If you grow pumpkins in your garden, you may have seen white spots on the leaves and vines. What is it all about? Your plants are probably infected with a fungal disease. Mildew at pumpkin is very common and can be treated successfully in many cases. However, if you allow it to spread, the plants can throw off their leaves in severe cases and expose the fruits of sunburning.
What is real mildew?
Mildew In pumpkin is a very common plant disease caused by hundreds of different types of mushrooms. While the infection mature pumpkin plants usually does not kill, it can cause problems with the developing fruits and lead to stunted growth in young plants. In the case of pumpkins, this disease is mainly caused by Podosphaera Xanthii (formerly known as Sphaerotheca Fulginea). In moderate regions, pumpkin types typically show the first symptoms in summer when the plants start to bear fruit. Serious infections can also occur earlier in the season and lead to budget waste and stunted vine growth.
The symptoms begin with the appearance of white spots on the underside of the leaves, which can remain slightly unnoticed. The fungus can spread and cover the entire leaf, which finally turns yellow and in severe cases dark brown. If this happens, the leaves fall off, and the exposed pumpkins can be scalded by the sun, mature and much smaller than expected.
Conditions that favor mildew at pumpkin
In contrast to most mushrooms, which multiply under damp, wet conditions, pumpkin can infect pumpkin even under dry conditions. As long as there is enough moisture, the spores can spread. The likelihood that these mushrooms will infect their plants is greatest when it is hot, dry and cool and damp during the day. Daily temperatures of 20 to 27 ° C are ideal for infection. However, if the temperatures rise above 37 ° C, the fungus is no longer active.
Dense foliage on the vines increases the susceptibility of the plants for this disease, since the infection can spread quickly due to the lack of air supply. In addition, plants that are displaced by weeds or grow at shady locations create ideal conditions for the spread of the real mildew. Lush plants that were fertilized with nitrogen are also more susceptible to infection. The mushrooms infect the new growth so that it stuns.
Shrub -pumpkin varieties that grow in a more compact shape can also be infected if the dense leaf roof of the plant increases the moisture in the plant medium. This leads to a high humidity that favors the development of mildew.
Examine your plants weekly
Since it is a widespread and in some cases potentially serious disease, you should regularly inspect your plants. In this way you can prevent the infection from spreading and damaging your harvest. Early stadiums of the real mildew appear as small white spots that can be treated successfully. First check the underside of the older leaves, because the infection usually begins. Don't forget to check the crown of the plant and the vines.
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Make sure that it is not wrong mildew
Real мehltau at кürbis - a complication when determining this diagnosis is that there is another pathogen that can infect pumpkins and also cause whitish spots: false mildew. While he behaves like a mushroom, the pathogen of the wrong mildew is a completely different organism - a water mold or oomycet. This means that completely different control methods are used for the two pathogens. Fungicides that work with false mildew are ineffective in real mildew and vice versa.
You can see the infestation with false mildew on pumpkins on the yellowish spots on the top of the leaves and the purple to gray spots on the bottom. In contrast, the real mildew shows white spots on the underside of the leaves. Another way to distinguish the two infections is that the spots of the wrong mildeway are angular. They stop growing on the veins so that they look like a patchwork. You can see this most clearly on the underside of the leaves.
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Milch: The general advice is to dilute milk with water in a ratio of 1:10 and to spray on your plants when the infection was first signed. You can use milk in powder form or liquid. According to the research results available so far, however, higher concentrations of milk have proven to be the most effective. Try it with moderate to severe infections with a 50/50 mix of liquid milk and water. If you don't have to treat a large area, even use whole milk. Put the liquid in a spray bottle. Make sure you cover all affected areas of your plants, including the stems and the subpages of the leaves. Continue the application twice a week until you see the results. Repeat the application when it has rained.
sulfuris another organic connection that can be very effective against the mildew on pumpkins if it is used before the infection spreads too much.BUT!Do not apply sulfur to plants that have been treated with horticultural oils for at least two weeks. Avoid the application if the temperatures are expected to exceed 27 ° C.
Biofungizideare also often effective against this disease.
Soda against mildew: Researchers have tested the effectiveness of soda (sodium bicarbonate) as a fungicide since the early 1930s and found that it is ineffective as a fungicide in plants, although it can inhibit the growth of mold in the laboratory.
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