Common Diseases of Snake Gourd and the Latest Control Methods
Snake gourd may not be very familiar to everyone, but snake gourd can not only be used as a vegetable stir-fried for eating, its seeds can also be processed into seeds for consumption. Moreover, snake gourd has very high medicinal value and has been consumed in our country for several thousand years. Its cultivation history is also very long, and now quite a few people are planting it, but many pest and disease problems appear during the planting process, so what pests and diseases will appear? How should they be controlled? Let us take a look below!
1. Gummy stem blight
Disease characteristics: Gummy stem blight mainly harms the leaves, fruits and stems of snake gourd. After the leaves are infected, many yellow streaks appear on the leaf margins, and the streaks are distributed in a “V” shape. In a humid environment, many black spots appear on the streaks, and these black spots are the spores of the pathogen. After the stems are infected, the symptoms are similar to those on the leaves.
Control method: When the stems of snake gourd grow to a certain length, carry out one preventive chemical application on the stems, then in the 6-8 months of growth, carry out prevention again according to the actual situation, and the dosage of the chemical depends on the growth condition. For the chemical, wettable powder such as Antaisheng can be used for spraying control.
2. Anthracnose
Disease characteristics: Anthracnose is the most troublesome disease among snake gourd diseases, and it may occur at the seedling stage and the final maturity stage. It threatens all parts of the plant. When the disease develops rapidly, it causes great harm to the fruits and stems, and even directly causes the fruits to rot and fall and the stems to shrivel. After the leaves are infected, many spots appear on the leaf surface. These spots gradually expand and extend, then slowly merge with each other, forming large patches, causing the leaves to turn yellow, die and then fall off.
Control method: The occurrence of anthracnose follows a pattern. It is most likely to occur in the month of the transition between summer and autumn each year, so we should spray an appropriate amount of chemicals for prevention and control before this time arrives. After the disease occurs, chemicals such as carbendazim can be used for continuous spraying, once a week, and spraying must continue for at least three weeks.
3. Viral disease
Disease characteristics: Viral disease mainly harms the leaves of snake gourd, especially the old leaves of snake gourd. After the old leaves are infected, they begin to shrink and wrinkle at a speed visible to the naked eye. The leaves begin to appear raised and, as if they have lost water, become dry and brittle. The growth of the branches is also greatly affected, the branches are weak and show a hanging-down shape, which hinders growth, reduces the fruit-setting rate of the fruits, and affects yield.
Control method: The main transmission route of the pathogen of viral disease is aphids, so if we want to control viral disease, we need to control the reproduction of aphids well. Start using chemicals for prevention when the young buds emerge, strengthen orchard management, clean the orchard regularly, remove diseased and disabled bodies as well as fallen leaves and fallen fruits from the orchard in time, and reduce the presence of insect eggs in the orchard. When controlling aphids, a little oligosaccharin and similar substances can also be added to the chemical for spraying to control viral disease. The timing and frequency are the same as for anthracnose control.
The above three diseases are the diseases that often appear when planting snake gourd. If the diseases are not controlled in time, the impact on the growth of the plants is very serious. However, while controlling diseases, we should also prevent pest damage, because pest damage generally triggers other diseases, so strictly speaking, the harm of pest damage is greater than that of diseases. Strengthen management, and any abnormal situation must be dealt with in time. This article is for reference only, and I hope it can help everyone.