Nematode on strawberries - how to fight, effective methods of control and prevention of the disease

Summer residents face many difficulties when growing vegetable and berry crops on their plots. One of the most dangerous and insidious pests for strawberries and strawberries is the nematode. The difficulty of dealing with this parasite is that it is so small that it is very difficult to detect.

The strawberry nematode lives in the upper layer of the soil, affects strawberries, strawberries and raspberries. The worm climbs onto the leaves and roots of plants, feeds on its juice and damages tissues. As a result, the bush quickly withers and may die. If you let this problem run its course, you can completely lose the harvest.

Description of the pest

Nematodes are round worms. Belong to the primary mouth type. Color from white to yellowish. The body is rounded, tapering to the end.

Males are up to 1 mm long, as thin as a thread. Females are shorter in length and rounder because they carry eggs. The oral cavity is armed with pincers. With the help of these pincers, the parasite attaches itself to the roots or leaves, pierces the wall and injects a secret that digests the plant juice into a substance that is easily absorbed by the nematode.

This type of parasite carries eggs inside itself. If unfavorable conditions arise, the parasite forms a cyst (a dense protective shell) around itself. One cyst can contain more than 1000 eggs that do not die for 10 years!

Types of nematodes

Roundworms harm not only strawberries. But also many other garden plants. Depending on the type of plant and the affected organ, nematodes are divided into the following types:

• Root head

It is clear from the name that this parasite develops on the root system. Various vegetables are infected. A separate subspecies of worms parasitizes each type of vegetable. A diseased plant loses moisture, lags behind in growth, and yields fall.

• Stem nematode

It most often affects onions, garlic, flowers and potatoes.

• Leaf damaging

Round colorless worms. They develop on leaves. Strawberry, tomato, chrysanthemum are affected.

• Golden potato

Infects only nightshades. Diseased potatoes quickly turn yellow and dry up. Such a bush does not produce a harvest.

Strawberries and strawberries are parasitized by stem and root nematodes.

Symptoms of infection

It is impossible to detect a nematode in the soil with the naked eye. Its presence can be guessed only when the plant is already affected.

To detect the source of the strawberry threat at an early stage, one should dig up one bush and check the roots. If there is a pest, you can see the following signs:

• poorly developed roots;
• white growths the size of a poppy seed on the roots. These are nematode cysts.

There is another way to find the parasite at the beginning of the disease. To do this, finely chop the leaves and stems of strawberries and pour water for 10 hours. After this time, we examine a drop of water under a magnifying glass. If there is a nematode on a strawberry, you can see moving thin threads in the water.

In severe infection, clear signs appear:

• plant growth slows down or stops completely;
• leaves turn yellow;
• absence or small number of flowers;
• leaf veins are thickened;
• curved short petioles;
• berries are small, oddly shaped;
• deformed ovaries;
• small twisted leaves;
• swelling on the leaves.

The worm, developing on the plant and feeding on its juice, breaks the integrity of the tissues and weakens the bush. Strawberries and strawberries can also be infected with viral and fungal diseases.

Therefore, treatment should be started immediately!

Variants of nematode control

It is unlikely that it will be possible to completely get rid of the parasite in a short period of time. To protect berry bushes from damage, the main thing is to reduce the number of pest eggs. According to scientists, the nematode is not dangerous to plants if its number does not exceed 1000 per 100 m3.

There are several methods of combating the disease:

• Agronomic (digging, improving soil quality, transplanting to a new place).
• Mechanical (root treatment with hot water).
• Chemical.
• Biological (planting next to strawberry, strawberry plants that are "enemies" of nematodes and treatment with biological insecticides).

Wondering "how to get rid of nematodes on strawberries?" at first it is better to choose more gentle methods.

Tooling

It is used for both treatment and prevention of the disease. Diseased bushes are dug up and washed well with running water from the ground. Put in a container with water, the temperature of which is 40-55°C for 5-20 minutes. The water temperature and time are chosen depending on the degree of damage to the bush. Yes, adult worms die quite quickly even at 40°.

Eggs hidden in a cyst are more resistant to temperatures. Therefore, roots affected by nematode eggs should be kept at 55°C for the maximum time. With this method, you need to be careful and not make the water too hot, otherwise you can boil the bush, and not cure it.

Chemical preparations

If the nematode damage is very strong, chemicals are used:

• Heterophos - dissolve 15 g of the drug in 10 liters of water. Infected soil and seedlings are treated with the solution. The drug is poisonous, so when working with it, you need to wear rubber gloves and a respirator.
• Bushes are watered with a 0.05% solution of phosphamide once every 5 days.
• Copper sulfate - used to treat bushes in the spring.

Biological

To prevent the appearance of parasites, marigolds or calendula are planted next to berry crops. These plants repel many plant pests, including the nematode.

Also, the application and treatment with biological insecticides are classified as biological. For example, to prevent the development of nematodes in the root zone, the soil biological insecticide MetaRiz™ is used in a dosage of 40 g/1 acre. The necessary amount of the drug is dissolved in water that is fed into drip irrigation. For quick destruction of the pest in the zone of the root system of plants, it is recommended to add the insecticide Imexab™ to the MetaRiz™ preparation at the rate of 10 g/1 hectare.

If the nematode has developed and is on the berries, stem and leaves, then spraying is carried out with the biological insecticide Imexab™, 20 g/10 l of water. It will be especially relevant when the berry is already ripe, since the avermectins and emamectins in the composition of the drug are of biological origin and do not accumulate in the soil, fruits and plants. Processing can be carried out 48 hours before harvesting. Due to the wide spectrum of action of Imexab, treatment with this drug will also destroy or prevent the development of spider mites.

To increase the efficiency of processing, it is recommended to add Izomax™adjuvant 2ml/10l to the Imexab solution. This will allow you to evenly cover the plants, get into the most difficult places and level out processing flaws, if you have strawberries growing simply in beds and the leaves are thickened.

MetaRiz™ and Imexab™are compatible with most fertilizers, so when processing, fertilizers can be added to the tank solution. If the nematode is present and there is damage, you can add Floriz™ anti-stressor 10g/10l to the spraying, which will allow the plants to get out of the state of stress faster and restore vegetation.

Prevention

In order to avoid nematode infection of berry crops, several rules should be followed:

• Choose quality seedlings. Before buying, check the root system of seedlings for the presence of cysts.
• Before planting, keep all bushes in hot water.
• Relocate strawberries to a new place every 5 years.
• Fertilize the beds with compost in the spring and periodically during the summer.
• Plant plants that are dangerous for nematodes next to strawberries.
• Thin out the strawberries.
• Weed more often and remove diseased plants.
• Choose disease-resistant varieties of Victoria: Raketa, Onuchka, Festivalna, etc.