Greenhouse cucumber diseases and their treatment, photos

If you've decided to grow greenhouse plants for the first time, you need to understand many nuances to ensure a healthy harvest. Therefore, we'll discuss the common cucumber diseases and treatments for greenhouse cucumbers. We'll provide photos and discuss disease control measures.

In greenhouses, cucumbers are most often exposed to viral, fungal, and bacterial infections. Most of these can be prevented with preventative measures, including maintaining proper temperature conditions, planting guidelines, disinfecting the seeds, soil, and greenhouse, and providing the plants with adequate lighting, water, and fertilizer. Learn more: caring for cucumbers in a greenhouse.

Preventative measures also include promptly destroying affected plants and then disinfecting the soil to prevent spreading the disease to other plants. Crop rotation is also important. By following these guidelines, you'll be halfway to a good harvest. And if diseases have already taken hold of your plants, we'll show you how to get rid of them with minimal losses.

Greenhouse whitefly

When whiteflies attack greenhouse cucumbers or tomatoes, they suck the sap from the plants, causing a whitish, sugary secretion to form on the leaves, which then turn black and die.

Control measuresTo prevent pest attacks, set traps in the greenhouse and protect the doors and windows with gauze. Spraying with water and rinsing the leaves helps. After these steps, loosen the soil and add peat and humus.

Powdery mildew

The leaves of affected plants appear to be covered in flour, the white coating begins to spread more and more over the leaves, they become brittle and prickly, dry out, and the plant dies.

Preventive measures: do not plant plants too close together, do not water with cold water, ensure that there are no sudden temperature changes and no drafts.

Control measuresAs soon as you notice this scourge, you should take immediate action. Treating the plants with mullein can help. Dissolve a liter of mullein in a ten-liter bucket of water, mix it, and spray the cucumbers on both the top and bottom of the leaves. Perform this procedure in warm weather. You can also dust the plants with sulfur, closing the doors and windows, or treat them with a pale solution of potassium permanganate or a weak soda solution. Store-bought products such as "Topaz" can be used. Topaz is also recommended for preventative purposes before the disease appears; the product "Zaslon" can also be used for the same purpose.
Read more: fertilizing cucumbers at different stages of growth.

Downy mildew

If you notice oily green spots on the leaves that look like burns, the leaves turn brown and begin to dry out, they are attacked by downy mildew.

Preventive measures: warm watering, ensure that condensation does not accumulate on the greenhouse walls, protect from temperature changes.

Control measures: As soon as you notice signs of a dangerous disease, stop watering immediately, remove moisture from the greenhouse and spray with Topaz, then ventilate the greenhouse.

Root rot

If the temperature drops significantly or if you don't water your cucumbers with cold water, your cucumbers may be susceptible to root rot. This causes the leaves to wilt, and yellowing and cracking may appear at the roots.

Control measuresAdd 2 teaspoons of copper sulfate to a liter of water. You can also substitute 6 tablespoons of copper oxychloride or the same amount of wood ash. Once everything is mixed, rake the soil away from the base of the stem and work it up to 10 centimeters. You can also sprinkle the affected area with ash and let it dry. Do not cover the affected areas with soil; leave them exposed to air. Use only warm water for irrigation. If any plants have already died, remove them along with the root ball, burn them, and disinfect the soil. A solution of potassium permanganate or copper sulfate will work well for this.

Black mold

A dangerous fungal disease that affects all above-ground parts of the cucumber plant. Small brownish spots initially appear on the leaves, which gradually enlarge and spread, until the leaves become covered in a black web-like texture and dry out.

Prevention and control measures: greenhouse disinfection, protection from temperature fluctuations, weed control.

Anthracnose

The leaves become covered with yellow-brown spots, begin to crumble, dry out, and fall off, becoming ulcerated. This is a fungal disease. Both the leaves and stems become covered with a pink coating containing fungal spores.

Preventive measures: sowing healthy seeds, preparing the soil - warming, disinfection, correct replacement of plants.

Control measuresTreatment with Bordeaux mixture and bleach. The harvest should not be eaten for 20 days.

Olive spot

Occurring due to drafts in the greenhouse, strong temperature fluctuations, watering with cold water, and high humidity, olive-colored spots appear on the leaves and fruits with the release of liquid, the plant becomes covered with unpleasant ulcers, and without taking measures, you can lose the harvest within a week.

Control measures: stop watering for a week, immediately ventilate the greenhouse (without creating drafts), adjust the temperature.

Melon aphid

Covering the underside of the leaves with solid colonies, aphids suck out the juices, causing the plants to wilt, dry out, cucumbers to grow poorly, growth to slow down, and the plant to gradually die.

Control measuresAs soon as you notice small aphid spots on the underside of leaves, remove the most heavily infested leaves immediately. Treat lightly infested leaves with horseradish infusion and scatter the leaves around the roots. Treatment with red pepper infusion, Strela, and Inta-Vir also helps.

As you can see, many cucumber diseases arise from:

• High humidity.
• Drafts.
• Temperature difference.

By addressing these deficiencies from the start and disinfecting the greenhouse, soil, and seeds promptly, you'll virtually protect your cucumbers from diseases and pests. Good luck!

Read also: Growing potatoes wisely without weeding or hilling.