Why do the leaves of melon and kavun turn yellow? Growing melon using seedlings. How to plant melon in open ground

Root rot

The disease appears everywhere on plants weakened by unfavorable soil and temperature conditions.

Plants are affected both in protected and open ground. The disease is especially severe in greenhouses.

As a result of root rot, the seedling stem turns brown and thins. The cotyledons and young leaves wither, causing the plants to die. On mature plants, the leaves, starting from the lower ones, turn yellow and wither. The lower parts of the stems and roots turn brown, and the stems are crushed.

The causative agents of the disease are fungi that persist in the soil and sometimes on seeds.

Control measures

In the fight against root rot, crop cultivation practices should be strictly observed.

Anthracnose

As a rule, the disease manifests itself in wet years, especially with heavy dew. It affects all pumpkin crops in all growing areas throughout the entire growing season. Light brown or yellow round spots appear on melon leaves, which often merge and cover the entire leaf. The affected areas turn brown and crumble. Very often the root collar is affected, as a result the plant withers and dries out.

Control measures

In protected ground, it is necessary to strictly observe phytosanitary measures; in open ground, crop rotation is required, in which pumpkin crops are planted in their original place only after 4–5 years.

Also during the growing season it is necessary to spray with Bordeaux mixture.

Powdery mildew

This disease is common both in open and protected ground. In the southern zones of our country, in open ground, it is most harmful.

The disease is active regardless of the phases of plant development. First, white powdery spots appear on the upper and then on the underside of the leaf. If the plant is severely affected by the disease, then the leaves and stems are completely covered with a powdery coating, the leaves turn yellow and dry out.

The plaque is a mycelium and fungal spores. The disease spreads by spores throughout the growing season. At the end of the growing season, small brown dots appear on the powdery coating - fruiting bodies in which fungal spores are stored. The disease develops with sharp fluctuations in temperature and air humidity.

Control measures

In open ground it is important to observe crop rotation, and in protected ground it is important to take sanitary measures and ventilate the premises. When the first signs of infection appear, plants are treated with colloidal sulfur (30–40 g per 10 l of water) or Bordeaux mixture (100 g of copper sulfate and 100 g of lime per 10 l of water).

Sunburn

When sunburn occurs, white spots of varying sizes form on the fruit. Sometimes the burned areas cover most of the surface of the fruit. Changes in color and drying of the fruit occur on the side that is directly exposed to sunlight. Affected fruits stop growing, remain underdeveloped, flaccid and dry out. The disease reduces the quantity and quality of the crop.

Control measures

The disease is caused by many reasons that cause disturbances in plant nutrition. On affected crops, individual parts of leaf blades or entire leaves acquire a light green or yellow color and become dense and leathery. Infected plants do not die, but are significantly stunted in growth.

Control measures

For the crop, you should choose an area that excludes excess sunlight and salinity. It is necessary to apply organic and mineral fertilizers, timely watering and loosening the soil.

Melon reacts very painfully to even minor changes in temperature and humidity. In cold and wet summers, plants suffer from a variety of diseases, fruits ripen more slowly, and their total quantity drops sharply. I will teach you in this article how to prevent and cure the most dangerous diseases of this culture.

Often suffer from cladosporiosis (olive spot). This infection awakens during sudden changes in humidity and temperature (after prolonged rains, frequent fogs and heavy dew). The leaf blades become covered with dark, weeping circles of irregular shape, which over time grow greatly and cover the entire surface area of the leaves.

Small jelly-like drops form on the fruits, which then turn into ragged ulcers. Over time, they become deeper and covered with an olive-gray coating. Too much or irregular watering can also lead to the development of infection. The pathogen settles on the plant remains of pumpkin plants, where it spends the winter.

For warnings For olive spot, it is enough to observe crop rotation on the site and dispose of plant residues immediately after harvesting. I also recommend paying attention to melon varieties that are resistant to this disease - Moskovskaya rannyaya and Severyanka. And in order to suppress the outbreak of a disease that has already begun, you need to remove all infected bushes from the garden bed and reduce the humidity under the film or in the greenhouse to 70%.

Corner spot (bacteriosis) First of all, it occurs on leaves and stems, and only then affects the fruits. Symptoms of this disease are small, brownish-brown and slightly greasy spots. On rainy days, numerous drops of opaque liquid also form on the backs of the leaves. The ovaries become glass-like, and concave sticky spots appear on their skin. Bacteriosis actively develops in conditions of high temperature and high humidity. Its pathogens live both on the seed material and on the plant tops of pumpkin plants.

