One of the favorite delicacies of gardeners is strawberries. Many people who have a summer cottage are engaged in growing this berry. Some of them experience strawberry leaves curling.
Why do strawberry leaves curl?
Before treating the disease, you need to familiarize yourself with the main reasons for curling strawberry leaves.
Pests
Quite often, this problem appears due to insect attacks on strawberry seedlings. There are several dangerous pests that are most often found on strawberries.
Aphid
Aphids are a small and dangerous insect that appears on many garden and garden crops. The attack of the pest causes the strawberry shoots to weaken and stop growing. Aphids also impair the immunity of bushes, which contributes to the emergence and further development of dangerous diseases.
Signs indicating the appearance of aphids include:
- curling and gradual withering of leaves;
- the appearance of a large number of ants near the tops;
- drying of the upper stems;
- formation of a sweetish liquid on the surface of the shoots;
- the appearance of small growths on the stems.
If aphids appear on the plant, get rid of them immediately. The bushes are treated with fungicidal compounds and folk remedies that repel insects.
Spider and strawberry mites
The mite is considered a dangerous parasite that is difficult to notice on strawberry leaves. The insect becomes noticeable only after global damage to the seedlings.
The main danger of mites is that they not only damage the leaves, but also impair the yield of berries.
Among the signs of damage to bushes by mites are:
- the leaves begin to curl;
- the bushes stop growing;
- the inner side of the foliage is covered with a silvery coating;
- premature drying of leaves;
- drying of the crop before the end of the growing season;
- deterioration of resistance to low temperatures.
Diseases
Curling of leaves on strawberry bushes can occur due to the appearance of viral or infectious diseases. There are two common diseases that strawberries most often suffer from.
Powdery mildew
Powdery mildew is a dangerous fungal disease that begins to affect garden crops in the first half of May. It is easy to identify the disease in a timely manner, as it is accompanied by pronounced symptoms. At first, shrubs affected by powdery mildew turn pale and do not grow upward. The youngest bushes immediately dry out and die.
The development of the disease is facilitated by increased levels of air humidity and high temperatures, which exceed 25 degrees Celsius. In such conditions, the fungus infects plants and develops quickly. If temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celsius, the powdery mildew pathogen will die.
To prevent the development of fungal pathology, bushes must be regularly sprayed with fungicides.
Viral diseases
Viral pathologies that cause foliage to curl into a tube include:
- Mosaic. This pathology develops if undisinfected seeds or already infected seedlings are planted in the soil. Due to the strawberry mosaic, the foliage becomes covered with yellowish spots, over time it curls and begins to dry out.
- Mottling. A viral disease that is spread between plants by aphids. Signs of the disease include weakening of the ovaries, the absence of young whiskers on the bushes and light spots on the leaf blades.
- Rugosity. This pathology leads to necrotic spotting on the stems and curling of young foliage.
Insufficient soil moisture
Some gardeners do not sufficiently moisten the soil in the area where strawberries are grown. This leads to the fact that the seedlings absorb nutritional components worse, which is why their leaves curl.
In order for strawberry bushes to develop normally, they must be properly irrigated. Watering should be carried out at least four times a week in the evening or morning.In this case, you should not use cold water, since due to hypothermia of the soil, the berries may become infected with viral diseases.
Lack of nutrients in the soil
Common reasons for the curling of the leaves of planted garden crops include a deficiency of nutrients in the soil.
Signs of a lack of microelements appear if you rarely fertilize the soil. Most often, strawberries lack magnesium, which is needed for photosynthesis. Due to a deficiency of this substance, the leaves turn purple and begin to deform.
To prevent this from happening, a solution of magnesium sulfate is regularly added to the soil.
Chemical overdose
Sometimes gardeners treat bushes with chemicals to prevent the appearance and development of diseases. If you use such drugs too often, the strawberry will weaken and will not be able to resist certain diseases. Therefore, before treating plants, you need to familiarize yourself with the dosages of using chemicals.
How to fix strawberry leaf curl
Many people are interested in how to treat the bushes if the leaves of the strawberries curl. There are several effective remedies that combat curling:
- Bordeaux liquid. The mixture is used to spray the stems and foliage of diseased bushes. To prepare an effective mixture yourself, add 20-25 milliliters of Bordeaux mixture to a ten-liter container of heated water. Spraying is carried out in the late evening when there is no sun.
- Manganese solution. Manganese is considered an effective agent for soil disinfection.It is used to get rid of pathogens that can cause the leaves on strawberry bushes to curl.
Prevention
To prevent the remontant strawberry bush from suffering from leaf curling, you must take care in advance to prevent the occurrence of such a problem.
To reduce the likelihood of sheets curling, you need to prepare the soil in advance where the berries will grow. Its acidity should not exceed 7 pH, since strawberries often get sick in acidic soils. Also, the soil is saturated with nutritional components in advance so that the plants do not suffer from a deficiency of fertilizers. Gardeners recommend adding lowland peat with coarse river sand to the soil.
Conclusion
Gardeners who have been growing strawberries for a long time sometimes encounter leaf curling. It is necessary to familiarize yourself in advance with the reasons for the deformation of the sheet plate and the main methods for eliminating this problem.
