Why do melon leaves turn yellow in open ground and how to treat it?

It is possible to get a good harvest of melons if efforts are made to grow them. You should know in advance what difficulties you may encounter, this will help to prevent them in a timely manner. And the questions: why do worms appear in fruits, why do melon leaves turn yellow in open ground, after studying this article will not be able to baffle you. Treatment options vary depending on the type of problem.

Reasons for yellowing of melon leaves

Knowing the main reasons why the leaves of the grown melon turn yellow, you can determine the method of its treatment. This will help you choose how to treat, as well as select the necessary fertilizers or growth stimulants.

Water scarcity

Lack of moisture is one of the consequences of the onset of problems for a planted melon. It has a powerful root system that penetrates deeply (up to 1 m) into the soil and can independently extract water. But it still needs watering, although not too much.

Weekly irrigation is sufficient. Water should only be used warm, infused in a container under the sun's rays. It is preferable to equip a drip irrigation system to avoid water droplets falling on its above-ground part., and will not cause yellowing of the stems on the melon.

Why do melons rot in areas that are too wet? Because waterlogging can initially cause rotting of the root system, and then the above-ground part begins to turn yellow.

Damage to the root system

How to understand that a melon is suffering due to a damaged root system? This can happen if plants are planted too close to each other. Eventually they will begin to turn yellow and then disappear.

Lack of mineral salts

You can clearly see the consequences of an insufficient amount of mineral salts in the soil by looking at the leaves. At first glance, one might assume that greenhouse pests are to blame. Dark spots appear on the leaves, they wither and turn yellow.

What can you do in this case? Carry out complex feeding of melons and melons with nitrogen and mineral fertilizers.

Excess sunlight

Too intense sunlight is also an important factor why melon vines dry out. Especially during dry times, this becomes the main reason why the leaves on melons grown outdoors dry out and then dry up completely. What needs to be done to get rid of this problem? For example, beds with planted plants should be covered with dry grass.

Causes of yellowing and falling off of melon ovaries

Sometimes, for some reason, in a seemingly healthy melon, the ovaries that appear turn yellow and fall off, and the leaves curl. To understand why this happened, it is necessary to find out what negative circumstances preceded it.

Mineral deficiency

An insufficient amount of microelements and minerals in the soil is one of the reasons why melon ovaries wither and subsequently fall off. In greenhouses, this resembles pest damage to the crop. This problem can be dealt with by adding complex mineral fertilizers to the soil.

Not pollinated

In the absence of pollination, there is a high probability that the fruit will not set, and this will lead to the falling of flowers. To prevent this phenomenon, it is recommended to spray the flowering vines with sweetened water to attract more insects. Or you can pollinate artificially.

No pinching

To promote normal development, melons require pinching of the main stem. It is enough to leave 3 stems on the bush (one main and two lateral). If you do not follow the requirement, then this becomes the reason why the melon lashes dry out.

Temperature jump

If the temperature during the day is much higher than the night level, the development of all pumpkin crops deteriorates.Under such climatic conditions, the negative process of drying out the vines during the fruiting period intensifies.

Causes of melon rotting

This can happen if agricultural technology during cultivation was not followed. One of the reasons provoking this phenomenon is damage to root rot. Often, rotting begins when crop rotation rules are not followed and seeds are planted in contaminated soil.

Weakened plants are more susceptible to rotting. Initially, the root system dries out, and then the foliage withers and turns yellow. As a result of this process, the bush disappears. If rotting occurs during the period of fruit ripening, then the harvest cannot be harvested, since the fruit rots from the inside.

Diseases characteristic of melons and melons

Some types of diseases and pests prevent a decent harvest of fruits. One should know the signs of diseases to know how to protect them from such problems. Melon crops can be affected by various types of infections (viral, bacterial or fungal).

