Not so long ago, nasturtium bushes began to be used to decorate flower beds. Until the 16th century, this plant was used as a spice with an unusual aroma. In the homeland of Nasturtium, in Central America, the locals ate the roots of the plant. In Europe, they first appreciated the taste of leaves, flowers and fruits, and then they began to decorate flower beds in gardens with beautiful bright bushes with erect or creeping stems.
Diseases of nasturtium and their treatment
Seeds of nasturtium, which has the second name capuchin (lat. Tropaéolum), medieval sailors returning from American voyages, were treated for scurvy and colds. Until now, the components of the plant are used in traditional medicine, cosmetology, and cooking.
Nasturtiums as a decoration of a wall of a house
But the plant itself can also hurt - a lush growing bush suddenly begins to wilt, its stems fade, leaves turn yellow, flowering stops, necrotic spots and rot appear. Fighting Tropaéolum's diseases is not easy, but if you wish, any disease can be made to stop.
Why do nasturtium leaves turn yellow, and what to do
In favorable climatic conditions, thermophilic nasturtium grows as a perennial plant, but these plants cannot tolerate cold winters. Therefore, in a temperate climate, capuchins are grown as garden annuals, which can grow as a continuous carpet, decorate borders along paths, and braid arbors.
Due to its attractive appearance - smooth, semi-double or double flowers and green, wax-covered leaves, ampelous species of nasturtium are grown in hanging pots for decorating balconies, verandas. The color of the petals is dominated by shades of white, yellow, red, orange-pink.
Nasturtium in a salad
A change in the color of the petals and leaves does not always indicate a disease of nasturtium. Yellowing of the leaves of the lower tier is most often due to the fact that they get less sunlight, or the effect is associated with the aging of the plant.
Important! If the upper leaves turned yellow, then you need to look for the cause of this phenomenon.
Perhaps the weather is too hot or rainy on the street - both of these factors affect the color of the leaves. In the first case, the sun burns the leaves and the plants lack moisture. Additional watering and shading of the bushes will help to fix the situation. In the second case, waterlogging of the soil leads to the fact that the roots rot, that is, additional drainage is necessary.
Ampelous nasturtium
In addition to natural causes or due to imperfections during care, yellowing of nasturtium can occur as a result of infection of plants with infectious diseases. Setting out to understand why the leaves of nasturtium turn yellow, it is necessary to pay attention to the dislocation of yellowness.
If these are shapeless yellowish-green spots, nasturtium leaves curl, then this may be a viral mosaic. The carriers of viral diseases are insects, in addition, seeds can become a source of the disease.
Important! Viral diseases are practically untreatable. Sick plants must be destroyed.
Why nasturtium does not bloom
The insufficient length of daylight hours, cold air, heavy clay soil, poor plant care, and poor agricultural practices are the reasons why nasturtium may not bloom.
During a short day in the life of nasturtiums, a period of rest begins. Plants planted in flower pots are wintered perfectly in room conditions, but will bloom only in spring. Temperature changes - cold nights, hot days will affect the ability of plants to form buds.
Clay soil that does not allow water to pass through will worsen the condition of the root system. Flower beds overgrown with weeds, cracked soil crust, untimely feeding with nutrients - ignoring the rules of agricultural technology will not allow plants to develop fully.
Bright colors of nasturtiums
Why do nasturtium have sticky leaves
It often happens that with the establishment of constantly warm weather, pests of nasturtium multiply in huge quantities. These insects include aphids. From one female in one season, several thousand larvae may appear. Their transformation into adult aphids occurs very quickly. Therefore, on one plant can live a large family consisting of several generations of individuals.
Aphids feed on plant juices and secrete a sticky, sweet substance. Because of it, nasturtium leaves become sticky, because the flower for aphids is a real treat. Gardeners plant capuchins so that aphids move from vegetable plants to their leaves. Then the flower bushes are treated with insecticides or simply burned with aphids.
Important!Aphids are spread among plants by ants. Fight against aphids should begin with the expulsion of ants from the garden plot.