Control and prevention measures Angular spotting includes:

thorough and deep;
compliance ;
disinfection of seeds in potassium permanganate, aloe juice or hot water (recipes for other compositions for seed dressing can be found in);
quick removal of diseased plants from the garden;
growing melon varieties and hybrids with good resistance to bacteriosis (for example, Ozhen F1).

Powdery mildew is also one of the common diseases of melon, which can cause enormous damage to the yield of this crop. It is easily diagnosed by a whitish coating on the leaves, stems and petioles. Subsequently, the affected parts of the plants darken and dry out. The spread of powdery mildew is facilitated by hot and dry weather, which worsens the turgor of melon leaves. The causative agent of the disease persists both on plant debris and on weeds, and in the spring it again infects pumpkin crops.

TO methods of prevention powdery mildew include:

soaking the seeds for one to two hours in a solution of Fitosporin-M (to prepare it, 1.5 grams of the drug is dissolved in a liter of clean water);
compliance with the rules of cultural circulation;
timely watering;
regular ventilation of film shelters and greenhouses;
continuous control of weeds that carry powdery mildew (sow thistle, comfrey, plantain);
selection of varieties and hybrids of this crop that are weakly affected by this disease - Skazka F1, Zlato Scythians F1, Blondie F1, Millennium.

As soon as you notice the first symptoms of this disease on your melon, you need to remove the infected leaves from the plants and spray them with herbal infusion (to do this, fill the tank with fresh grass, fill it with water and leave it for 2-3 days). Good results are also obtained by treating with a solution of fresh cow manure after infusing it for 1-2 days. Before use, this infusion must be diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. Spraying melon foliage with a solution of colloidal sulfur (25-30 grams per 10 liters of water), as well as dusting plants with the same powder, are very effective against powdery mildew.

After all the above procedures, it is also useful to feed the surviving plants with potassium fertilizers.

Downy mildew (downy mildew) also greatly harms melon plantings. It appears as spots on the upper side of the leaves. First they begin to get wet and turn yellow, and then they acquire a brown tint and dry out. The fungal spores are localized on the underside of the leaves and look like a purple-gray oily film. Diseased leaves quickly become thinner and fall off, so that only the stems and petioles remain on the melon. Poor ventilation in the greenhouse, frequent fogs, heavy dew, rainy weather and other factors leading to increased humidity in the growth zone of melon plants - all this provokes the rapid development and spread of the disease.

The infection is carried by the wind, as well as on plant tops. In dry conditions it almost disappears, but with increasing humidity it comes to life again.

Prevention The following activities contribute to downy mildew on melons:

disinfection of seeds in a solution of Fitosporin-M (1.5 g/l.);
deep autumn digging and systematic destruction of plant residues;
acquisition of hybrids and varieties of melon that are weakly affected by powdery mildew (for example, Blondie F1, Skazka).

If you encounter this problem, treat the plants immediately infusion or decoction of horsetail. To prepare a decoction, add one tablespoon of dry raw material to 1 liter of water, bring to a boil and carefully spray the melon bushes. For infusion, horsetail is added to water (in the same proportions) and kept for two to three days.

In the early stages, you can try to cope with the disease with the help of milk and iodine. Milk is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:9-10 and for every 10 liters of the mixture add 5-10 drops of iodine. Among the chemical agents against peronosporosis, you can use oxychloride (40 g/10 liters) and cuprosate (25 to 30 grams per 10 liters).

Fusarium wilt It’s scary, first of all, because it is often practically asymptomatic. As a result, melon plants can dry out in just a couple of days without any visible change in leaf color or other similar signs. However, it happens that the disease takes a protracted form - first the leaves curl up into a tube, and then inconspicuous spots appear on them, which very soon occupy the entire surface of the leaf blades. The causative agent of Fusarium wilt lives not only on plant debris, but also in the soil and on seeds.

To prevent your plants from suffering from Fusarium wilt, observe the following rules:

soak the seeds before sowing for three hours in a 0.1% solution of the Bactofit preparation;
mulch the beds with planted melon seedlings with a small layer of ash, calcined and cooled sand, crushed chalk or fluff lime;
grow melon hybrids Octavia and Blondie F1.

