Types, symptoms, treatment and control of pests and diseases of blackberries

Blackberries have recently begun to gain the attention of gardeners. Therefore, not everyone is familiar with the rules of plant agricultural technology. But if the basic techniques for caring for berry crops are clear and simple, then opinions differ about pests and diseases of blackberries. But not every experienced summer resident knows how to deal with them and what preventive measures are.

Classification of blackberry diseases

All diseases of garden plants can be divided into those caused by:

• improper care and unfavorable conditions;
• pathogenic fungi that move with the help of wind, rain, and humans;
• bacteria living in the soil;
• viruses spread by insects.

The connection between garden pests and blackberry pathologies is strong. By damaging parts of the plant, insects facilitate the penetration of pathogenic microorganisms and weaken the garden crop.

Symptoms and types of fungal diseases

Even a novice gardener can identify an infection caused by fungal spores. Leaves and stems become covered with spots, and areas of mold of different colors form on them. They are the site of spore development. The fungus penetrates by entering the stomata and lentils of the berry plant. Even a slight damage to the bush will become a gateway for parasites to get inside the plant tissue.

Rust

Symptoms of the pathology include the presence of small orange dots on the stems and leaves. Growing in volume, they turn the plate into a continuous dried field.The leaves begin to fall, and the bushes stop developing and weaken. Spots that appear on the stems contribute to cracking of the shoots.

Treatment consists of treatment with Bordeaux mixture or copper sulfate solution. Infected branches and leaves are cut off and buried in the ground to a depth of 15 centimeters, where they decompose.

Septoria or white spot

Sick seedlings cause blackberry disease. The fungus is especially active in humid and cool summers. Already at the beginning of the season, last year's shoots will have leaves covered with white spots. The same light areas are visible around the buds and internodes. By the end of summer, the spores multiply; the fruiting body of the fungus appears as black dots on parts of the plant.

Timely removal of affected leaves and pruning of diseased shoots will stop the progression of the disease. Before the leaves bloom, you need to spray the bushes with Bordeaux mixture in the form of a 1% solution.

Anthracnose

The pathogenic fungus overwinters in plant waste. In spring it affects leaves, shoots, buds, and inflorescences. The description of the signs of infection includes the fact that the leaves are covered with lilac spots with jagged edges up to 2-4 millimeters in size. Due to the fact that the leaves and shoots do not develop, they are affected by the disease and dry out, and there will be no berries.

Gray rot

The disease affects all above-ground parts of the plant, but the berries are most affected. When spores germinate, they have a negative effect on the growth of the berry crop. Light brown mold on berries is one of the clearest signs of the disease. In this case, the fruits do not ripen, fall off, and most of the harvest is lost. The drug "Horus" is considered effective against fungus. Copper-based products can also be used.

Phyllosticosis

The pathology is called brown spotting, as it is characterized by spots of different shapes and sizes of a brownish color. They are then decorated with black dots in the middle. At an advanced stage of the pathology, the entire surface of the leaf turns brown and then dries out. If symptoms are detected, it is necessary to destroy the affected leaves and treat the blackberry bushes with fungicides.

Purple spot

During warm, wet winters, the fungus remains viable, settling on blackberry bushes in the spring. The shoots and stems of the plant covered with reddish spots begin to crack. The leaves dry out and fall off. You cannot expect a good harvest from the plant; there will be few ovaries and they will dry out prematurely.

Methods for treating fungal diseases

The basis for the fight against fungal infections is preparations containing copper. Particularly popular are Bordeaux mixture and copper sulfate. Nowadays, they offer biological products that effectively affect the cause of the pathology. Trichodermin solution is necessary for the treatment and prevention of diseases. It is active against the fungus in early spring before the leaves bloom.

It is necessary to treat the bushes before flowering and after with fungicidal agents. This will help stop damage to flowers and berry ovaries. If symptoms of fungal infection appear, then treatment with Fundazol can be applied.

Before wintering, you need to take preventive measures. To do this, spray the bushes with copper-containing products.

Classification of viral diseases and their manifestations

Blackberry pathologies caused by a virus are less common than fungal infections. But they cause significant damage to berry plantations.

Ring spot

In spring, a chlorotic ring pattern can be found on blackberry leaves.In this case, the top of the stem dies, and shoots appear from the axillary buds. The bush becomes untidy, with ugly shoots. The virus is carried by aphids. Its peculiarity is that it is also found on garden raspberries.

