Phomosis threatens tomato and cucumber harvest
Due to excessive moisture, phomosis can appear on tomatoes and cucumbers.
For garden crops, excessive moisture can provoke the growth of diseases and pests, experts warn. Due to rains, there is a possibility of phomosis — a fungal disease on tomatoes and cucumbers.
«On cucumber leaves, the disease appears as oval or round spots; on stems, these are longitudinal gray or black stripes. On fruits, these are sunken spots that gradually enlarge and become almost black,» explained agronomists from the Tyumen branch of Rosselkhoztsentr (Russian Agricultural Center).
On tomatoes, the disease manifests in almost the same way, agronomists note. Initially, almost black spots can be seen on the leaves, with a yellowish border around them. On fruits, small sunken spots also appear first — often at the stem end. They enlarge, the surface becomes bumpy and easily pressed through. Both green and ripe fruits are affected. Green ones do not ripen and fall off.
Agronomists cite high air and soil humidity as one of the causes. In addition, dense planting and temperature fluctuations.
If you find an infected bush with young fruits, they should be sprayed with biological preparations «Fitosporin-M», «Baktofit», «Fitolavin» or use preparations based on Bordeaux mixture or copper oxychloride. But before that, it is necessary to remove all infected fruits and other parts of the plant, up to digging up the entire bush. This is done to prevent phomosis from spreading further.
Agronomists recommend burning heavily infected bushes, leaves, stems and fruits. This is necessary to completely destroy the focus of the disease.