Well, well stop spreading This infection can be achieved by quickly removing diseased plants and spraying the remaining melons in the garden with potassium-phosphorus fertilizers (5 grams per 10 liters of water).

Bacterial and fungal diseases of melon lead to a significant reduction in its yield. No less a threat to melons is posed by melon pests such as flies, caterpillars, and various beetles, which, feeding on plant juices, lead to damage and sometimes death of the melon planting. To protect plants and the crop as a whole, there are various agrotechnical measures, including timely treatment of melons with special preparations.

Low temperatures, high humidity, lack of heat and sun - all these factors contribute to the development of putrefactive processes on leaves and fruits. Most often, melons are susceptible to diseases caused by a fungal infection that affects plants in the absence of proper care.

Powdery mildew. At the initial stage it appears as whitish spots on the greenery of plants (leaves, stems). If measures are not taken in time, the spots become brown and spread over the entire surface, and the leaves themselves dry out. This process leads to a stop in fruit growth and a decrease in their quality. In many cases, the disease affects not only the greens, but also the fruits themselves.

Fusarium. This is a fungal disease that causes the leaves to wilt. As a rule, it occurs during the formation of the first leaves, active growth and ripening of fruits. In the absence of immediate measures, withered leaves, and then the stems, lose their color and become covered with spots. You can no longer count on a generous harvest, since the process develops so rapidly that literally after 7–10 days the infected plant dies. If the fungus has infected the melon at the stage of fruit ripening, then the melons will not be sweet and aromatic enough. It has been noticed that the disease more often affects melon varieties of medium and late ripening.

Copperhead (anthracnose). Signs are brown spots on the leaves, gradually increasing in size. Over time, holes form in the affected areas, the leaves dry out and curl at the edges, the stems become brittle, and the fruits become deformed, begin to taste bitter and gradually rot.

Root rot. Young, weakened plants are more susceptible to the disease. At the initial stage, it manifests itself as drilling and thinning of the stem, gradually leading to the death of cotyledons, leaves and roots.

In addition to various types of diseases, planting melons is often also attacked by insect pests, which we will talk about later.

Melon fly. In some regions, this pest is the main enemy of melons, as it affects up to 50% of the entire crop. It is quite difficult to get rid of flies, since they easily tolerate cold and safely overwinter in the ground as larvae. These insects begin their flight around the beginning of June and can even penetrate the ovaries. Basically, the pest attacks already ripe fruits. In this case, the insect pierces the soft tissues of the fruit and lays several larvae inside the melon.

The first signs of damage to fruits by the melon fly are small tubercles on the peel at the points of penetration of the pest. Then, when the insect eggs turn into larvae, you can see holes (soft passages) on the surface of the melon that these same larvae have worn out. Fruits after being damaged by a pest begin to rot quickly, and the risk of infection with fungal diseases also increases. Of course, eating a melon infested with insects is not recommended, even if the flesh of the fruit is not yet seriously damaged and the larvae are easily removed.

Melon aphid. It consists of multiple clusters of small insects below the leaves. Situated in groups and laying larvae there, they suck the juice from the leaves, which leads to their yellowing, curling and wilting. In this case, the entire plant suffers, and the flowers and ovaries fall off.

Wireworms. These are the larvae of beetles, which are popularly called click beetles. Their body really looks like a piece of wire; it is very strong and springy. The larvae live in the soil, feeding on the seeds of melons, so the main damage is caused to melon rhizomes. They gnaw through the roots and underground part of the stem, which leads to developmental delays and then to the death of the young plant.

Spider mite. These pests settle on the lower part of the leaf. Thin webs entwining the leaves indicate a mite infestation. During the day, adult beetles lead a hidden life, hiding in webs and laying larvae there. Colonies feed on plant sap, so small spots can be found on the leaves - traces of pest bites. Infected leaves turn yellow, become deformed and fall off, after which the insects move to the stems, flowers and ovaries. By devouring them, they gradually destroy the plants.

Gnawing owls. These are caterpillars that live both in the soil and on its surface. During the daytime, they prefer to hide from the sun in the ground, where they gnaw through the roots of plants, and at night, they climb to the surface and damage the stems there. Massive damage leads to the death of melons, especially if the root is damaged.

Video “Protecting melons from melon flies”

From the video you will learn how to protect your garden and melon crops from one of the most dangerous quarantine pests of melon, watermelon, pumpkin and cucumber, which causes enormous damage to the crop.

