One of the most attractive indoor plants for amateur flower growers in our country is cyclamen. The original plant with beautiful flowers has long and firmly taken its place on the windowsills of many apartments and has become a source of pride for their owners. However, this plant needs special attention, and it responds to improper care with the appearance of various diseases that can nullify all efforts to grow them. The only way to avoid cyclamen disease is to give them attention and proper care.
Description of the plant
Cyclamen is a herbaceous perennial with a tuberous thickened root. Perhaps due to the shape of the roots, he got his name. It grows naturally in Mediterranean areas, but is better known as a houseplant.
This small graceful flower with an interesting pattern on the leaves is valued for its high decorative properties. Its single flowers on long tall peduncles are distinguished by a variety of colors. If at first there wereonly species with red and white flowers, varieties with various shades of pink, lilac and pale purple are currently bred during breeding. The most common indoor flower is Persian cyclamen.
A distinctive feature of cyclamens is the fact that they bloom in winter - from October to March.
Main causes of cyclamen diseases
All diseases of cyclamen occur, as a rule, due to non-compliance with the conditions of their maintenance. The main causes of disease are:
- low air humidity;
- overwatering;
- violation of the temperature regime;
- wrong soil composition;
- improper care during the dormant period;
- lack of lighting during the period of active growth and flowering.
Preventing cyclamen diseases is much easier than treating them. Therefore, the plant must be regularly examined and, if the slightest signs of the disease appear, promptly respond to them, adjusting the conditions of detention.
Maintenance during dormancy
In nature, the active growth and flowering of cyclamens occurs in winter, which is characterized by cool weather and heavy rainfall. The plant perceives an increase in temperature as a signal of the onset of a hot, dry summer and begins to prepare for it. This feature is one of the reasons why there are problems with the content of cyclamens. In an excessively warm room, theystop blooming and try to shed their leaves, preparing for a dormant period. This fact must be taken into account when caring for a flower. Proper alternation of periods of growth with periods of rest and the creation of proper conditions during these periods will avoid many of the problems associated with cyclamen diseases and their treatment.
Rules of care
Diseases of cyclamen will bypass you if the following conditions are provided for the flower:
- Proper lighting. During the active period, it should be bright, but excluding direct sunlight on the plant. Therefore, it is better to keep the flower in partial shade on the windowsills facing east and west. On the southern windows, the plant will have to be shaded, and on the northern windows it will have too little light.
- Temperature. In winter, during the period of active growth and flowering, the optimum temperature for cyclamen is +10 °C, the maximum limit is +14 °C. In summer, the ambient temperature should not exceed 25 °C. If possible, it is recommended to dig a pot with a plant in the garden, in a shaded place.
- Water. It will require soft settled water, the temperature of which should be a couple of degrees below room temperature. During the flowering period, the plant is watered so as to prevent either drying out or waterlogging of the earthy coma. Top watering is possible if it is carried out carefully so as not to soak the buds and tuber. It is better to water cyclamen from a pallet. After holding the pot in a pan for one or two hours, the water is drained from it to prevent rotting of the roots. When flowering ends, watering is gradually reduced, and with the onsetduring the summer dormant period, they are watered extremely rarely. From the beginning of autumn, watering is gradually increased.
- Humidity. To increase it, the plant is periodically sprayed until the buds appear, after which the spraying is stopped so that the buds do not rot. To humidify the air, pots can be placed on a tray of damp moss, expanded clay or pebbles so that their bottom does not touch the water.
- Feeding. When the plant is actively growing leaf mass and up to the beginning of flowering, it is fed every two weeks with a complete mineral fertilizer. It must be remembered that an excess of nitrogen fertilizers can lead to root rot.
- Soil. Cyclamens should be transplanted into a soil consisting of leafy soil, humus, peat and sand. The acidity of the soil should not be higher than six, otherwise the likelihood of developing various fungal diseases increases.
Failure to follow these basic rules leads to various problems. Consider the main diseases of cyclamen with a photo.
