Good afternoon, my reader. Hydrangeas have amazingly beautiful flowers. And the variety of modern varieties allows them to be grown both in the open field and as a pot culture. Unfortunately, diseases caused by various factors often become the cause of their death. In this article, we'll show you how to protect your hydrangeas from various diseases and pests.
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Origin of the name and possible shades of flowers
The hydrangea family includes many species with different bush sizes, the structure and colors of inflorescences, and the shape of the foliage. Most of them have white inflorescences, but there are also species that have a fairly wide color gamut. For example, the shade of large-leaved hydrangea flowers can change depending on the pH of the soil: they can be pink, lilac, red, blue, etc.
On acidic soils, the petals turn blue or blue, on alkaline soils, lilac or pink, and on neutral soils, they acquire white, cream or greenish colors. These plants accumulate aluminum, which contributes to the color of their inflorescences in a deep blue color.
The botanical name for these beautiful shrubs is hydrangea, which translates from Greek as “a vessel filled with water”. They are hygrophilous and love abundant watering.
Non-communicable diseases
The yellowness of the leaves is caused by chlorosis - metabolic processes are disturbed in plants, the leaves turn yellow and their veins darken. It occurs as a result of poor conditions:
- Excess moisture.
- Long-term growth in alkaline soils. Hydrangeas love soils with a pH of 4 to 6. You can independently determine it if you use litmus paper. When watering, it is advisable to add citric acid to the water in order to slightly acidify the soil.
- Direct sunlight. They prefer to grow in partial shade.
- Deficiency of minerals.
- There is too much lime or humus in the soil.
You can help plants by spraying them with preparations containing iron in a chelated form, and pouring a solution of ferrous sulfate and citric acid (3 g and 4 g per liter of water).
Leaves can dry out and fall off due to lack of moisture or dry air.
Fungal diseases
- White rot attacks the roots. The shoots darken and become covered with a bloom similar to white cotton wool, and the plant dies due to lack of nutrition. The bush is sprayed with a fungicide, the infected soil is changed or steamed.
- Gray rot. Plants develop soft patches covered with gray down. The affected parts are cut off, the plant is treated with a fungicide 3 times after 2 weeks.
- Downy mildew. Dark oily spots on stems and leaves, foliage deformed and die off. 150 g of soap and 15 copper sulfate are diluted in a bucket of water and the plant is sprayed.
- Septoria. Small irregular brown spots, leaves dry and fall off. The affected parts are cut off, the bush is sprayed with copper-containing preparations.
Viral diseases
Ring spot is incurable. With it, round spots up to 2 cm appear on the leaves, the foliage twists and dries out, the buds either cease to be produced, or grow weak and small.
Pests
- Snails eat buds, foliage and young shoots. They fight them either by mechanically collecting and destroying them, or by sprinkling insecticides around the plants.
- Spider mite. First, the leaves are covered with yellow spots (at this stage, treatment with mineral oil or soap will help), and then with cobwebs (in this case, insecticides are used).
- Aphids reduce the immunity of plants by sucking sap out of them. It carries viruses and leaves behind a sticky coating, on which the fungus then develops. For mild lesions, use a soap solution, for strong ones - insecticides.
- Gall nematode damages the roots, the plants are deprived of nutrition and die. The open ground is treated with BI-58, and Bak Eco-gel is used for potted soil.
Do you know how to deal with hydrangea diseases?
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You can also read about feeding strawberries in the following article:Feeding strawberries during flowering for a good harvest