Rust: treatment and prevention, control measures

Plant rust is a common disease caused by various members of the Heterobasidiomycetes subclass. A characteristic sign of rust is the appearance of pustules of various shapes and sizes, containing rust-colored spores, on the ground organs of plants. Some pathogens develop only on one host plant and are called monohost. There are also much more dangerous, various economic pathogens capable of developing on several plants.

Symptoms of damage by rust fungi are convex spots or streaks of dirty red color that appear on the underside of leaves, and sometimes on petioles. These formations are projected as yellow spots on the upper side of the leaf plate. With the development of the disease, velvety pads with fungal spores form on the underside of the leaves at the spot. why do the leaves on seedlings turn yellow, and how can you determine which element is missing based on the symptoms? The disease causes increased transpiration (evaporation of moisture) and leads to drying and falling of leaves. The plant's metabolism is disturbed, photosynthesis deteriorates, the formation of growths decreases or ceases. In case of severe damage, other above-ground organs of the plant may be affected. In addition, rust reduces productivity, negatively affects the quality of fruits and leads to the loss of winter hardiness of the plant. When cereal crops are affected by rust, the grain completely loses its baking properties. If the disease is not dealt with, it will lead to the death of the plant.

Microorganisms that cause rust are carried by wind or insects. Rust is dangerous for vegetable, spice, fruit, flower, berry and grain crops. It affects such plants as pear and apple trees, gooseberries, currants, honeysuckle, grapes, raspberries, onions, garlic, beets, carrots, cucumbers, as well as garden and indoor flowers. Cereals are not spared by the disease: rye, wheat, oats, barley, millet.

Treatment of rust on plants should be started at the first signs of the disease: at an early stage, it is enough to simply remove infected leaves. If you missed the initial stage, and the disease has developed, and the pustules have had time to multiply, you will have to resort to special drugs to combat live spores of the fungus already on all plants. Topaz, Abiga-Peak, Bactofit, Fitosporin, Sporomax B and one percent Bordeaux mixture showed the greatest effect in the fight against rust. But one treatment of plants with a fungicide will not be enough to destroy the infection, and it will be necessary to spray again one or two weeks after the first.

Processing is carried out on a warm, windless, overcast, but dry day. If it rains the next day, the treatment will have to be repeated. The method of plant infection should also be identified. Professionals say that the source of infection is usually conifers growing nearby. By the way, most often epidemics of rust on indoor flowers began after the New Year holidays. Conifers can be intermediate hosts of rust pathogens and, having resistance to them, do not get sick themselves, but are carriers of infection to other plants.

Prevention

The fight against any disease consists of curative measures applied when the disease has already developed, and protective measures aimed at preventing infection by the causative agents of the disease.

Measures to protect plants from diseases and pests are called preventive, and they most often save the harvest of gardens, vegetable gardens, fields and plantations from death.

Preventive measures against rust include:

• cleaning the area after harvesting from plant residues;
• autumn plowing or deep digging of the site;
• increasing the resistance of plants to infections by observing agricultural techniques (sowing at the right time, timely balanced feeding, verified watering regime, etc.);
• seed treatment before sowing;
• preventive treatment of plants with fungicides or plant solutions;
• cultivation of disease-resistant varieties and hybrids.

Treatment of rust on trees

Rust of apple and pear trees

Rust affects almost all fruit trees, but most often apple and pear trees. If you carefully examine the upper side of the leaves of a diseased tree, you can find oval reddish-brown spots that increase in size as the disease progresses. It is necessary to start the fight against the disease immediately, otherwise by mid-summer on the underside of the leaves, convex growths will begin to grow rapidly, then the leaves will begin to fall, which will lead to the weakening of the tree, the loss of part of the crop and a decrease in its winter hardiness.

First of all, you need to remove all the parts affected by rust: leaves, branches, shoots and fruits, and the diseased branches are cut, capturing 5-10 cm of healthy tissue, and the cuts are smeared with garden decoction.

Then the tree is treated with copper-containing fungicides: one percent Bordeaux liquid, Abiga-Peak, Poliram, Cumulus, Kuproxat, Vektra, Strobi and others. The leaves of the tree should be abundantly moistened with the fungicide solution on both sides. After one or two weeks, the treatment is repeated.

Rust on other trees

Rust on other trees should be destroyed by the same means as on an apple or pear tree, but therapeutic doses of fungicides do not add to the health of plants, moreover, chemicals can accumulate in the fruits. At the same time, the concentration of fungicides in solutions for preventive treatment is 3-4 times weaker, that is, these solutions protect plants from diseases without harming them. When is it better to carry out preventive treatment of trees against rust?

In the spring, before the buds begin to swell, the trees are sprayed with a three percent Bordeaux mixture. In the period between the swelling of the buds and the emergence of the buds, the trees are treated with a contact fungicide solution. It can be Azofos (100 g per 10 l of water), Penkotseb (20 g per 10 l of water) or Medex (100 g per 10 l of water). Before and immediately after flowering, trees are sprayed with Strobi or Skor (1.5-2 ml per 10 liters of water). During the period of fruit growth, it is advisable to carry out one more treatment with one of the mentioned preparations. Preventive treatments of trees protect them from rust and other fungal diseases.

