What to Do About Celery Seedling Death? Latest Causes and Control Methods Explained
Summer temperatures are relatively high. When celery is cultivated in summer, seedling death occurs very easily, which greatly affects the growth and yield of celery and also brings relatively large losses to vegetable growers. So why does celery die off? And how should celery seedling death be controlled? Let's find out together.
I. Causes of Celery Seedling Death
Celery seedling death mostly occurs in summer and autumn during seasons with more rain, and combined with severe continuous cropping, it is caused by multiple diseases. The diseases that cause celery seedling death include soft rot, sclerotinia rot, black rot, damping-off, and seedling blight. Their symptoms differ: in soft rot, water-soaked lesions begin to appear on the leaf stalks; in sclerotinia rot, the affected parts are brown and water-soaked, and become soft and rotted when humidity is relatively high; in black rot, the diseased parts turn black and rot, and many small black spots grow on them; when damping-off is severe, the plants fall over and cannot stand upright; in seedling blight, after the lesion develops around the stem for one full circle, constriction appears, the roots dry up and wilt, until the plant dies.
II. Control Methods
1. Reasonable crop rotation
⟦NL>Rotation can reduce the base number of pests and diseases and lower the probability of disease occurrence. Carry out rotation for more than two years.
2. Seedbed disinfection
When using an old seedbed to raise seedlings, soil disinfection must be carried out. Formalin, carbendazim, or thiophanate-methyl can be used for disinfection.
3. Seed treatment
Keep seeds from disease-free areas or disease-free plants. Before sowing, soak the seeds in salt water, then rinse them clean with clear water, and sow after drying; this can effectively control sclerotinia rot. Alternatively, dress the seeds with zineb wettable powder at an amount equal to 0.3% of the seed weight, rinse clean with water, then germinate and sow; this can control seedling blight and damping-off.
4. Seedbed management
Do not sow too densely. Thin the seedlings in time after emergence. After rain, the seedbed has relatively high humidity, so drain water in time, and scatter plant ash on the seedbed several times. Pull out diseased plants in time and take them to the field to burn or bury deeply.
5. Field management
When cultivating and loosening the soil, be careful not to damage the roots and reduce mechanical injury. When hilling soil, it should not be too high, so as not to bury the leaf stalks in the soil. Drain water in time after rain, and reduce the number of waterings during the disease period. When diseased plants are found, remove them in time and take them out of the field, then scatter lime on the diseased holes for disinfection.
6. Chemical control
When soft rot occurs, chlorobromoisocyanuric acid can be used once every 7-10 days, sprayed 2-3 times consecutively. When black rot, sclerotinia rot, seedling blight, or damping-off occurs, 50% procymidone 600-fold solution, 50% iprodione 600-fold solution, or 50% carbendazim 500-fold solution can be used once every 7-10 days, sprayed 2 times consecutively.
The above is an introduction to the causes and control methods of celery seedling death. We hope it can help you. If you want to learn more related knowledge, please follow us.