Cucumber diseases must be prevented and controlled early, growers need to pay attention

Cucumbers are widely cultivated throughout China, with greenhouse or plastic tunnel cultivation in most regions; they are now widely grown in temperate and tropical regions. Cucumber growers need to pay attention: the following symptoms indicate disease, and prevention and control should be carried out as early as possible.

I. The main cucumber diseases

The main cucumber diseases include brown spot, downy mildew, bacterial angular leaf spot, leaf blight, anthracnose, damping-off, seedling blight, phytophthora blight, gray mold, target spot, and powdery mildew. The main cause of these diseases is that as the weather warms and temperatures gradually rise, improper management creates a high-temperature, high-humidity environment. The symptoms of these diseases are very similar.

II. The main symptoms of cucumber diseases

Cucumber diseases generally strike fiercely and spread quickly. If prevention and control are not carried out in time, they can cause devastating damage, and an entire cucumber field may yield nothing. When cucumbers develop disease, it is mainly concentrated on the leaves. When cucumber disease occurs, the cucumber leaves first show grayish-brown spots, which are especially obvious on humid mornings. The lesions then gradually expand, restricted by the leaf veins into angular light brown or yellowish-brown patches, and when humidity increases, black mold layers appear. In the later stages of the disease, the lesions rupture or merge together, causing the leaf margins to curl and dry up, and in severe cases the whole greenhouse turns yellow and withered. Spring and autumn are the peak periods for cucumber disease.

III. Disease prevention and control measures

Before cucumbers develop disease, corresponding preventive measures can be adopted. Before sowing cucumbers, seeds can be disinfected and the soil can be disinfected to reduce the incidence of disease. During cucumber growth, cultivation management should also be strengthened, cultivation techniques improved, and ventilation and light transmission and air exchange in the greenhouse maintained, so that cucumbers have a good and suitable growing environment.

When cucumber disease has already occurred, chemical treatment should be carried out as early as possible, spraying different chemicals in a targeted way according to the specific symptoms of the cucumber. At the same time, the relevant prevention and control measures should be checked to see whether any omissions in prevention and control measures have led to the disease. Never wait until the disease reaches its later stages to remedy it; the cucumbers grown that way will not only have reduced yield but will also be greatly affected in taste.

These are some small tips about cucumber disease prevention and control. We hope that friends engaged in fruit and melon cultivation can stay far away from fruit and melon diseases and have a good harvest.