Aphids on the underside of leaves
Why does nasturtium dry up and how to save a flower
A flower that begins to dry in the summer at the height of the flowering of all other plants should undoubtedly cause concern. The answer to the question why nasturtium grows poorly can be several versions:
- poor care
- heavy soils
- disease
- pests.
If it is impossible to eliminate all the negative factors, and after treatment the capuchin continues to dry, it must be destroyed.
Additional Information! But if the plant begins to dry in the fall, then most likely this is due to cooling, a decrease in the length of daylight hours. The flower begins to move to the dormant stage.
In this case, healthy strong stems are selected on the bushes and cut into cuttings with 2-3 internodes. Leave 2 leaves. Shorten them by 1/3. The lower parts of the cuttings are treated with a rooting agent and put into water to grow roots.
After the appearance of root processes, cuttings are planted in a mixture of sand with peat, regular watering is continued. Gradually, nutritious soil and complex fertilizers are added to the pots, allowing you to develop the root system of the cuttings.
In the spring, after the temperature around 20 ° C is established on the street, rooted seedlings are transplanted into open ground or flower pots.
Rooting cuttings
How is chlorosis of nasturtium manifested
The lack of iron in the soil or the inability of the roots to get the chemical element out of the soil and direct it into the leaves for photosynthesis leads to yellowing of the leaf plate.
A characteristic feature of chlorosis is green veins on a yellow leaf background. Nasturtiums shed ovaries and flowers, twist edges and reduce leaf size.
For treatment, nasturtium is supplemented with preparations containing iron chelate, an antichlorosis agent.
What is powdery mildew in nasturtium (lat.Erysiphaceae)
Powdery mildew is a fungal disease. It manifests itself in the form of spots of white plaque with interspersed dark brown spore balls on leaves and stems.
Powdery mildew mushroom interspersed with spores
After some time, the coating becomes dense and changes color to gray-brown. The mycelium grows, nutrition occurs due to plant tissues. Nasturtiums fade, stop growing, their stems and leaves turn black. Flowers lose their appeal.
The treatment is carried out with the preparations Fundazol, Skor, Vectra.
Note! Mushroom spores are carried by wind or water during irrigation.
Gray rot (lat. Botrytis cinerea)
The disease comes to plants from the air. Gusts of wind spread the spores of the botritis fungus, causing a change in the color of stems and leaves, softening of tissues, decay of roots, falling of inflorescences.
The causative agent is easily transmitted through the hands of a person after contact with an infected plant. The mushroom is omnivorous: settles on weeds, on all garden and vegetable crops, affects large fruits and small berries.
Ways to combat gray rot include the destruction of pathogens. First, all parts of the plants affected by the fungus are removed, then the nasturtium bushes are treated with Gamair, Alirin, Fitosporin-M.
Since the spores of the fungus live on plant debris in the surface soil layer, before planting flowers, it is necessary to prevent the disease - to loosen, free from weeds and disinfect the soil in flower beds, to pickle planting material.
Black rot of nasturtium (lat.Guignardia bidwellii)
The pathogen Guignardia bidwellii, which causes black rot, is common in almost all countries with a warm and temperate climate.
It is spread, like all mushrooms, by spores. The tiny white dots that appear on the plant expand gradually, turn brown, then turn black. Depressed spots form on the stems and leaves. The treatment for the disease is identical to the fight against gray rot.
Symptoms of late blight
Fungers of the genus Phytophthora infestans are called plant eaters.
Additional Information! It has now been established that on the earth there are more than 500 species of parasite.
The mushroom begins its movement from below from under the ground. First, brown spots with a white bloom appear on the lower parts of the stems and leaves of the first tier. The fungus is especially active in rainy cloudy weather and with waterlogging of the soil.
The fight against the pathogen begins with preventive measures, without waiting for the onset of the disease. To increase the resistance of flowers, measures are taken to saturate the root layer of the soil with necessary nutrients - fertilizers for nasturtium for abundant flowering.
To destroy the fungus use Fitosporin-M, Trichodermin.
Brown spotting of nasturtiums (lat. Phyllosticta petuniae Sp.)
Phylosticosis, brown spotting, also belongs to fungal diseases. Pathogens of late blight and phylosticosis compete with each other, therefore, at the same time, these fungi do not settle on the same plant.