Rot
The most common diseases of cyclamen are various types of rot.
- Wet rot. Flowers and leaves sag, an unpleasant putrefactive odor appears. The roots are also slowly rotting. The cause of the disease is infection in cracks or wounds on the plant. The source of infection is a diseased plant or contaminated water. Unfortunately, in this case, it will not be possible to save the flower. It must be destroyed to prevent infection of other plants. Preventive measures - compliance with the irrigation regime, preventing waterlogging of the soil.
- Grayrot. The plant becomes soft and watery, a gray moldy coating forms on it. High humidity levels and too low temperatures provoke the disease. To combat the disease, remove all diseased leaves and flowers and treat the plant with a fungicide. Make sure that the air is dry, for this purpose, ventilate the room, avoiding drafts. To avoid the appearance of gray rot, it is necessary to prevent excessive moisture and water from entering the tuber and leaves during watering.
Non-infectious tuber rot causes yellowing and wilting of leaves. Tubers become brown and soft. The diseased plant is destroyed. As a preventive measure, you need to use the correct soil mixture, follow the rules of feeding, moisten the tubers less often, especially in the heat, and do not plant them at great depths
Let's consider other fungal diseases of cyclamen and their treatment with a photo.
Anthracnose
Provokes the occurrence of this fungal disease high temperature and humidity. Outwardly, it appears only with the beginning of flowering. If the peduncles are affected by the fungus, they develop poorly, look twisted and turn yellow from the top. Buds do not appear, and existing ones do not bloom. Then the disease captures the leaves. They turn yellow and dry.
To save the plant, it is isolated, dried tissue is removed and treated with fungicides. Adjust the humidity and temperature of the room to meet the requirements of care.
Late blight and othersfungal diseases
One of the most common diseases and pests of cyclamen is the Phytophthora fungus. Favorable conditions for its development include too high temperature and humidity, as well as excessively active fertilizing with fertilizers.
Externally, the disease is manifested by a loss of elasticity and strength of the leaf plates, which later begin to dry. The tuber is rotten.
To combat late blight, you need to temporarily stop watering, completely replace the soil in the pot, treat the plant with fungicides and maintain the required temperature and humidity in the room.
Rhizoctoniosis and fusarium are also dangerous fungal diseases of cyclamen. Methods of treatment and prevention of the first are similar to the treatment of late blight. Fusarium is very difficult to treat even with the help of fungicides. It is easier to prevent it by adjusting the conditions of the flower.
Viral diseases
Among the diseases and pests of cyclamen, the photos of which are presented below, we should especially mention viral infections:
The leaf bronze virus is manifested by deformation of the leaf plates, a brown pattern on them and necrosis of the veins and tissues. Sick plants are destroyed
Circular mosaic virus. The leaves form circular patterns resembling fingerprints. The veins harden, the leaves crack. Sick plants should be destroyed
Thrips are the carrier of this virus. To prevent infection in placeskeeping plants hang special sticky traps for these pests. In addition to thrips, there are other pests. Cyclamen diseases and the treatment of the ailments they cause also require special attention.
Pests and their control
The most common cyclamen pests are:
Aphids. These insects are capable of literally sucking all the juices out of a plant in a matter of days. In large quantities, aphids cover the flower like a plaque. As a result, it is deformed and may die. The plant should be washed under a strong stream of water and treated with an insecticide
- Cyclamen mite. Due to its microscopic size, its appearance can be noticed only when a lot of individuals accumulate in one place. On the inner surface of the sheet, an accumulation of yellow dust seems to form. As a result, the leaves begin to change along the edges, the stems curl, and the buds fall off. To save the plant, you must immediately remove all its affected parts and spray with insecticide.
- Root-knot nematodes. Signs of their appearance are stunted growth and the formation of knotty swellings resembling beads at the root. Unfortunately, such a plant is subject to destruction.
Prevention of cyclamen diseases consists in proper care and compliance with all necessary maintenance requirements.