Processing means

Many diseases can be avoided if you adhere to the rules of agricultural technology regarding this crop:

do not plant in heavy and too moist soil, as this promotes the development of fungal diseases, putrefactive processes and wilting of the melon planting;
observe crop rotation - it is not advisable to plant melons after nightshade crops (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant), in addition, the place under the bed with melons must be changed annually;
plants that have been exposed to diseases or pests must be burned, and then the soil must be dug deep;
and the main measure in the fight against pests and diseases is the treatment of seeds in disinfecting solutions (manganese, copper sulfate, Formalin, Fundazol and other similar products).

These simple agricultural practices will reduce the risk of your melons becoming infected with diseases such as fusarium, root rot and many other fungal diseases. If, for some reason, the plants become sick, then the only way to solve the problem will be fungicides, since folk remedies are effective only at the initial stage of the disease.

To combat powdery mildew, colloidal sulfur is used - it is a white powder to protect vegetable and fruit crops from the above diseases. The drug is used in the form of a solution (0.3%) or as a means of pollinating plants. The effect is observed after 1 day. If the lesions are extensive, treatment is carried out 1 time/1 week until all signs of the disease disappear.

Among the folk remedies for this problem, infusions of hay dust or liquid manure are effective. The product is prepared at the rate of 1 part organic matter to 3 parts water. Manure or rot is poured with water and left for three days. After this, filter, dilute with water in a ratio of 1:3, add copper sulfate (5 g/1 bucket of liquid), and spray the plants. A more gentle remedy is milk or whey diluted with water 1:10.

To prevent powdery mildew, it is recommended to spray melons with Bordeaux mixture once every 7–8 days. For fusarium, a solution of potassium chloride is used, which is used to water the beds during the period of bud formation. To prevent anthracnose, melons are sprayed with a solution or sprinkled with dry sulfur powder 1 time/10–12 days.

Melons need to be treated repeatedly for pests. For example, the melon fly is active during the growing season of plants and during the ripening period of fruits, so 2-3 treatments are necessary per season. The drug "Kemifos" (insecticide) is effective. It is used for spraying at the rate of 10 ml/10 l of water. For prevention, melons are sprayed with Rapier solution.

For aphids, solutions of Karbofos (10%), Aktelik (30%), or soap solution (100 g of soap/10 l of water) are used. The preparations “Fitoverm” or “BI-58” will help get rid of spider mites. These are universal insecticides used to treat fruit and vegetable crops. Gnawing cutworms are destroyed with Volaton and Decis. These are chemicals that are diluted in accordance with the instructions.

It must be remembered that eating melon treated with insecticides is allowed no earlier than a month after the last treatment.
Whatever method you choose, to achieve the desired effect you must adhere to the following rules:
It is better to spray plants in cloudy and windless weather (late evening), since strong sun can lead to burns of treated leaves, and the wind can partially blow away the drug, which will lead to a decrease in its effectiveness.
The processing time must be calculated so that there is no rain for at least 6–8 hours after the procedure.
Try to spray only the plants, avoiding getting the drugs into the soil, or, conversely, if necessary, water the soil without getting it on the leaves.
It is not recommended to treat the fruits themselves, since insecticides and fungicides tend to accumulate, and these are strong chemicals.

It is also important to adhere to the rules for working with such drugs. When processing melons, be sure to use rubber gloves, a mask and protective clothing, since these agents quickly penetrate the respiratory tract and are absorbed into the blood, which can lead to poisoning. For work, use a high-quality pneumatic sprayer.
Remember that the working solution can be stored for no more than a day.

Video “How to increase the yield of melons”
In this video you will learn how to care for melons to increase their yield.

Dangerous diseases of melons deprive the harvest and nullify all the work on planting and caring for them. Damage from pests of melons is no less. If the cause of the disease can be a viral, bacterial or fungal infection, then the list of pests is longer:

melon aphid;
spider mite;
wireworm;
scoop;
melon fly.

Prevention of melon diseases, timely control of them and insect pests help save the crop.

Melon pests

Any insects that settle on a melon cause damage to it. Symptoms of infection should not be discouraging. Having information about dangerous melon pests and effective ways to destroy them, you can save the crop.

Melon fly

For our harsh climate, the melon fly is exotic. It has recently adapted to our cool climate. Before this, the habitat region was warm countries (India, Egypt) and our Transcaucasus. The fruit along with the seeds in it suffers from fly larvae.