Additional Information! For the treatment of nasturtiums from brown spotting, biological preparations for fungal diseases, Bordeaux liquid, and copper sulfate are used. Processing is carried out several times with an interval of 2 weeks.
Pale olive spots of phyllosticosis appear with thickened plantings and surface irrigation of leaves and stems. Therefore, the fight against fungus consists not only in the use of copper-containing fungicides, but also in preventive measures that ensure sufficient gas exchange between plants.
Signs of leaf damage by phylosticosis
Causes of Nasturtium Disease
Florists, faced with the fact that nasturtium showed up diseases and pests and knowing how to process plants, should still understand the reasons for their appearance. This will help prevent fading of flowers in the future, will not give reason to think about why the leaves of nasturtium turn yellow, buds fall off, and the roots rot.
- Temperature violation
Plants of the genus Tropaéolum are natives of warm subtropical regions. And, although the selection work has led to the emergence of new varieties of nasturtium that are more resistant to cold, still these flowers need warmth. Otherwise, they weaken and begin to hurt, this may also be the reason that nasturtium does not bloom.
- Watering violation
Too plentiful watering with cold chlorinated water leads to decay of the root system. Organic and mineral substances dissolved in water, which are used by leaf and stem cells for their vital functions, cease to flow to the tops of plants. Without macro- and microelements, the production of chlorophyll ceases, and plant protection against pathogens decreases.
- Iron deficiency
Failure to comply with the timing of fertilizing when preparing the soil for sowing seeds or planting seedlings leads to the fact that soil bacteria do not have time to process chemicals into a form easily digestible for plants. Plants cannot get substances - iron, copper, manganese, even if they are in excess. With a lack of iron, leaves turn yellow, buds fall, shoots dry out
Additional Information! INThe way out of the situation may be the use of modern chelated forms of drugs for plant nutrition. The chelating (capturing) agent converts trace elements into a bioavailable form for plants.
- Diseases associated with excess moisture
Most fungal diseases of nasturtium are associated with the flow of excess water into the root zone, high humidity, and abundant watering on the leaves.
Fight against fungi is possible if preventive treatment of the soil and plants with biofungicides, disinfection of garden tools and structures, and protection of plants from the wind are carried out.
Agricultural chemistry and plant protection
The list of plant protection products includes:
- insecticides - chemicals that kill insects, along with eggs and larvae;
- fungicides - biological and chemical substances used to treat diseases.
How to treat folk remedies
Plants very often protect each other from diseases and pests. Plants that emit sharply smelling substances with their aroma establish a barrier between insects and pathogens and flowers.
Fungal disease
Phytoncides include nasturtium itself, as well as garlic, dill, wormwood, basil, lemon balm. From their stems and leaves infusions and decoctions are prepared and they treat the soil surface near problem plants.
To combat late blight, use serum. Its acidic environment does not allow fungal spores to multiply on the surface of the leaves. Water with the addition of a few drops of iodine has antimicrobial properties. Water extract from wood ash is used as fertilizer and for the prevention of fungal diseases.
Prevention and protection of nasturtium from pests and diseases
Exotic view - Canarian Nasturtium
Nasturtium diseases can be prevented at the stage of soil preparation and the choice of a place for planting. Pathogens of viruses and fungal spores, aphid and whitefly larvae, and the Colorado potato beetle will die in the excavated and thoroughly sanitized soil. Loosening of the dried soil crust will not disturb gas exchange in the root zone.
Harvesting plant debris will prevent the emergence of caterpillar butterfly tracks. Regulated irrigation with standing warm water will not allow the development of spores of fungal diseases, root hypothermia, plant wilting.
Additional Information! Timely use of drugs to combat diseases and insects will stop the invasion of pests and the development of diseases. And then it will be possible to grow any kind of nasturtium, even the most exotic.
Nasturtium is an unpretentious flower that in local conditions propagates very well by seeds. Description of the modern types of these flowers is now, thanks to the Internet, available to all gardeners. Any of these plants, if they are fertilized on time, protected from diseases and pests, will not only decorate the garden, but will become the pride of their owners.