Mosaic

The disease manifests itself as a mosaic pattern of yellowish spots on the leaves. The spots are located along the veins of the leaf plate in a fan-shaped manner. During the growing season, the bushes become yellow, weaken, and do not produce full berries.

Curly

The cause of the disease is seedlings infected with the virus. They recognize the presence of pathology by curled leaves. Instead of green, the surface of the leaf blade becomes yellow-brown. Internodes and inflorescences look ugly on bushes. And fruits will not set on diseased plants.

Yellow mesh

The disease has a sign of chlorosis, when the entire surface of the leaves is covered with spots, like a fan. The danger of the disease is that the plant stops developing and begins to dry out.

Prevention and treatment measures

It is impossible to get rid of the virus from a diseased blackberry bush, so preventive measures play an important role. Among them it is necessary to highlight:

• fight against aphids, nematodes, as carriers of viruses;
• careful selection of seedlings, treating them with disinfectants;
• the procedure of spraying with a special preparation that has a detrimental effect on pathogenic organisms - “Pentaphage”.

Competent agricultural technology when growing berry crops will protect plants from serious pathologies.

Bacterial diseases, measures to combat them

The peculiarity of bacterial infection is that pathogenic microorganisms penetrate into damaged, weakened plants.The disease begins to manifest itself as growths on the roots, which disintegrate as they develop. So the bacteria remain in the ground, persisting until next year and infecting all blackberry bushes. Weeds serve as carriers of bacterial cancer. Therefore, it is imperative to destroy them and loosen the row spacing regularly. And diseased crops are uprooted and burned.

Root and stem cancer

Manifestations of bacterial cancer include:

• growths and bumps form on the roots and shoots of blackberries;
• bushes stop growing and dry out;
• young shoots are weak, thin;
• the leaves wither.

Since bacteria need wounds and cracks to penetrate into plants, they must be covered in time with varnish and treated with disinfectants to prevent infection. When small bumps appear on the stems and roots, they are cut off and the sections are treated with clay or garden varnish.

Plants need to be sprayed with Pentafage C. This is the only way to save a valuable crop from destruction.

Other diseases

There are pathologies in blackberries, the cause of which is difficult to explain. Although they are not very common, you need to have an idea about them.

Overgrowth, or dwarfism

Similar to brooms sticking out of the ground - this is what berry bushes look like when they are infected with single-celled mycoplasmas. The disease occurs when plants are weakened after winter and some of their shoots are frozen. It is difficult for berries to recover even after a long drought. When such “shorties” decorate a garden plot, it is clear that a sick blackberry cannot be resurrected. It must be dug up and burned. It is better to spray the remaining bushes with Fundazol.

Types of pests and signs of their parasitism

Of the harmful insects for blackberries, both those that overwinter in the ground and those that live on the stems and leaves are dangerous. Some parasites need leaf sap to survive, which they suck out. Others feed on stems and shoots.

Blackberry root pests

For the inhabitants of the upper layers of soil in the garden, food must be obtained by making tunnels. When insect larvae reach the roots of plants such as blackberries, they begin to parasitize them. Therefore, to save the culture, timely control of insects and their larvae is necessary.

Medvedka

A large insect with strong legs gnaws at the roots of a blackberry. After this, the bush begins to dry out. It is necessary to determine the cause of the disease. To do this, the soil is raked away from the roots to identify the pest. The parasite's burrows are filled with water and ammonia or soap solution. Manure and straw are used for bait, filling the holes with it. Mole crickets will build nests in them, and then you can scatter organic material and destroy the insect.

Chafer

The larvae of the May beetle, or beetle, feed on the leaves and roots of blackberries. You can destroy the larvae by digging up a bush and placing the root in a mash of clay and tobacco dust. In May, water the bushes with water with a few drops of iodine.

Parasitic on leaves

If blackberry leaves are deformed, you must carefully inspect them for pests. Having seen colonies of insects, you can manually collect them or tear off the affected leaves.

Raspberry leaf sawfly

Pests are leaf-boring, as their larvae destroy leaves first in the lower part of the bush, then rise up. Pseudo-caterpillars spend the winter in cocoons, hiding in fallen leaves.

