Although potatoes do not belong to ornamental crops, changes in their appearance should not be ignored. Rolling potato leaves can be a real "cry for help", with which the plant tries to inform the gardener about the defeat of dangerous diseases. Let's find out what can cause deformation of the sheet plates, and figure out how to prevent such a nuisance.
I recommend reading: Secrets of a Good Potato Harvest
Exposure to herbicides
Herbicides are drugs used by gardeners to kill weeds. The ingress of such compounds on potato leaves leads to their twisting and deformation. Herbicides can get on the beds with the wind, so you cannot exclude their effects from the list of possible causes, even if you yourself have not turned to the help of such means.
Mosaic virus
Mosaic virus infection can also lead to curling of potato leaves. The disease affects only young leaves - if you notice that the top layer of foliage is covered with red spots, colored in a reddish tint or turned yellow, and the lower part of the shoots did not undergo changes, most likely it was "conjured" over the bed mosaic.
The defeat of plantings by the mosaic virus can lead to a loss of 70% of the crop. There are no drugs to combat the disease yet, so diseased shoots are best cut and burned to prevent contamination of their neighbors.
Rolling the leaves
The cause of leaf curling can be the disease of the same name. The infection leads to deformation of the lower leaves of the potato - they usually dry out, become hard and begin to rustle when touched. The underside of the leaf blade may turn purple.
Infected plants tend to turn pale and stop developing. The defeat of potatoes with this disease can lead to a loss of 30-80% of the crop. The virus can get into the beds with planting material or on the paws of insect pests, so the tubers before planting should be disinfected, and the soil should be treated with complex insecticides - you can, for example, turn to the help of the drug Aktara.
Rhizoctonia (black scab)
Leaf curling can be one of the first "symptoms" of black scab damage to plants. Redness or yellowing of the shoots and the formation of purple spots on the leaf surface are other signs.
The causative agent of rhizoctonia is a harmful fungus that enters the soil along with the planting material. When black scab is affected, potato bushes begin to rot and become covered with numerous brown "sores". Plants stop absorbing nutrients from the soil, very soon their stems become weak and rotten. The defeat of plantings with rhizoctonia can lead to a loss of 15-30% of the yield.
To avoid damage to potatoes with black scab, the tubers should be treated with appropriate fungicides before planting - for example, you can use the preparations "Maxim" and "Celest Top". In order to prevent planting, it should be treated with the Quadris preparation. In addition, it is worth observing the crop rotation and planting potatoes at the recommended time - in early May, when the soil warms up to 8 ° C.
How to prevent curling
To avoid twisting potato leaves, you should pay special attention to the choice of planting material. Large dry tubers should be preferred. Potatoes should be examined for leaks, suspicious stains and dents - you should refuse to sow damaged fruits.
Planting material cannot be cut in half, as some gardeners advise - if you do not want to waste time fighting diseases, you should plant tubers only whole. Before planting potatoes should be treated with Prestige diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 10. This tool will protect future sprouts from the attack of pests that can bring fungal diseases and viruses into the garden.
Do you know why potato leaves curl?
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