What causes luffa flower rot? Learn the prevention and control methods
When growing luffa, improper management often leads to flower rot, seriously affecting luffa yield and farmers' economic returns. The orchid-like flower phenomenon in luffa is divided into two types: dry rot and wet rot. With dry rot, the flowers wither and dry up; with wet rot, bacteria infect the flowers, causing them to drip water, and they can also be infected by pathogens that grow white or black fuzz. So what causes this orchid-like flower phenomenon? Let's take a look with QinNong.com.
1. Causes of flower rot
Luffa flowers are large but thin, and during cultivation even a small bump can cause wounds on the flowers, especially during flower dipping, which then leads to bacterial infection and flower rot. A lack of calcium and boron can also cause flower rot. Some farmers, in order to increase yield, often apply large amounts of potassium fertilizer, which reduces the plant's absorption of calcium and boron fertilizer, lowers the hardness of cell walls, and causes dry rot. In addition, flower rot caused by improper management is due to improper ventilation during cultivation: the ventilation is too fast, causing cold air to rush in rapidly and resulting in dry rot of the flowers.
2. Preventive measures
Strengthen cultivation management, spray foliar fertilizer to increase the plant's nutrition, and avoid causing damage to the flowers. Be careful when dipping flowers, and ventilate slowly and gradually to prevent cold air from suddenly rushing in all at once. Some farmers habitually water after flower dipping to speed up fruit expansion, but this is actually a wrong approach. Watering immediately after flower dipping will cause the stems and leaves to grow excessively, robbing the fruit of nutrients and affecting fruit set and gourd growth. On the other hand, it also creates high air humidity, making it more likely for the flowers to be infected by pathogens, producing the opposite effect and causing a large number of flowers to rot. Therefore, it is not advisable to water immediately after flower dipping; at least a three-day transition period should be maintained. Choose noon for flower dipping, because at least the temperature is high and the air humidity is low, so the flowers have stronger resistance after dipping.
3. Prevention and control methods
If the flower rot is caused by disease, promptly determine which disease it is and apply the right treatment to prevent the rot from spreading. If you cannot determine which disease it is for the time being, you can spray carbendazim 800-fold solution + difenoconazole 800-fold solution + chlorothalonil 500-fold solution for control, which has a remarkable effect and can control most fungal and bacterial diseases. If dry rot of flowers occurs, promptly spray foliar fertilizer or apply fertilizer to the soil, because the main cause of dry flower rot is nutrient deficiency.
The above are the causes and prevention and control methods of luffa flower rot brought to you by QinNong.com. We hope it can help you. To learn more about luffa cultivation, please stay tuned to QinNong.com.