Shrub rust

Raspberry rust

The causative agent of rust on raspberries is the fungus Phragmidium rubi-idaei, which is most harmful in periods of high humidity. When infected, small, rounded, slightly convex pads of reddish color are formed on the upper side of the leaf plate, on the central veins and petioles. Gray sores with a red rim appear on one-year-old raspberry shoots, which over time increase in size and merge, forming longitudinal cracks. Under favorable weather conditions for the fungus, several generations of spores can be formed during the summer. Precipitation and high humidity contribute to the development of the disease. Severely affected leaves dry up, the winter hardiness of the shrub decreases.

To protect a raspberry tree from rust after harvesting, it is necessary to remove all fallen leaves from under the bushes, cut and burn rust-affected shoots and branches, and loosen the soil between the bushes. In the spring, the soil in the raspberry tree is mulched with manure, which destroys rust spores, and the bushes are treated with three percent Bordeaux liquid before the sap begins to flow. Before flowering, the raspberry plant is sprayed with one percent Bordeaux liquid or another fungicide.

Currant and gooseberry rust

Two types of rust can develop on currants and gooseberries: goblet, which is caused by the fungus Puccinia ribesicaricis, and columnar, which is provoked by the fungus Cronartium ribicola. As a rule, the source of goblet rust is sedge leaves, and the spreader of the columnar variety of the disease is Weymouth pine, cedar or cedar pine. The symptoms of these two types of disease are similar, but columnar rust develops more often on currants than on gooseberries.

Affected leaves, buds, flowers and shoots should be removed immediately, and the bushes should be treated with a preparation containing copper. Re-treatment is carried out 7-14 days after the first spraying. Preventive treatments of shrubs - in early spring, after flowering and after harvesting - reduce the risk of rust infection.

Rust of flowers and plants

Rust of composite crops

The fungus Coleosporium solidaginis is the causative agent of rust on plants of the Compositae family, which include asters, chrysanthemums, dahlias, daisies, marigolds, marigolds, zinnias and other popular flower plants: pustules appear on the lower surface of the leaves, a pustule occurs. The development of the disease leads to drying and dying of leaves and shoots.

Clove rust

In the first half of summer, brown pustules covered by the epidermis appear on the leaves and stems of carnation plants affected by rust, which burst as they ripen. Diseased plants lag behind in growth and development, their leaves dry and die, and in the fall, you can see dark brown pustules of the fungus that has entered the winter stage.

Bulbous rust

The causative agent of rust of tulips, hyacinths and lilies is the fungus Uromyces scillarum. When infected, discolored areas with a diameter of up to 2 mm appear on the leaves of bulbous plants, which gradually turn yellow. Brown spores are formed on the inner scales of the bulbs and under the epidermis. Affected leaves fall prematurely, the quality of flowering decreases, the plant looks depressed.

Cruciferous rust

The fungal disease of cruciferous crops is called white rust and is caused by the fungus Albugo candida. This infection damages all above-ground parts of the plant. The peak of disease activity occurs in the first months of the growing season, when the weather is cool. Diseased areas are covered with white formations, and later become swollen or distorted due to the fungus that forms under the epidermis.

The fight against rust on cruciferous, cruciferous, carnation and bulb crops is carried out by the same methods as on fruit trees or berry bushes.

Fungicides for rust treatment

We offer you a description of the most effective fungicides in the fight against rust.

Chemical:

• Abiga-Peak is a broad-spectrum copper-containing fungicide used to combat a complex of bacterial and fungal diseases;
• Azofos is a fungicide of a new generation for the destruction of fungal microorganisms. Environmentally safe means;
• Bactophyt is a biological fungicide and bactericide designed to combat fungal and bacterial plant diseases;
• Bordeaux mixture is a broad-spectrum copper-containing fungicide for the protection of vegetable, fruit, berry, citrus, melon, decorative and flower crops from a complex of diseases;
• Vektra is a contact-systemic, therapeutic and protective fungicide that destroys spores of phytopathogenic fungi;
• Cumulus is an inorganic contact preparation for combating fungal infections on plants;
• Cuproxate is a contact fungicide of prophylactic and eradication action, designed to combat a complex of fungal diseases;
• Medex is an effective fungicidal drug created on the basis of copper sulfate and used to combat fungal plant diseases;
• Penkotseb is a protective contact fungicide used for preventive treatment of plants against fungal infections;
• Poliram is a highly effective drug with a protective effect, used for preventive purposes;
• Skor is a systemic fungicide with a prolonged prophylactic and pronounced therapeutic effect, used to combat fungal diseases;
• Strobi is a highly effective broad-spectrum fungicide for combating fruit, ornamental and vegetable plants;
• Topaz is a systemic fungicide used mainly for the prevention of fungal infections at the beginning of the growing season of plants;

Biological:

Sporomax™ B is a broad-spectrum biofungicide for the prevention and treatment of fungal and bacterial diseases in crops of agricultural, fruit and berry, vegetable and ornamental crops. Contains spores of Bacillus subtilis bacteria and products of their metabolism: phytohormones, antibiotics, vitamins. The dosage is 10 g/10 l of water.

To increase the efficiency of the working solution, both chemical and biological fungicides, we recommend adding the Izomax™ adjuvant to the tank mixture in a dosage of 2 ml/10 liters of water. Thanks to its work, the plants are evenly covered and the penetration of drugs into the plants is accelerated, which protects against washing away and heavy rains.

We wish good harvest!