The melon fly is considered one of the most dangerous pests of this melon crop. In the southern regions, the damage from its invasion is enormous. The insect can destroy up to 50% of the entire crop. The insect lays eggs in the pulp of the fruit, gnawing holes in the skin and penetrating inside. Numerous larvae cause further damage.

How to deal with melon fly?

A natural question arises: how can you fight the melon fly, what preventive measures save you from the pest? The first thing you need to know is what such a dangerous melon fly looks like. This will help to find out about the infection at the initial stage and prevent mass infection of melons.

It is not difficult to recognize a dangerous insect; the fly has wings with yellow transverse stripes, the body is small (5–7 mm), oblong, yellow in color. If you see a yellow insect and it has wings with four transverse stripes of black color, it means that this is an adult of a melon fly. Almost all members of the insect are yellow in color, only round spots of a dark color are visible on the back.

Females lay up to 120 eggs, oblong in shape, narrowed at one end, milky white, up to 1 mm long. The year of the melon insect coincides with the time of formation of the fruits of melon crops, and lasts from the first days of June until October. The female lays eggs under the melon skin of the fruit 7 days after mating.

The larvae penetrate the melon and feed on the juice of the fruit. When the time to pupate approaches, they leave the melon fruit and penetrate the soil. The insect remains in the pupal phase for 3 weeks in the summer and up to 1.5 months in the fall. In a year, one female will produce up to 3 generations of the pest.

A crop affected by the melon fly has external signs: holes in the peel and brown spots on its surface. Subsequently, melon fruits:

lose their usual shape;
rot;
emit an unpleasant odor;
suffer from secondary infections.

No obvious danger to humans from eating fruits affected by the melon fly has been identified, but their consumption is not recommended. The presence of infection in infected fruits cannot be ruled out. The most harmless disease after eating contaminated fruits is diarrhea.

Melon aphid on melons

Adult aphids are not as scary to melon as melon larvae are. The question of whether it is possible to eat fruits if there are aphids on the melon should not arise. The larvae do not live in the melon (fruit). They live on the inner surface of leaves, just like adults.

How to treat bushes if aphids appear on melons:

karbofos - 60 g of product per 8 liters of water;
soap solution - add 100 g of soap shavings to 10 liters of water;
Actellicom - according to the instructions.

Aphids must be combated in the early stages, preventing their active reproduction.

Spider mite

Melons and vegetables suffer from spider mites. Small pests live on the inner parts of leaves. A large number of pests inhibit the development of plants. Due to the large loss of juice, they gradually dry out. Signs of spider mites include yellow foliage and white webs on the leaves.

The first infected plants can be removed to prevent the insect from spreading to healthy plants. Sick bushes can be treated with acaricides or preparations containing sulfur and phosphorus. The products are alternated to maintain the effect. Spray all parts of the plant, even in the most inaccessible places.

Ways to combat broomrape:

crop rotation;
use of virgin land for melon growing;
deep plowing;
keeping the land clean;
biological control methods.

Gnawing cutworms

The cutworm is a butterfly whose caterpillars are an unpleasant gray color, live in the top layer of soil and cause significant damage to melon bushes. They gnaw out the pulp of the stems, which causes them to wither and gradually die, leading to the death of the plant.

Standard methods of dealing with the gnawing cutworm:

loosening row spacing reduces the population of pupae and larvae;
use of chemicals according to instructions and within acceptable time limits;
use of Bazudin during pre-sowing soil preparation.

For the gnawing cutworm, use the drug Decis Profi; to spray the lashes, dilute 0.4 g of the product in 5 liters of water. No more than 2 treatments can be carried out per season (before flowering and after). The product is toxic to bees.

Bazudin is added to the soil during the planting period of melons. Use the recommended concentration - 15 g per hundred square meters. This dose is mixed with 0.5 liters of river sand to evenly distribute the product over the entire area of the ridge.

Melon diseases

Melon is susceptible to various infections that affect the yield, marketability and taste of the fruit. The main sources of infection: low-quality seeds, contaminated soil. Additional factors that provoke diseases are bad weather conditions and poor quality plant care.

Fusarium wilt (fusarium wilt)

A dangerous disease spread by fungal spores. Medium and late ripening melon varieties are at risk. On diseased plants, fruits with a low sugar content are formed, not juicy, and have lost their aroma and keeping quality.