The most common diseases of pumpkin crops are the following:

• ashtray (powdery mildew);
• fusarium wilt;
• anthracosis (dry copperhead);
• flower parasite broomrape;
• mosaic virus;
• ascochyta blight

Planted melons and melons are often damaged by insects:

• spider mite;
• melon fly;
• melon (cotton) aphid.

They usually damage the skin of ripe fruits and lay larvae in them.

The spread of diseases can begin from infected seeds, as well as weeds or soil. It should also be noted that some types of diseases can be carried by insects. Therefore, timely pest control must be carried out.

melon aphid

Damage by this pest occurs through the reproduction of small insects on the underside of leaves.They suck the juice from the plant, which causes it to wither and the ovaries to fall off. This is why the leaves curl and the stems dry out.

Fusarium wilt

This infection is caused by a special type of fungus. It penetrates through the root system from the soil. Initially, the roots rot, which leads to complete drying of the above-ground part. From the first signs of the disease to the death of the plant, it takes from 1 to 1.5 weeks.

The danger of this disease is that it can spread throughout the area. Fusarium can occur at almost any stage during periods of high soil and air humidity. As a preventative measure, it is not recommended to plant melons for several years in a row in the same area.

Anthracose lesions of melon

This type of fungal disease affects plants grown in greenhouse conditions. First, spots of a brownish-pinkish hue form on them, then the stems become brittle and the fruits rot.

Spider mite

Colonies of this parasite appear on young shoots, ovaries or buds. Adults spin webs and lay eggs. The larvae feed on cell sap. Scars appear at the site of the bite, and the melon crop dries out during the fruiting period. After this, the parasites can migrate to healthy plants. The eggs of this pest can remain viable for 5 years.

Broomrape

This is a parasitic plant species. It does not have a root system, but instead there are fleshy suckers that dig into the stem and feed on foreign juice.

Since one broomrape produces more than a million spores, it is difficult to cope with this problem. You can use herbicides during pre-sowing tillage.

Powdery mildew

The peak of powdery mildew disease occurs in the second half of summer if dry weather sets in with minimal precipitation. Whitish spots appear, the foliage gradually turns yellow and disappears.

Melon fly

This pest most often spoils the melon harvest. This fly lays its larvae in ripe fruits. As they grow, they make holes for themselves, resulting in complete rotting of the melon. The presence of larvae can be recognized by small holes in the peel. Affected fruits become vulnerable to fungal or viral diseases.

Control measures and prevention

Melon crops are treated with the same methods and identical preventive measures are used. For this purpose, timely removal of weeds is carried out, as well as cleaning of the beds from plant debris.

To strengthen the bush, shoots affected by the disease are cut off. It is important to moderately water the soil to prevent stagnation of water or severe drying out.

Deep digging and autumn tillage are provided for pre-sowing soil preparation. In addition, seeds are disinfected before sowing. You can use an aqueous solution of formaldehyde (40%).

Crop rotation is considered a prerequisite for the normal development of planted plants. To prevent waterlogging of the soil, melons are planted in high beds.

When throwing out the buds, the beds are treated with water with the addition of potassium chloride. To prevent infection by pathogenic microorganisms, it is necessary to loosen the soil and remove weeds.

For the purpose of prevention and treatment of plants, acaricide preparations containing phosphorus or sulfur are used.Today, a biological control method is also used by propagating the small phytomysa fly. Its larvae eat parasitic organisms during growth.

The following chemicals are used for spraying melon plantings:

• Karbofos (add 70 g of product to 1 bucket of water).
• Actellik (solution of 3 ml of the drug per 1 bucket of water).

If you want to treat the beds with chemicals, use laundry soap dissolved in water. It is enough to grate 1/3 of the bar and dissolve it in 10 liters of water.

How can you tell if a melon is missing?

You can understand that the melon has disappeared by external signs during the fruiting period: the fruits have a soft skin, there are dark spots, dents, cracks and punctures on it, the ripening time in this case changes, the vine dries out. Fruit without mechanical damage to the peel is tastier.