Growing peas There are many gardeners who love to grow various vegetables in their plots. If you do not follow all agrotechnical rules when growing this plant, then pests and pea diseases will certainly appear, which can lead to the death of the bushes. Therefore, before you start planting this plant, you should familiarize yourself with the main pests and the features of their elimination.
Pests
Most often, vegetable growers are concerned about pea pests, which prevent the bushes from growing and developing normally. If insects on seedlings are not detected in a timely manner, the seedlings will gradually die and it will not be possible to harvest from them. Therefore, it is recommended to familiarize yourself in advance with the most common pests and measures to combat them in order to promptly identify harmful insects on the bushes and get rid of them.
Pea aphid
Pea plants often suffer from aphids, which quickly spread to most of the bushes on the site. It is quite easy to identify this insect, since the pea aphid is considered the largest pest. Its dimensions are about 5 mm, and its wingspan is 10–12 mm.
Harmful insects seriously damage plants, especially in dry weather. They feed on pea juice and leave small wounds on the surface of the leaves, in which fungal diseases gradually develop. Aphids often attack peas during budding, causing the plant to weaken.
To get rid of the pest, all bushes are treated with special means. To combat aphids, drugs such as Fastak or Iskra are used.
Pea weevil
Caryopsis or bruchus is found quite often on peas. This insect is widespread in most countries. However, plants growing in America, Africa, Asia and Europe most often suffer from the effects of this pest. In our country, the weevil appears on bushes only during severe drought and in the complete absence of rain.
Peas suffer from weevil when the seedlings flower. The pest penetrates the flowers of the plant and feeds on its pollen. The insect must be dealt with immediately, as it spreads to all pea bushes within 5–6 days.To quickly get rid of pests on seedlings, you will have to treat them with a solution of table salt.
Pea moth
This insect often appears on pea bushes and feeds on its leaves. The insect is quite large, as its wingspan is 15 mm. When it comes into contact with plants, the female lays eggs on the leaves. The eggs laid on the leaves are oval in shape and are about 1 mm long. Over time, light yellow caterpillars emerge from the eggs and grow up to 10 mm in length. If you do not get rid of insects in a timely manner, the deposited larvae completely eat up all the leaves.
When fighting a pest, mineral and organic fertilizers are added to the soil to make the plant stronger. Spraying is also carried out with a preparation made from tobacco, ash and celandine.
Nodule weevils
Nodule weevils often appear on legumes to feed on their leaves. They attack plants in the first days of spring to recover from the hungry days of winter. To identify this pest, you will have to pay attention to the condition of the bushes. After the insect appears, gnawed areas appear on the leaves of the plant. On the first day there will not be many such areas. However, over time, the leaves will begin to disappear completely, since the weevil can eat 1–2 cm of leaf per day.
It is recommended to get rid of the weevil pest as soon as it appears. To do this, all pea bushes are treated with ash, tobacco dust and other repellents.
Colorado beetle
Another pest that damages many different plants is the Colorado potato beetle. It is very easy to notice this beetle on the bushes, since it has a bright yolk color that stands out against the background of green leaves.When caught on bushes, adults lay eggs, which begin to feed on the leaves. If eggs are found on the leaves, you should immediately get rid of them and treat the bushes with protective agents against pests.
Umbrella psyllid
The psyllid is a small yellow insect that often appears on pea bushes. Such pests immediately penetrate the leaf tissues and feed on them. Because of this, the leaves stop growing, gradually become deformed and dry out.
If you do not get rid of the psyllid, the bushes will dry out and also stop growing. Therefore, after the appearance of an insect, it is recommended to immediately treat the bushes with ash or celandine.
Pea cutworm
Not only peas, but also many other plants suffer from pea cutworm. This butterfly is distinguished by its size, which with a wingspan reaches about 30–35 mm. When they land on plants, the adults lay larvae on the leaves, feeding on the pea juice.
To combat insects, biological products and insecticides are used, which will quickly clear the seedlings of pests.
Diseases
In addition to pests, there are also pea diseases, which often lead to the death of bushes. There are many dangerous diseases that you should familiarize yourself with in more detail before planting and growing legumes.