Young plants in the phase of 2-3 true leaves and already fruit-bearing bushes are infected. Symptoms indicating that the plant is affected by Fusarium wilt:

light leaves;
limp stems and leaves;
gray spots on leaf blades.

Sick plants should be destroyed and the soil disinfected using any fungicide. Prevention helps reduce the risk of infection:

compliance with crop rotation;
deep autumn digging of the soil with complete removal of all plant residues;
pre-planting seed treatment in 40% formaldehyde solution for 5 minutes;
treatment of leaves with potassium chloride during the formation of buds.

Experienced gardeners advise planting melons on high beds; this greatly reduces the risk of plant infection and pest damage.

Gray mold

Cold, damp weather is ideal for the spread of botrytis, a fungal disease of melons. Signs of the disease appear on young ovaries in the form of mold. Infected fruits become soft and watery.

It is noted that the disease is more intense if the air temperature outside is kept within 15 °C. With the arrival of warmth, it slows down and, with proper care, disappears. Caring for a sick melon:

weed removal;
removing damaged leaves and stems;
moderate watering of treated plants.

Solution for treating melons infected with gray rot: urea 10 g, copper sulfate 2 g, zinc sulfate 1 g. Proportions are given for a water volume of 10 liters.

Powdery mildew

You can recognize the disease by its symptoms: whitish spots at the initial stage, brown spots at later stages. The fungus affects the entire above-ground part of the vegetable crop. To prevent disease and treat diseased plants, the following measures help:

keeping the beds clean: timely weeding, removal of plant debris at the end of the season;
crop rotation;
treatment of all plants with symptoms of powdery mildew with colloidal sulfur.

Recipe for preparing the solution: water (10 l), drug (100 g). Treatment - spraying of leaves, must be carried out weekly. The last one - no later than 20 days before mass harvesting of fruits.

Downy mildew (peronospora)

Young plants suffer from downy mildew. Yellow-green spots appear on tender leaves. Their size increases over time. High humidity leads to the formation of a gray coating on the bottom of the leaf blades.

To avoid illness:

carry out pre-sowing treatment of melon seeds - immerse them in water heated to 45 °C for 2 hours;
treat with urea solution (1 g/l);
every 10 days use the drugs Topaz, Oxychom.

Treatments with drugs carried out exactly according to the instructions will not harm plants or human health.

Cucumber mosaic

A viral disease that has no cure but can be prevented with simple preventive measures:

compliance with all crop rotation rules;
seed treatment before sowing by heating;
use a 5% solution of potassium permanganate to treat working tools;
maintaining clean beds and row spacing;
destruction of aphids when they appear on plants.

You can learn about the disease by mosaic spots on the surface of leaves, deformation of leaf blades, fallen flowers, death of large leaves, and ugly fruits with warts on the skin.

Root rot

Difficult weather conditions and poor care weaken plants. With weak immunity, they develop root rot, in which the color of the stems and roots first changes (shaved), then they become thinner. At the last stage of the disease, dark spots appear inside the melon, and it loses its consumer qualities, becoming inedible.

They fight rot as standard:

organize proper watering;
loosen the rows;
prepare the seeds for planting by etching them in a formaldehyde solution (40%) for 5 minutes.

White spot (septoria)

Septoria is spread by fungal spores. The peak incidence occurs during the rainy season, when air humidity is high. The causative agent of the disease persists for a long time in the soil where unharvested plant residues and plant seeds remain.

In the initial stage, a diseased plant develops white spots, which gradually acquire a dark color.

The main control measures include deep autumn tillage of the soil to a depth of 30–35 cm, removal and destruction of diseased plants, preventive spraying of tops with Bordeaux mixture (1%), compliance with crop rotation.

Angular spot (bacteriosis)

Bacteriosis can affect a plant at any stage of development. The disease causes greater damage to leaves and stems. Brown spots of irregular shape appear on them. Small, oily, depressed spots appear on diseased fruits.

Factors contributing to the development of the disease:

night temperatures from 18 °C and above;
dew.

Ascochyta blight

The fungus attacks the root collar of the melon. The onset of the disease is pale spots on the neck with many dots (pycnidia), the progression of the disease is an increase in the area of the affected areas. The disease spreads to the fruits and stems, they darken and dry out.

The disease is provoked by low soil temperature and excess moisture. Prevention and control of the disease:

deep autumn tillage (plowing);
crop rotation;
cleaning the area from old plant debris;
timely disinfection of soil;
removal of affected areas of plants;
application of potash fertilizers;
treatment of the above-ground parts of plants with Bordeaux mixture.

