Who are they - diseases and pests of strawberries?

Growing strawberries takes a lot of effort. Before planting the first harvest, the gardener must constantly work on the site: weeding, watering, fertilizing. And what a shame it is when the strawberries begin to hurt, the bushes darken or dry out, and the berries become covered with spots.

It is very important for every gardener to know what diseases and pests of strawberries they are and how to effectively deal with them. A very dangerous disease of fungal origin is gray rot. The disease is mainly characteristic of prolonged wet and damp weather. Brown soft spots appear on the berries, which lead to complete rotting.

Ways to combat the disease: all damaged berries must be removed immediately so that the rest do not become infected. Then the area should be treated with copper oxychloride (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water). To prevent the appearance of gray rot, strawberries must be carefully removed from weeds and treated with the specified solution even before flowering.

Dark spots may appear on strawberry leaves and cause them to fall off. In this case, copper oxychloride is also used.

Powdery mildew is a disease that affects the entire above-ground part of the berry. This disease can be prevented by removing all old leaves from last year and treating them with potassium permanganate before flowering.

Strawberries are suffering from mite infestation. The strawberry transparent mite is dangerous for young shoots; it is on green leaves that it lays its larvae and feeds on their juices. As a result of the damage, the leaves turn yellow and die. The berries on diseased bushes are very small.The mite must be combated by spraying with karbofos after harvesting, then mow all the strawberries so that new, unaffected bushes will grow before winter.

In order for strawberry diseases and pests to appear during the ripening of a new crop, it is worth taking preventive measures in the fall.