Cucumbers are treated with copper sulfate to disinfect the soil, feed plants, and to combat late blight, rust, scab, mold, and fusarium. The fungicide is used to fertilize poor sandy soils and peat bogs, and prevents water from blooming in artificial ponds.
Why is a fungicide dangerous?
Copper sulfate must be used extremely carefully; in large doses it can damage flowers and cucumbers and burn leaves. Even a few milligrams of blue powder, once in the body of an animal or a person:
- Cause itching and burning.
- Lead to the appearance of a rash.
- Irritate mucous membranes.
Fine dust of copper sulfate, penetrating the respiratory tract, provokes a severe cough, which often ends in nosebleeds. After using a fungicide, sometimes a person begins to vomit.
What does copper sulfate combat?
Ions of the substance destroy lipoproteins and enzymes that make up the cells of fungi and bacteria. These microorganisms cause various diseases in plants. Almost all summer residents know what to spray cucumbers with. Copper sulfate solutions do an excellent job of:
- with root rot;
- fusarium;
- black leg;
- melon aphids;
- anthracnose.
Ordinary mosaic affects the leaves of plants, they acquire a light shade and curl. After watering with cold water, ulcers often form on the fruits of the crop, which is characteristic of olive spot. To protect cucumbers from such a disease, it is necessary to spray them with a fungicide or Bordeaux mixture.
Treat bushes with copper sulfate for anthracnose, when the leaves become covered with brown spots and ulcers form in their place. This disease develops when fungal spores enter the soil.
Sometimes a fluffy gray coating appears on the fruits, and the bush begins to wither. This phenomenon occurs when, due to excessive watering, the soil becomes waterlogged. To prevent this from happening, there is no need to plant crops densely in the greenhouse. Ventilation and spraying with fungicides helps in the fight against gray mold.
With strong temperature fluctuations and excess moisture, brown spots form on the stem and spread quickly, leading to the death of the rhizome. To prevent the appearance of such rot, the ground must be treated with ash, mixed with chalk. The use of copper sulfate prevents infection of other plants. You can soak cucumber seeds in its 2% solution.
In a liter jar of water you need to pour 2 tablespoons of powder and 6 ash. After infusion, the product is used to treat the stems. This method allows you to defeat root rot.
How are solutions prepared?
Bordeaux mixture is obtained from copper sulfate. To do this, pour 100 blue powder into a glass or plastic container. Dilute it in 3 liters of hot water, then add 7 liters of cold water.
In order for the composition to stick well to the leaves, it is combined with slaked lime, which is used to cover a quarter of the bucket, pour water and close it. After a while, the solution is mixed and left for three days.
When using copper sulfate for cucumbers, it is important to maintain the correct proportion. To cope with fusarium and root stalk, you need to take a teaspoon of this powder, superphosphate and zinc sulfate and dilute it in a 10-liter bucket. The bushes need to be watered with this solution several times.
Iron sulfate effectively combats fungal infections and mold on plants; it differs in composition from copper sulfate and has a different effect on the growing season. The use of a fungicide allows you to:
- Destroy insect pests.
- Improve the formation of chlorophyll in leaves.
- Get rid of scab, late blight, rot.
Ferrous sulfate is sold in stores in the form of a coarse greenish powder. To prepare the composition, the product must be diluted in water. The container cannot be a metal bucket; only plastic or glass containers are suitable. To spray plants against gray rot, 30 g of powder is dissolved in a liter of liquid. To kill pests, 5% iron sulfate is used.
Cucumbers can die from chlorosis. The infection is transmitted by insects and pollen during flowering.A diseased bush loses its ability to photosynthesize, yellow stripes appear on the leaves, and they die.
To combat chlorosis, 50 g of iron sulfate is dissolved in a bucket of water and used to protect plants. The crop is treated at least 5 times, and the signs of chlorosis disappear.
Elimination of peronosporosis
The most dangerous diseases of cucumbers include powdery mildew. When the air temperature drops sharply, the leaves become covered with oily spots. A purple coating forms on their inside. After rain and watering, the fungal spores germinate and the bush dries out in a week or two. When the first spots appear, 6 grams of copper sulfate should be diluted in half a bucket of water and added 3 liters of whey. Each diseased bush should be sprayed with this product.
When the first flowers form on the crop, chemical treatment cannot be carried out. For this purpose, a 1% solution of Bordeaux mixture is used. Severely affected leaves are removed, soaked in a bucket of water, tsp. copper sulfate, mix the composition with 50 g of colloidal sulfur. Spray the plant several times.
Application for fertilizers
Copper sulfate is used to treat soils that lack this microelement - sandy, clayey, podzolic, peat. Take no more than 2 g of powder per bucket of water. If there is a deficiency of iron in the soil:
- The growth of crops slows down.
- Young shoots die.
- Leaves change color;
- The fruits are falling.
Before preparing the beds, vitriol is applied to the ground along with compost in a ratio of 1 to 100. Spraying also helps improve the composition of the soil. The first time treatment with iron sulfate is carried out when cucumber seedlings are moved into open ground. In cool and rainy summers, the crop is fed every 2 weeks.
Precautionary measures
When using both ferrous sulfate and copper sulfate, it is necessary to protect your eyes and respiratory tract, and wear rubber gloves on your hands. Fungicides can burn the skin and cause irritation. If you get it on your face, you should wash it immediately. The solution must be prepared in a respirator. Vitriol products are dangerous for bees when insects fly out en masse to collect nectar. Such drugs should be stored away from food, in a place inaccessible to children.
Copper is not absorbed into the fruits; cucumbers and melons can be consumed 5 days after processing the leaves. They just need to be rinsed with running water.
Iron sulfate copes with most diseases that affect vegetable crops and fruit plants.
