careful examination if:

black dots and brown spots appeared on the leaves of the plant;
Dark spots appear on the leaves with most ailments.
the leaves of the peony began to turn yellow and were covered with light, uneven stains;
A diseased plant turns yellow quickly
foliage began to curl and dry;
In case of malnutrition, the plant begins to dry out.
brown spots appeared on the stem;
Many ailments affect the stem and lower leaves first.
a gray or whitish bloom has appeared on the shoots and leaves.
Plaque on foliage is an alarming symptom

With a careful study, it is necessary to establish what kind of disease affected the peony bushes, and take measures for treatment.

Diseases of peonies and their treatment

Treelike peony diseases with treatment can generally be divided into 2 categories. There are fungal and viral ailments, and their symptoms are similar. But the main difference is that fungi are much easier to eliminate.

Fungal diseases of peonies with photos and the fight against them

Fungal diseases develop in peony bushes most often against the background of improper care. The reason may be the constant waterlogging of the soil, especially against the backdrop of rainy weather. Often, fungi appear in early spring, if the garden was not cleaned in autumn, pathogenic spores wait out the cold under plant debris.

Rust

One of the most common diseases manifests itself on peonies with recognizable symptoms.With rust on the leaves of the plant, orange, brown or reddish protruding spots appear, similar to "pads" - these are fungal spores. Over time, the spots become more and more, the foliage of the peony begins to dry out and die off, the plant stops growing.

Rust is characterized by reddish-brown spots

The easiest way to cure rust is at the very beginning. It is necessary to remove all affected leaves from the bush and burn them, and then spray the entire flower bed with 1% Bordeaux liquid. It is important to treat, among other things, neighboring healthy plants so that the fungus does not spread to them.

Powdery mildew

Fungal disease is easily recognized by the characteristic bloom on the leaves. When infected with powdery mildew, the leaf plates of the peony are covered with a whitish film in the upper part. At first, the disease does little harm to the plant, but reduces the decorative effect. If powdery mildew is not treated, the leaves will begin to turn yellow and dry, and the peony will noticeably weaken.

Powdery mildew is easy to recognize by a whitish bloom.

They fight powdery mildew usually by spraying with soda ash 0.5%, a little laundry soap can be added to the solution. Figon solution 0.2% is also suitable for treatment. Heavily damaged leaves must be cut off, then removed from the flower bed and burned.

Cladosporium

A fungus called cladosporium infects peony bushes mainly in warm southern regions. The disease usually develops in early summer, characterized by large spots on the foliage - brown, brown or brown-red.

With cladosporium, dark spots appear on the leaves.

Gradually, the spots become larger, merge with each other and cover the entire sheet as a whole. In conditions of high humidity, a dark gray fungal bloom appears on the underside of the leaf; in advanced cases, not only leaves suffer, but also stems with buds.

Treatment of the disease is carried out with the help of drugs HOM, Fitosporin and others. Affected peony leaves are removed and destroyed.

Attention! Cladosporiosis often spreads to peonies from tomatoes and carrots. If there are vegetable beds near the flower bed, you need to especially carefully monitor the health of the flowers.

Septoria

The fungus septoria infects the leaf plates and stems of peonies. Usually the disease manifests itself in June or July, yellowish-brown or brown spots of a round and elongated shape appear on the leaves on both sides. The middle of these spots is lighter, and the border is purple-brown. The spots gradually merge with each other, and their color becomes brownish-gray.

With septoria, the spots grow together

Septoria spreads along the bush from the bottom up; if untreated, the leaves begin to dry out and fall off. The peony does not die immediately, but its decorative effect decreases, the flowering becomes less abundant, and winter hardiness decreases.

Septoria is treated with standard means - Bordeaux liquid, HOM and Fundazol preparations. Spraying is recommended three times per season, starting in early spring at intervals of 2 weeks.

Verticillary wilting

Fungal disease is very dangerous for peonies. The disease becomes noticeable usually during the flowering period, leaves and stems suddenly begin to wilt. On the cross sections of the shoots, you can see that the vessels of the plant have darkened. The disease spreads from the root collar upwards, the nutrition of the plant is disturbed, and it inevitably dies.

Verticillary wilting is an incurable disease

Verticillium wilting is practically not amenable to treatment. A diseased peony bush is removed from the flower bed along with a lump of earth, and then burned in the far corner of the site. The soil in which the peony grew is spilled with formalin in order to reliably destroy the pathogens.

Gray rot

Another dangerous disease is gray rot, which affects the entire plant as a whole. You can recognize the disease by brown spots in the lower part of the stem, by wilting of shoots and the appearance of a grayish bloom on the leaf plates.The peony dies off quickly under the influence of the fungus, and gray rot develops especially quickly in conditions of high humidity.