If you don’t fight the sawfly, the bushes will soon be left without greenery. To protect the berry plantings from pest attacks, it is necessary to dig up the soil around the plants. He doesn’t like it when they spray it with infusions of garlic and tobacco.

Blackberry aphid

This type of aphid is large in size. It has dark patterns on its yellowish back. Aphid colonies parasitize the underside of the leaf. They are combated by spraying with insecticides and folk remedies.

Raspberry leaf aphid

In the spring, when the blackberry leaves become ugly and covered with sticky secretions, plants of the aphid family begin to suck out the juices. In summer, a huge number of small pests are visible on the shoots. From them the plant becomes infected with fungal infections and viral diseases. Among the drugs used to combat aphids are “Confidor” or “Fitoverm”.

Common spider mite

A small spider with four pairs of legs is visible only with a magnifying glass. But it does enormous harm to the berry crop. It settles on the underside of the leaves, sucking out the juices and entwining everything with a thin web. Because of this, the leaves begin to turn brown and die. After fertilization, females find refuge in fallen leaves and lumps of earth.

The pest can be prevented by cleaning and burning garbage in the fall, digging up the soil, and fumigating with sulfur.

Raspberry hair mite

A web entangling the shoots, leaves and berries of blackberries indicates mite damage to the plant. White dots are found at the bottom of the plate. The leaves begin to become deformed, and the plant lags behind in development.

On the shoots of a bush

Shoot damage is difficult to find because the insects are as microscopic as the damage they cause. But from them, blackberry bushes can become infected with pathogenic viruses and fungi that penetrate into plant tissues.

Raspberry moth

A small hymenopteran insect with its pathogenic action causes the growth of elongated swellings on the shoots, galls. After this, the berry plant begins to dry out and stops developing. As soon as they discover swellings on the branches, they try to cut them off and treat the affected areas with Actellik.

Raspberry shoot aphid

The buds on the tops of the shoots are affected by shoot aphids. Having saturated with juices from the branches, the parasite hastens to destroy the inflorescences and petioles, then moving on to the fruits. Insect colonies increase several times during the season, threatening to destroy the entire blackberry bush. To eliminate the pest, it is necessary to cut out shoots infected with the parasite, and spray the bush with a preparation such as Fitoverm.

Raspberry stem fly

Flies with transparent wings circle over blackberry bushes, laying eggs. The emerging larvae bite into the tissues, making passages inside the stems. This results in wilting of the berry crop with sagging branches. To prevent the fly from flying out, in early spring the soil around the bushes is mulched with a layer of compost or humus.

Raspberry shoot gall midge

Feeding on the juices of the blackberry plant, the fly larvae hide in special growths, galls. After pupation, after some time they transform into adult gall midges. The color of the adult is interesting: a long body with orange stripes rests on high legs. The habitats of the larvae are dangerous, as cracking of the shoots occurs here and they begin to break.

You can prevent pest attacks by carefully inspecting the bushes and cutting out weakened and diseased shoots.

On buds, flowers, buds and berries

Blackberries are valued for their tasty and healthy berries, and when the fruits do not appear, this is due to either diseases or pests. Among the harmful insects there are many that are not averse to eating black drupes. Then it becomes clear why the berries dry out.

Raspberry bud moth

A delicacy for the parasite are young buds, as well as buds of inflorescences and ovaries. The insect prevents black berries from developing. They do not reach ripeness, they immediately begin to deform and become tough. You can get rid of butterflies by shaking off adults from bushes. After collecting the pests on a plastic bag, they are burned.

Flower beetle

This is the name of a bug with a body length of 3 millimeters, gray and black in color. After gnawing the peduncle, the female lays eggs there. And after hatching, the larvae begin to eat blackberry flowers. You can get rid of the pest by collecting insects by hand or by spraying with Wofatox, a solution of wood ash.

How to deal with insect infestations

Only timely treatment of plants helps save them from death. When regularly inspecting blackberry bushes, they notice all the changes in the above-ground parts. It is necessary to pay attention to the condition of the leaves, flowers, and shoots. When drying leaves or cobwebs are detected, action is taken immediately. They start with gentle options, switching to insecticides if insect reproduction threatens the varietal berry.

Such agricultural practices as digging up the soil in spring and autumn, mulching, cutting out weak shoots will stop parasites and kill them.