Anthracnose (scarden)

Brown or pink spots on the leaves are signs of melon anthracnose. First, the spots increase in size, covering the entire leaf blade; later, holes appear in their place, the leaves become deformed (curl) and eventually dry out.

The lashes are damaged: they become fragile and thin. The melon pulp is covered in brown spots and is rotting. Measures for the prevention and control of anthracnose:

regularly loosen the soil the next day after watering;
dusting of plantings with sulfur powder;
Spray the plants with 1% Bordeaux mixture every 10 days.

Processing means

There are no modern melon varieties that can resist the melon fly. Control methods: prevention;

destruction of infected specimens;
treatment with special preparations at the stage of flowering and ovary formation.

The most important methods of control are insecticides. The melon fly is afraid of drugs:

Confidor.
Karbofos.
Fufanon.

Control methods boil down to spraying plants during the formation of ovaries. A one-time treatment will not give the desired result. Spraying is repeated at least 3 times. Their treatment is carried out using other drugs (insecticides) for melon diseases:

Sherpa.
Decis.
Arrivo.

To prevent chemicals from causing the accumulation of harmful substances in fruits, plant treatments are stopped a month before the mass harvest.

Processing technology

In Transcaucasia they use an original method of combating the melon fly. When the ovaries reach the size of a chicken egg, they are buried in the soil to a depth of 14 cm. There they are not afraid of fly larvae. Damaged melons rot and are unsuitable for further use. If tunnels are found that have damaged the skin of the fruit, the melon is destroyed by burying it in the ground to a depth of 0.5 m or burning it.

Melon can be subjected to variousfungal, bacterial and viral diseases, which lead to a decrease in the yield and quality of fruits. Various pests that feed on the sap of this plant bring no less harm to it. Therefore, it is simply necessary to know about them. Today we will look at the most common diseases of melons and methods of treating them, and also talk about pests of melons and methods of combating them.

Melon diseases, methods of treating them

There are a huge number of diseases of melons both in greenhouses and in open ground. Plants wither from them, produce poor harvests, or simply die. Sources of infection are seeds, plant remains, soil, and weeds. And in order to prevent diseases and crop loss, plants need to be treated in a timely manner using appropriate methods.

Interesting fact! The great physician Avicenna used melon peels and seeds to treat colds and gout in his patients.

Melon leaves become covered with rounded brown or pink spots, which after some time increase in size. Holes form on the affected leaves, the leaves curl and dry out. The lashes of a diseased plant become thin and brittle. Diseased fruits become deformed and rot very quickly.

To prevent melons from getting anthracnose, you need to remove crop residues from the beds in time, adhere to correct crop rotation, water the plants moderately, loosen the soil, spray the melon plantings with 1% Bordeaux mixture or pollinate with sulfur powder.

Important! Three or four such treatments are necessary, with an interval of 10-12 days.

Fungal, the most harmful disease that affects the root collar of a melon. At the beginning, pale spots with numerous points (pycnidia) appear, which gradually increase and cover the entire root collar. The disease leads to thinning of crops and reduced yield.

The disease can also affect leaves, stems and fruits. The tissues of the affected fruits become soft, black, and then dry out. The affected stem darkens and breaks. The fungus can survive on plant debris for two years.

The disease is caused by an excess of air and soil humidity and low temperature. Control measures: deep autumn fall plowing, correct crop rotation, removal of plant residues, soil disinfection, cleaning of diseased parts of the plant, fertilizing with potassium fertilizers, treating plants with Bordeaux mixture.

White spot (septoria)

This is a fungal disease in which white, round spots appear on the plant. The central parts of the spots darken after the fungus fruits form.

The disease loves wet, rainy weather. The infection can persist for quite a long time in the soil, on seeds and plant debris. Control measures: observe crop rotation, carry out deep autumn plowing of the soil (25-30 cm), destroy diseased plant residues, spray with 1% Bordeaux mixture.

Weakened melon plants are most susceptible to this disease. The roots and stems of young plants become brown and become thinner over time. Eventually, the cotyledons and leaves wither and the plant dies. The leaves of mature melons turn yellow and wilt. The roots and lower part of the stems become brown.

Control measures: maintaining crop rotation, removing weeds, constantly loosening the soil, proper watering, disinfecting seeds before planting in 40% formaldehyde for five minutes.