Shoots, buds and leaves suffer from gray rot

You need to start treating the disease immediately after the first symptoms appear. All affected areas are cut and burned, and the flower bed is spilled with 0.6% Tiram's solution. After that, you need to carefully monitor the affected plant and neighboring peonies so as not to miss possible relapses.

Phylostictosis

The disease of phyllostictosis manifests itself as small brown spots on the leaves of the peony. As the disease progresses, the spots surrounded by a dark purple border become larger, their center brightens, bulging dark dots appear - fungal spores. Under the influence of the disease, the leaves of the peony begin to dry out, and gradually the plant completely withers.

With phyllostictosis, dark spots gradually grow

To save the peony bush, it is necessary to promptly eliminate all affected parts of the plant. After that, the flower bed is treated with a Tiram solution of 0.6%, and the peonies themselves are sprayed with Bordeaux liquid and other fungicidal preparations.

Root rot

Among the diseases of peony tubers, root rot is especially dangerous. It develops under the influence of several fungi at once, but in all cases it provokes decay of the roots and aerial parts. You can recognize the disease by the wilting of the leaves and stems, and if you dig up the injured peony from the ground, it turns out that the roots have turned brown, covered with a whitish or pinkish bloom and began to rot.

With running root rot, the bush cannot be saved

If the fungus does not affect the plant too much, then the affected areas can be cut off, and the cuts can be treated with activated carbon or manganese.

Advice! In case of serious infection, the plant just needs to be destroyed and the remaining flower bed should be taken care of more carefully, not to flood or acidify the soil, and to prevent thickening of the bushes.

Pion viral diseases with photos and their treatment

Peonies suffer not only from fungi, but also from viral diseases. At the same time, the danger of viruses is much more serious. Most of them can be protected only prophylactically, if a peony is sick, then it is often impossible to save it.

Lemoine's disease

Lemoine's disease is a common virus with an unknown pathogen. The disease manifests itself with such symptoms - the shoots of the plant stop developing, the peony becomes smaller and does not bloom. If you dig the plant out of the ground, then you can see swelling on the weak roots. Since the signs of Lemoine's disease are very similar to the symptoms of nematode infection, there is a version that worms are the carriers of the disease.

Lemoine's disease can be seen by crushing and rolling the leaves.

It is impossible to fight Lemoine's disease, the diseased peony is dug out of the ground and eliminated. After the destruction of the plant, it is important to treat the land with formalin and not to plant new plants in it for several months.

Rattle virus

The rattle virus is a disease of peonies, which is expressed by the appearance of light green or yellowish spots on the leaves. In the photo of the disease of the tree peony, it can be seen that the spots are in the form of half rings or rings. They often merge with each other and form a pattern on the leaf plates. The symptoms of the virus begin in May or June.

Rattle leaves light streaks on the leaves

Peonies react to disease in different ways. Some plants fade without hindrance, and the next year their leaf plates grow healthy and clean. Other peonies begin to dry out, deform and wither. In the latter case, it is impossible to save the plants; it is better to destroy them and disinfect the tools and soil with a formalin solution.

Advice! Although peonies, under good circumstances, can cope with rattle, usually diseased plants are still eliminated to maintain the health of neighboring bushes.

Circular mosaic of leaves

Another viral disease is also characterized by the appearance of light spots and stripes on the leaves of the plant. With an advanced ailment, necrotic spots appear on the leaf plates. When infected with a ring mosaic, peonies quickly stop developing and wither.

Ring mosaic stains the leaf plates with an uneven pattern

It is impossible to cure the disease, the only way to fight is to destroy the diseased specimen and disinfect the soil. It is necessary to eliminate the diseased peony as soon as possible, until the virus has spread to neighboring plants.

Pests of peonies and the fight against them

In addition to diseases, pions in the garden are threatened by pests. Parasitic insects feed on plant juices, eat up the green mass and can completely destroy the flower in a short time.

Aphid

Small insects with a greenish body gather mainly in the upper part of the plant - around the buds and at the ends of the shoots. Aphids exist at the expense of the life juices of the peony and weaken it. With significant damage, the flower may die completely.

Aphids feed on the juices of buds and shoots

If there are not many aphids on the peony shoots, then you can collect the insects by hand or wash them off with a stream of water with moderate pressure. In case of severe infection, the flowers are sprayed with soapy water, Aktellik or Fitoverm according to the instructions.

Gall nematodes

Of all the pests, nematode worms pose the greatest danger to the peony. They damage mainly the roots of the plant and hardly show themselves in the early stages. As the disease progresses, the leaves of the peony begin to deform and dry. If you dig an infected bush from the ground, you will see that its roots are covered with numerous nodules.

