Peonies have few pests, but there are many diseases that affect foliage, stems, flowers and buds. Most often they are brought to the site along with planting material. In order to stop the developing disease of pions in time, it is necessary to regularly view them in wet rainy weather. Spray the plant with fungicides if necessary. From time to time, peonies are transplanted to a new site, after dividing the bush in half. If you follow all the precautionary rules, then there will be no problems with flowers. But if, nevertheless, the first signs of a bacterial or fungal infection appeared on the leaves and buds, then it is best to know what disease affected the plant and how to deal with it.
The most common and, perhaps, harmful disease of peonies is gray rot. It affects not only buds, stems and leaves, but also the underground root part. Most often, young shoots in the spring suffer from this fungal disease during the period of regrowth. The first sign of damage to the plant is the appearance at the base of the stem of grayraid. Then dark spots form in this place. The plant becomes very brittle, often the stems bend and fall to the ground. Especially active gray rot develops in a rainy, cold, damp spring. The causative agent of this phytoinfection overwinters and remains on plant debris. The disease causes significant harm throughout the growing season.
Despite the fact that flower diseases affect different parts of the plant and manifest themselves in different ways, the measures to combat them are not much different from each other. First, prevention. It is necessary to strictly follow the cultivation technique. This includes timely loosening, thorough weeding, fertilizing with mineral fertilizers and proper watering. Secondly, you need an annual autumn pruning of the stems, especially in the lower part of the plant. Cut shoots are collected and burned in pits. Thirdly, it is imperative to spray the plant with antifungal and antibacterial drugs. For example, to prevent the development of gray mold, peonies are sprayed with fungicides.
Another very common peony disease of fungal origin is rust. It most often affects the leaves. Yellow-orange spots appear on both sides of them. These are the sporulation zones of the fungus. The infection is always transmitted through plant debris after pruning, so they must be burned outside the garden area. As a preventive measure, it is also recommended to spray the flower bush with Bordeaux liquid in March-April. You should know that if nearpine trees grow on the site, the likelihood of rust increases significantly.
Another peony disease is powdery mildew. It is also a fungal infection. The affected area is the leaves. A plaque forms on them, under which the deciduous tissues first turn yellow and then die. To rid the plant of this pathogenic fungus, it is sprayed with a soap-copper composition. The solution consists of 20 g of copper sulfate, 150 - 200 g of green soap and 10 liters of water.
Peonies are unusually beautiful flowers, but, unfortunately, very prone to various diseases. In order for the bush to please every year with huge pink, red and burgundy flower hats, you must follow all the rules of agricultural technology.
