Diseases And Pests Of Lilies, Cutting Lilies

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Read the previous part. ← The main criteria when buying lily bulbs

Lily diseases

Mosaic

This is a very unpleasant viral disease of bulbous crops, which is transmitted from plant to plant through the sap when they are cut with the same tool. An infection that has gotten onto the blade of the instrument with the juice of a sick lily is not destroyed either during sterilization or during treatment with a disinfectant (alcohol).

Infection can also occur with the help of flying female aphids, through nematodes that live in the ground. Lilies affected by mosaics have a pale color of leaves, transparent, as if not stained stripes on them. Stripes appear in flowers, uncharacteristic light spots.

Gardener's guide

Plant nurseries Stores of goods for summer cottages Landscape design studios

Mosaic control measures: using disposable tools when cutting lilies or breaking off the stems by hand. Destruction of aphids, nematodes. It is impossible to cure a plant infected with a virus. Such diseased plants must be destroyed, together with the adjacent soil, they must be burned.

Botrytis

The disease manifests itself in the form of brown spots (at first light, then darkening) on the leaves, stems and flowers of lilies. Botrytis disease is caused by spores of microscopic fungi that are spread from plant to plant. This disease develops only in rainy, humid weather. It is most dangerous for lilies if its outbreak occurs at the beginning of the growing season, in May - June, especially if the weather is cool.

This is a very urgent danger for the North-West region. However, botrytis can also infect lilies in warm, rainy weather. Diseased plants darken, leaves quickly lose their turgor, droop, photosynthesis is disrupted or stops altogether. The disease affects only the aerial part of the plant; the bulb does not die. In dry and hot weather, the risk of illness is minimal.

To destroy the spores of the fungus, you will have to give up the principles of natural farming and process the soil and the lilies themselves with copper-containing solutions: HOM or oxychoma. As a preventive measure - a discharged planting, the plants should be ventilated and dry quickly after rains and dew. If the disease manifested itself after the flowering of the lilies, then it is enough to cut and burn the stems with leaves.

Fusarium

It is also a fungal disease, but already of lily bulbs. Infection with them occurs through the soil, which may contain spores of the microscopic fungus Fusarium. Under favorable conditions for the fungus, it first affects the roots, then the bottom and then spreads to the entire lily bulb.

Where does this ill-fated mushroom come from? At the beginning of growth, lily bulbs release organic acids into the soil with their roots, with the help of which lilies dissolve soil minerals to feed them. The spores of the fungus react to these acids, their hyphae begin to grow towards the bulb.

If lilies are grown in the same place constantly, then the accumulation of fusarium will gradually begin in the soil, which will produce a large number of long-lived spores. They will not be active until the lily bulbs appear in the soil. Fusarium spores are favorable for germination - it is too moist soil (without drainage) with an acidic reaction (pH below 6.5). Excessive use of nitrogen fertilizers also leads to the development of the disease. It is strictly contraindicated for watering lilies with mullein solution.

Diseased bulbs, along with the adjacent soil, are dug up and burned. Observance of crop rotation is necessary, i.e. do not plant bulbs on those beds where lilies have already grown. If there are any suspicions about the place where you intend to plant lilies, then it is best to leave it for a year under the fallow, and close up coniferous litter in the soil. The spores of the fungus will germinate and die without finding the bulbs.

Notice board

Kittens for sale Puppies for sale Horses for sale

Lily pests

Most of all lilies get from the red lily beetle

This "bug" especially loves lilies, although he does not disdain other plants. This insect feeds not only on the buds, but also on the leaves and bulbs of lilies. Their elongated red-orange little bodies cannot be overlooked on the green, shiny leaves, as soon as you set yourself the task of catching and destroying these pests. The chitin of lily beetles is quite durable, spraying with chemicals is not effective, the best and easiest way to collect beetles is by hand. If the plantings are examined carefully and often, then soon the beetle can be completely exterminated. These pests have their natural enemies - wasps. But it's better to rely on yourself, your eyes and hands.