Ascochyta blight
Pea plants often suffer from dark-spotted or pale-spotted ascochyta blight. It is quite simple to detect the presence of this disease, since it has pronounced symptoms. When the disease appears, all leaves appear yellowish in color, which eventually becomes dark gray. In the absence of measures to combat ascochyta blight, all pea leaves will dry out and cease to function.
To get rid of the disease, you will have to periodically treat the affected plants with a solution of bleach.
Rust
Pea rust is a common problem faced by all legume growers. Plants often suffer from this disease during the budding period, when the flowers on the bushes begin to bloom. Also, the development of the disease is promoted by high humidity and therefore it appears more often during heavy rainfall. In drought conditions, pathogens do not develop.
Stems affected by rust should be burned to prevent the disease from spreading to healthy bushes.
Downy mildew
In spring, legumes often suffer from peronosporosis. When the disease appears, almost all organs of the bushes are affected. However, the leaves that suffer most are the ones on which yellowish spots appear. If the disease appears during fruit ripening, damage to the bean leaves develops. White spots and spores of downy mildew pathogens appear on them.
Downy mildew of peas is treated with a sulfur solution prepared from one hundred grams of the substance and ten liters of water. The bushes are treated with the prepared product three times a month.
Anthracnose
Anthracnose of peas is considered a dangerous disease that often leads to the death of bushes. The disease affects all above-ground parts of seedlings and therefore everyone can detect signs of anthracnose. The leaves are covered with brown and gray spots of various shapes. Reddish pads with fungal spores appear in the central part of the spots.
It is impossible to cure a plant from anthracnose and therefore all affected bushes are burned to prevent the spread of the disease.
Fusarium
Fusarium pea often affects bushes if agrotechnical rules are not followed when growing them. When the disease appears, root rot appears, due to which the bushes gradually die. Fusarium pea blight is also accompanied by leaf wilting. At first, the affected leaves simply turn yellow, but over time they dry out and completely fall off the plants.
To protect peas from fusarium root rot, it is recommended to regularly clean the garden of plant debris and maintain proper crop rotation.
Powdery mildew
The most common fungal disease is powdery mildew on peas, which often destroys the entire crop. When the disease appears, the stipules and leaves of the bushes are affected. Over time, powdery mildew on peas reaches the peas, on the surface of which a grayish white coating appears.
To avoid encountering this disease, it is recommended to plant pea varieties in the garden that are resistant to powdery mildew pathogens.
Rot
Fungi from the genus Fusarium often cause gray or white rot to appear on pea bushes. The disease spreads to the root collar and roots of plants, causing them to rot and gradually die. Sometimes rot spreads to the ground leaves of bushes. In this case, a white or pinkish coating appears on them.
It is better to get rid of the affected plants immediately, before the rot begins to spread to the nearest healthy bushes.
Seed protection
To prevent the plant from suffering from diseases or pests in the future, you should start processing the seed in advance.
To protect seeds, experienced vegetable growers recommend seed dressing, which involves treating them with special pesticides.This is one of the most effective methods of protecting plants from most harmful insects and diseases. Pesticides will clean the seeds from internal and external infections that may become active after planting.
Most vegetable growers prefer the dry pickling method, as it is the simplest. In this case, before processing, all seed material is dried in advance. The disadvantages of dry dressing include uneven application of pesticides to the surface of the seeds.
Pea protection
The main method of protecting pea bushes from diseases and dangerous insects is to follow all the rules of agricultural technology when growing the plant. The main agrotechnical practices include a soil cultivation system, compliance with crop rotation, clearing the area of weeds, watering plants and timely harvesting. Therefore, when growing legumes it is necessary:
- Grow pea seedlings in gardens cleared of weeds and other plant debris.
- Timely add organic or mineral fertilizers to the soil, which will increase resistance to fungal diseases and pests.
- Properly care for the soil in your garden. In this case, the gardener must harrow the area in the spring and dig it up. This will enrich the soil with air and useful microelements.
- Plant only high-yielding varieties with resistance to most common diseases.
Conclusion
Most gardeners encounter pests and diseases when growing legumes crops In order to get rid of them in a timely manner, it is recommended to familiarize yourself with the features of their manifestation and methods of elimination.
