How to deal with rot on pepper bushes: advice from experienced gardeners

Summer residents grow vegetables not only to save money on food, but also to get environmentally friendly, healthy fruits. Situations when vegetables become inedible and perish in the bud bring frustration.

In the article, we will analyze one of the serious problems of growing vegetables - rot, and we will learn what to do if the fruits of sweet pepper rot.

Reasons why pepper can rot

Fruit decay occurs when the main work on growing the plant is completed and the long-awaited harvest is already visible. Often, vegetable growers ask themselves what are the causes of rotting bell peppers in a greenhouse?

The main reasons why peppers rot on a bush in a greenhouse made of polycarbonate and outdoors, are as follows:

• excessive dampness, which is inherent in polycarbonate and film greenhouses - fruit rot occurs due to lack of ventilation or in a rainy summer;
• high temperature - when the temperature rises to + 30 ° C, and it is also humid in the greenhouse, rotting of the pepper is ensured;
• fungal diseases - most often pepper rots due to fungi that cause bacterial diseases;
• exposure to direct sunlight, causing burns on the fruit;
• improper watering - excessive or insufficient;
• unsuitable soil composition - pepper does not like acidic soil: this is a fertile environment for the development of rot.

Rotting sweet peppers can be avoided by following the rules of crop care... Often the problem arises due to excessive care, when novice gardeners want to create the most favorable conditions for growing, but they are poorly versed in the issue.

Council. To avoid the appearance of rot in the greenhouse, purchase or make your own design with windows and two doors. In such a greenhouse, ventilation and fresh air can be organized.

What is pepper rot

It is not difficult to recognize which specific rot has affected your plantings.... Damage differs in appearance and first signs.

With top rot brown spots appear on the fruits of the pepper, most often in the lower part, the tip of the pepper deteriorates. In the future, it looks like dry rot on young bushes: first flat lesions appear, and then concave inward. An indirect sign of apical rot is a stop in the growth of peppers and instant ripening.

Attention! Eating vegetables affected by top rot is hazardous to health, even after heat treatment.

White rot, or sclerotinosis, begins to develop underground as a white coating on the stem, then infects the leaves, which become watery and covered with a white mold resembling cotton wool.

Blackleg (pictured) is named so because of its main feature - the blackening of the stem at the base. Most often, it affects seedlings, but it can occur when young fruits have already appeared. Unlike other diseases, with a black leg, pepper rots on the vine.

Spotted wilting, or bronze, most often affects the leaves. They change color to yellow, bronze, purple. At the last stage, yellow and brown rounded specks appear on the peppers, which can be easily confused with rot.

Gray rot manifests itself in the peduncle. From above, the fruits and leaves next to them are covered with olive-colored spots, and then a gray putrid bloom.

It can be useful:

How to feed outdoors for growth and thickness

Why peppers don't grow: reasons and methods for their solution

Methods of struggle depending on the disease

To effectively combat decay, it is necessary to accurately determine its cause.... Ideally - to establish at the first sign of the disease that destroys the crop.

Vertex rot

Causes of the disease:

• imbalance of fertilizers - lack of calcium, excess of magnesium, potassium or nitrogen in the soil;
• high air temperature and insufficient watering, and as a result - a lack of moisture, which the pepper tries to take from the fruit;
• heavy soil, poorly permeable to air;
• acidic or alkaline soil composition;
• roots damaged by loosening.

Such growing conditions for pepper should not be allowed.... But if the problem does arise, then don't panic.

How to deal with vertex rot? Start by restoring the conditions necessary for the vegetables to grow. Check the composition of the soil, its structure, moisture... Remove affected fruits from bushes and burn away from the beds.

Feed the diseased bushes with a solution of potassium carbonate and calcium nitrate. After their recovery, carry out the prophylaxis procedure until the entire crop is removed.

In severe cases, use copper preparations:

• bordeaux liquid;
• copper oxychloride;
• "Hom";
• "Kuprozan".

A universal remedy for the treatment of severe forms of rot - "Fitosporin".