Aphids

Not only can aphids be a carrier of mosaic from plant to plant, it, feeding on plant sap, strongly deforms the buds and leaves of lilies. With aphids, if detected, it is possible and necessary to fight with systemic pesticides. As a prophylaxis against aphids, fat, non-skimmed milk is used. Milk stuck on the leaves covers them like latex and prevents the aphids from piercing the film with their proboscis. We must not forget about the ladybirds, which are our faithful helpers in the fight against aphids.

Lily bulbs purchased from vendors in the southern regions can be a big problem in our gardens, as these bulbs are almost always infested with bulbous thrips. Thrips are small oblong black insects, young thrips are orange-pink in color. Lilies infected with thrips lag behind in development, and sooner or later they die. Such "southern" bulbs must be carefully inspected before planting, kept in one of the approved insecticidal preparations, and only then planted in the garden.

Mice, Rats and Moles

Let's start with the moles. It is they who are rummaging through our gardens and orchards, building their own underground passages, disrupting planting plans, mixing planting material. Bulbs, and other plants as well, fall into wormholes and die. Moles do not feed on the roots and bulbs of plants, they are looking for protein food, for example, earthworms, and we have enough of them. Mice and rats move along the paths laid by the moles for themselves, but these pests gladly eat the bulbs of lilies, while, as a rule, the most valuable and beautiful varieties.

Help in the fight against these enemies of lilies - cats. Although cats and dogs cannot be called friends of the garden - they dig the ground, break the beds, and their feces are poison for any plant. From moles, no matter how sophisticated scientists and inventors were, they did not really come up with effective means. You can try soaking the fabric with a solution of bleach or chloramine and plugging pieces of its entrances into the wormholes, and perhaps they will go to the neighbors. And then they will take it and return …

Slugs. If for the winter you decide to insulate the planting of lilies with a thick layer of mulch, then get ready for the fact that an army of slugs can crawl under it to overwinter. In the spring, they will happily eat tender shoots, and the lily's growth point will be destroyed. In this case, flowering is postponed until next year. The fight against slugs is becoming more acute from year to year, people are not inactive. But slugs are coming … We continue to collect them by hand, solder them with beer and sprinkle them with coniferous waste over the mulch - slugs are unlikely to want to crawl onto these thorny heaps.

Spraying the plantings with a solution of epin or zircon will save from frost. Any plant treated with these wonderful stimulants looks completely different next to its "untreated" counterparts. Strong, hardy, with good immunity, they bloom brighter, their flowers are larger, pests and diseases are bypassed. Plants should be sprayed several times, starting in spring, and before each expected problem - frost or very hot weather.

Lily cut

Often gardeners grow lilies not only for themselves, for their own pleasure, but also to support the family budget - for cutting for bouquets or for selling blooming lilies along with the bulb. In order for the lily flower to be perfect, without spots, without damage from cold rains or hail, shelters made of lutrasil, spunbond or other nonwoven materials are installed over the plantings.

To get an earlier flowering of lilies and to be the first to enter the market with their products, the bulbs are planted in boxes in February-March, grown in them, and then these boxes are transferred under a film to a greenhouse, and even later to open ground. Sawdust can be used as a substrate

If you want to delay the flowering of these plants and be the only owners of flowering lilies in September, keep the bulbs in refrigerators or basements. At the same time, they should wait for their turn to land put, as they say in the people, "on the bottom" so that the sprout comes out straight. In addition, they must be sprinkled with wet peat or sawdust from drying out the bulbs. They also feel great in sphagnum.

If you are cutting lilies, do not root them. The leaves of the plant should be engaged in photosynthesis until the end of the season, i.e. after cutting, part of the leafy stem should remain.

Irina Tuzova, leading specialist of the NIKA kennel

tel. 7 (812) 640 85 13, (812) 952 09 15, www.nikaland.ru