Nematodes permanently damage roots

Gall nematode is not treatable, so the peony is simply removed from the flower bed and burned. To prevent nematodes from moving to other plants, the soil is treated with formalin.

Important! It is necessary to fight the nematode with the help of preventive spraying, sanitary cleaning of the site and regular digging of the soil.

Thrips

Thrips are small insects with an elongated black body. Pests appear on peonies from early spring and suck sap from leaves and shoots. They are especially dangerous during the budding period, since they harm the petals and can interfere with the upcoming flowering. Thrips are very small in size and can be difficult to spot on a peony.

The thrips are very small and difficult to spot

To get rid of pests, it is necessary to spray the flower bed with a solution of Karbofos three times per season. Homemade infusions of yarrow and dandelion are also suitable for controlling thrips.

Ants

In general, ants are not considered pests, but they are quite dangerous for peonies. The buds of plants secrete a sweet syrup, and the ants feed on it, and at the same time devour the petals and leaves.

Ants on peonies harm flowering

To get rid of the invasion of insects, you need to treat peonies and the soil around them with repellent solutions. Iskra and Fufanon are well suited - these are biological preparations with a mild but powerful effect.

Hop thinworm

The adult pest is a large butterfly with a silvery or yellow-brown color. But for peonies, the main danger is represented by the caterpillars of the fine moth, they settle in the roots of the plant and feed on their juices. As a result, peonies no longer receive the required amount of nutrients and stop growing.

The caterpillars of the hop fineworm feed on peony roots

To get rid of the caterpillars of the hop fineworm, you need to spray the peonies with a Spark solution according to the instructions. For preventive purposes, it is recommended to regularly loosen the soil and remove weeds.

Bronzovka

The bronze beetle is an insect with a beautiful golden-yellow-green color of the shell. The beetle flies from May to the end of August, and is dangerous in that it eats the petals, leaves and stems of peonies.

Bronze can eat peony flowers

When bronzing appears, it is recommended to collect the pest from the plants by hand. You can also use insecticidal products and infusion of tomato tops. In August, the soil in the flowerbed must be properly loosened, since during this period the bronze pupate in the soil.

Why do the leaves of peonies curl, what to do

Among the diseases of peonies and their treatment, leaf rolling is not the last place. Deformation of the leaf blades is a very common symptom. If a problem arises, peonies need to be carefully examined and try to establish what exactly interfered with the normal development of the plant.

Leaves are deformed and curled mainly for the following reasons:

Exposure to pests - aphids or ants... When infected by insects, leaf plates often fold, and holes and spots appear on them.
Lack of moisture... Peony bushes do not react well to waterlogging, but too dry soil is also harmful for them, the plants stop receiving nutrients, the leaves turn pale and curl.
Lack of light... If the plants do not receive the required amount of sun, then the process of photosynthesis in the leaves is disrupted, and the plates curl.
Exposure to rodents and insect larvae... When the roots are damaged, the state of the leaves deteriorates first, they become flabby and deformed.

Leaf curling is a common symptom of fungal and viral diseases

To keep the peony leaves green and healthy, it is necessary to plant the plant in a well-lit area with good drainage and adhere to the recommended care rules.

Prevention measures

Treating diseases and pests of peonies is quite difficult, and sometimes impossible. Therefore, it is easiest to follow the rules of prevention, this will reduce the risk of infection:

At the end of each season, the area must be thoroughly cleaned. The soil is dug up from the weeds, all the fallen leaves, old stems and dried flowers are collected, taken out to a far corner of the garden and burned.
To prevent peonies from getting sick, you need to monitor the condition of the soil and regulate its composition. Every summer after flowering, the top layer of the soil should be loosened, fertilizers should be applied three times per season - nitrogenous in early spring, potash and phosphorus during and after flowering.
You need to plant peonies freely, not less than 30 cm from each other. When planted too tightly, diseases and viruses appear much more often, and they are more difficult to cure, since the plants quickly become infected from each other.
For the prevention of fungal ailments, every spring it is recommended to spray with fungicidal agents - Fundazol, Bordeaux liquid, HOM solution. Processing allows you to eliminate fungal spores even before the first symptoms of disease appear.

To prevent disease, the flower bed must be kept clean.

In the treatment of peony diseases and their prevention, compliance with the rules of care plays an important role. Violation of the irrigation regime, lack of light and a deficiency of minerals weaken peonies and make them vulnerable to ailments.

Conclusion

Peony diseases are easier to prevent, but even when symptoms appear, most ailments can be dealt with. It is important to understand in time what kind of disease the peony suffered from, and apply the recommended treatment measures.

Pests and diseases of peonies: description with photos, control and prevention measures