Blackleg

When symptoms of this disease appear, pepper is unlikely to be cured.... Therefore, it is easier to prevent it.

For prophylaxis, the seeds are soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate and water the seedlings with it.... The antifungal drug Fitosporin may help. If the stems have turned black, then the pepper bushes are urgently removed from the site and burned.

Prevention and treatment of black leg:

• inspect seedlings daily for the presence or absence of signs of disease;
• do not allow thickening of the landings;
• treat the soil before planting pepper with antifungal agents or disinfect it with high temperatures (ignite in the oven, pour over boiling water);
• monitor soil moisture and air in the greenhouse;
• periodically ventilate the greenhouse and greenhouse, but at the same time avoid drafts.

Sclerotinosis

Disease usually develops at low air temperatures - below + 15 ° С... To prevent its occurrence, do the following:

• arrange additional heating for the greenhouse;
• water the pepper only with warm water;
• provide good ventilation;
• destroy the affected plants in a timely manner.

It makes sense to treat pepper for sclerotinosis if the disease is not very advanced... In this case, an effective fungicidal agent is used - the drug "Trichodermin". It is diluted in a proportion of 20 g of the product per 5 liters of water and sprayed on the planting.

Spotted wilting

Spotted wilting insect-borne (aphids, thrips, cicadas). The main way to deal with them is to pre-spray the plantings and alternate pepper with strong-smelling herbs: basil, parsley, sage, thyme, calendula.

If vectors of infection have already appeared on plants, then they are harvested by hand, and vegetables are treated with insecticides, sprayed with "Fundazol".

Gray rot

Gray rot on peppers develops when conditions of high humidity and heat are created... The growth of gray molds contributes to decay. If the greenhouse air is very humid, then the disease will cover a large number of plants within a few days.

Treatment begins as soon as the first signs of gray rot are noticed.... First, the affected parts of the plants are removed, and then they are treated with a fungicide.

Traditional methods of treatment

Almost all drugs that combat rot and its causes can damage the cropby saturating it with harmful substances. Therefore, summer residents use folk methods to combat rot. They are not always effective, but they will not harm human health either.

To combat summit rot seedlings are sprayed once a week with a solution of milk and water, diluted in a ratio of 1:10. Repeat 2-3 times.

Also bushes watered with crushed chalk diluted in water... Before planting, crushed eggshells are introduced into the soil.

For other types of mold you can try to carry out the treatment with a solution of milk whey and iodine. Ash, lime, onion husks, crushed tobacco help from insects that carry bacteria.

Read also:

How and what to deal with diseases of pepper seedlings

Why do pepper leaves curl and what to do about it

Pests of sweet pepper and the fight against them

Prevention

Curing rot on peppers is not easy. Plants often have to be removed and burned. But even this does not give a complete guarantee that the neighboring bushes will not get infected.

Follow the recommendations to prevent the development of disease on your site:

1. Be sure to treat the greenhouse in the fall and early spring to remove bacteria. Freeze the seedling soil in the freezer or heat it on the stove.
2. Healthy seeds are the key to viable seedlings. They are treated with Bordeaux liquid, potassium permanganate solution, kept in growth stimulants, hardened on a battery, and immersed in hot water.
3. When planning your beds, remember the rules for crop rotation. Peppers should not be planted next to tomatoes, eggplants and potatoes. Also, these vegetables should not be its predecessors.
4. Frequent planting of seedlings is not allowed. With frequent sowing, it must be dived and replanted. Dense planting is the main problem of greenhouses and an excellent condition for the development of bacteria.
5. Observe the temperature and watering regime, loosening and airing in time.
6. The quality of the soil is of great importance. If you do not have experience in self-preparation of fertilizing, then it is better to use complex fertilizer.

Conclusion

Of course, it is easier to prevent the appearance of rot by providing the peppers with proper care than to subsequently try to cure and save the crop.

If the disease nevertheless overtook your beds, do not panic and try to correctly determine the cause of its appearance. After that, depending on the disease, immediately start treatment. Do not eat fruits affected by rot.