It cannot be considered a non-communicable disease or rot that affects a tomato in a greenhouse. First of all, this is a decrease in the yield by almost a third, which may entail a decrease in income if tomatoes are grown commercially. But if you observe simple preventive measures during their cultivation, you can prevent a lot of troubles, one of which is the top rot. We will talk about ways to fight and treat this scourge in the article.
Where does top rot on tomatoes come from?
There are quite a few factors influencing the onset of the disease:
- high temperature conditions, insufficient humidity... Scientists believe that this is the main reason. On dry and hot days, moisture evaporates from the foliage, the roots are not able to timely replenish the plant with the required amount of water. The consequence of this is the outflow of water from the fruits to the leaves, from which a certain number of tomato cells simply die off;
- low levels of calcium in the earth. On such a land, the appearance of apical rot is most likely;
- are dangerous and saline soil areas.
Gardeners are often to blame for the appearance of the disease. They did not show concern for the balance of mineral components in the soil, irrigated irregularly.
Disease variants
The disease can be of a dual nature, associated with a fungal or agronomic origin. Tomatoes can be affected by fungal spores that are buried in the ground and transmitted to healthy bushes through the air.
Bushes are often infected seed material, which at one time was collected from affected tomatoes. In this case, the disease is caused by disorders in plant care.
Non-infectious variety
Its cause is insufficient amount of calcium, irregularities in irrigation, sudden changes in temperature regimes at night and daytime.
The affected part of the tomato does not soften, the tissue becomes dark brown, sometimes even black. When treating a culture, it is necessary to organize control over the air temperature in the greenhouse, ventilate it, water the plants correctly using warm water.
Bacterial variety
Its main cause is bacteria. The disease manifests itself already in the initial phase of growth. When the humidity rises, the affected areas become softer, a special smell appears.
The pathogen can be carried by nightshade crops or insects. Often, the pathogen is already in the seed, so you will have to deal with top rot from the moment of sowing. You just need to soak the planting material in a manganese solution to disinfect it.
If greenhouse tomatoes get sick with apical rot, all plant residues should be carefully removed and burned.
Top rot methods and treatment
Methods for protecting tomatoes from this disease are fully determined by the reasons for its appearance - dry soil and lack of calcium.
It is necessary watering in a timely manner, do not bring the soil to dryness and overheating. Foliar feeding is also used, in which special formulations are used.
If the plants do not have enough calcium, an excellent solution would be to treat plants with preparations that, in addition to nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, also contain boron and calcium. Such a mixture acts synergistically, the components increase the activity of each other.
Another measure - chemical product Brexil Cacontaining up to fifteen percent calcium and half a percent boron. It is used during foliar dressing, diluting with water at the rate of ten grams per ten-liter bucket. The procedure is recommended to be performed once every fifteen days.
Shouldn't be neglected liming - an excellent measure to help saturate the soil with calcium. This procedure is best performed in the autumn, when the crop is fully harvested.
Preventive actions
The main way to fight is disease prevention. First of all, you should not create favorable conditions for it.
This requires:
- choose for growing plants moisture-consuming land... If the soil in the greenhouse is too light, it is necessary to add peat and turf soil to it, which will help to retain water;
- on the eve of planting, you should not add a lot of fertilizing compositions so as not to overfeed the culture;
- do not plant bushes too densely in the greenhouse. Tomato plants must be pinned and formed in a timely manner;
- watering should be carried out regularly, using a sufficient amount of moisture for this;
- through mulching there will be a good opportunity to retain moisture in the soil, only the layer will have to be changed once a week. For this, mowed grass, nettles, weeds without seeds, compost, dry straw, white covering material are suitable;
- in hot weather it follows ventilate the greenhouseshade the plants with a white cloth. If the greenhouse is made of glass, then it can be whitewashed with lime.
Other sources of infectious disease are water, soil, weeds of nightshade crops, harmful parasites... So, comprehensive measures for any bacterial disease will be appropriate. This is especially important if such diseases have already been noted on the plantings in the past years.
Such activities should include the collection and destruction of plant residues, affected tomatoes, the fight against harmful parasites and weeds, the observance of crop rotation and plant rotation.
If it is not possible to alternate cultures, then between seasons it is recommended in the beds sow green manure, which after cultivation will be embedded in the soil.
Greenhouses with top rot on tomatoes are ventilated, disinfected, the soil in them is completely changed.
Using the above recommendations, you can perfectly protect your tomato plants from top rot, provide normal conditions for their growth and development. Then you can be sure that the crop will reward you with a good harvest.