This is a viral disease of melons. Signs of melon disease: green-yellow mosaic spots on young plants, curled and deformed leaves, tubercles and bulges between the veins that give the leaves a slightly corrugated appearance, dying of old leaves, falling of plant flowers, warty surface of the fruit, plants slow down in growth, cracks appear at the base of the stems.

The virus can be stored on the roots of weeds and transmitted to other crop plants by melon aphids. The virus is rarely transmitted by seeds.

Control measures: observe crop rotation, warm the seeds before sowing, destroy diseased plants, treat scissors and knives used to trim the plants with a solution of potassium permanganate (5%), remove weeds, fight melon aphids.

Perhaps one of the most common diseases of melons and melons is powdery mildew. The stems and leaves of melons are covered with small white spots (up to 1 cm), but over time they can cover the entire leaf blade. The leaves become brown, become brittle, curl and dry out.

Control measures: timely destruction of all plant residues and weeds, correct crop rotation and treatment of melon plantings with 80% sulfur powder at the first appearance of the disease (per 100 sq. m. 400 g) with an interval of ten days, and the last treatment is carried out twenty days before harvest .

This is a fungal disease of melons that most often affects the leaves of the plant at an early stage. Yellow-green spots appear on them, which greatly increase in size over time. At high humidity, a gray-violet coating forms on the underside of the leaves (fungus sporulation).

Precautions: disinfection of melon seeds before sowing. To do this, you need to warm them in a thermos with water (45 degrees) for two hours. You can also treat the seeds with a 1% solution of potassium permanganate by soaking them in the solution for twenty minutes.

Plantings with affected melons can be sprinkled urea solution (1 g per 1 liter of water), 1% Bordeaux mixture (1 liter per 10 sq. m.) Plants are treated with Topaz and Oxyx preparations at intervals of ten days.

This is a fungal disease that loves moisture and cold weather. Young melon ovaries become watery and quickly become covered with black fungal sclerotia and mold.

The fungus persists in the soil for more than two years. The disease develops quite intensively at a temperature of +15°C. When it is warmer outside, the development of the disease slows down.

Precautions: carefully weed, check and remove infected stems and leaves, water the plants only after removing all diseased stems, leaves and fruits.

Spray with the following solution: for 10 liters of water 1 g of zinc sulfate, 10 g of urea, 2 g of copper sulfate.

A fungal disease that affects middle and late varieties of melons, reduces yield and deteriorates the quality of the fruit. Melon fruits affected by Fusarium wilt are low in sugar, not juicy and aromatic enough, and are poorly stored.

The disease appears after two or three true leaves have appeared on the seedlings, and also when the fruits ripen. Plants quickly wither, and the leaves become lighter and covered with gray spots. Diseased plants die after 7-10 days.

Precautions: adhere to the rules of crop rotation, remove plant debris, weeds, infected plants, water the plants sufficiently, dig up the soil in the fall, disinfect the seeds before sowing in a 40% formaldehyde solution for five minutes, grow melons in high beds, spray with a solution of potassium chloride during budding .

Interesting! The ancient Egyptians were growing melons as early as 2000 BC. The melon was considered a symbol of life, fertility and luxury.

Pests of melons, how to deal with them

Various pests bring no less harm to melons than diseases. They must be destroyed in a timely manner.

This is a sucking insect of green, yellow or dark brown color. The melon aphid can produce about twenty generations of live larvae per season.

These pests of melons live on the underside of the leaves, spread over the entire surface and suck the juice from the leaves. Plants that are affected by melon aphids turn yellow, curl and dry out. To ensure that there are as few aphids as possible, clear the weeds from the melon on time.

This is the main enemy of melon plantations. Can affect up to 50% or more of the crop. Melon flies survive the winter while in the larval stage, at a depth of 15 cm.

The first melon flies appear in early June. Flies lay eggs in the pulp of the fruit, and larvae form inside the melon, which bore passages into the pulp. As a result, the fruits rot very quickly.

Important! You can detect infected fruits by the holes in the melon skin, which are brown in color.

Today there are no varieties of melons resistant to melon flies..For prevention purposes melon plantations can be treated with “Rapier” solution (two liters of solution per hectare) or “Zenith” (250 ml).

Plants are sprayed twice a season: during the appearance of the first leaves and during the period of looping. These drugs are also suitable for destroying existing pests. To destroy the larvae right after harvesting ripened melons, all unripe fruits are plowed together with the soil.