Diseases of indoor violets and their treatment. Diseases of violets with photographs: effective methods of treating them Diseases of violets with photographs and their elimination

Garden equipment 08.07.2023
Garden equipment

Usambara violet is one of the most popular indoor flowers. The plant is loved for its delicate and graceful flowers, which, with proper care, will delight the eye almost all year round. However, flowering can be marred by diseases and pests. Just look at the photographs of affected violets to make it clear: they need careful and careful care. The article will tell you about the useful experience of flower growers, how to prevent major diseases, correctly diagnose and build a treatment process after infection.

Problems with flowering are the first sign of improper care:

  1. Young leaves look small and dull against the background of old ones, the petioles become longer, the edges of the leaves bend. This happens due to lack of lighting.
  2. The leaves are turning yellow. The reasons for this may be a lack of water or nutrients, a shaded “place of residence,” or too high or low acidity of the soil in the pot.
  3. Light spots on the leaves are usually formed due to watering with too cold water or sunburn. This happens if direct sunlight hits the damp surface of the leaf.
  4. The leaves curl. Flowering may occur, but weakly. Most likely, this is a sign of incorrect soil composition:

At the first symptoms of violet disease, treat
  • not enough nitrogen;
  • a lot of salt;
  • excess moisture;
  • high acidity.

Violet pests

  • Aphids are translucent midges that usually settle on a flower in a large colony. At the initial stage, you can remove it with your hands; if it multiplies heavily, spray the flower with a solution of laundry soap, infusion of potato tops, or place ladybugs in the neighborhood.
  • Thrips is a yellow or brown oblong insect, slightly less than 1 cm long. After its appearance, silvery spots form on the leaves, which then dry out. Thrips loves violets growing in greenhouse conditions. To combat, spray the flower with a decoction of ash.
  • Slugs - eat parts of violets growing outside. Particularly active at high humidity. They can also be recognized by the shiny stripes on the plant or ground. Toads or frogs will keep slugs out of your garden. The plant can be sprayed with mustard solution, and the soil can be sprinkled with a mixture of lime and ash. You can also collect slugs by hand.

Mites on the back of a violet leaf
  • Spider mites are a very small pest that envelops the leaves with a barely noticeable cobweb coating. They love dry and hot weather. Spraying with plain water or tobacco infusion will help get rid of mites on street violets.

Advice. As a last resort, if the flower is severely and extensively damaged by any of these pests, use insecticides.

Diseases of Uzambara violet: blackleg, fusarium, root rot

The cause of the disease is a virus, fungus or bacterium that settles on a plant or in the soil and rapidly multiplies due to the vital forces of the flower. Varietal plants are more resistant to pests and diseases than those bred by breeders. The longer a species is cultivated, the greater the risk of infection. It is extremely important to detect and correctly diagnose the disease as early as possible.

With a black leg, white spots and constrictions appear on the lower part of the stem, which over time become brown and rot. The plant withers and dies. To prevent fungal development, treat the seeds with a fungicide and dress the soil before planting.

Water the flower with water and potassium permanganate, but not too often. If the plant is already infected, remove the affected parts and reduce watering, drying the top layer of soil. Treat the ground.

Advice. If the flowers continue to die, replant them in different soil.

Fusarium is one of the most common diseases of indoor flowers. The pathogenic fungus penetrates the young roots of the violet and causes rotting of the entire root system and flower. Externally, it can be diagnosed by brown spots on the petioles. Subsequently, the leaves will fall off and the root will turn black and separate from the ground. To prevent disease, water the flower with a low concentration solution of Fundazol. Be sure to remove the affected parts.


Root rot

Root rot is another fungal disease that causes roots to turn black. Externally, it can be determined by the damping off of the plant in winter or early spring. For prevention, you need to especially carefully maintain the health of the violet at this time. Those species that are predisposed to this disease should not be planted in soil fertilized with fresh manure.

Diseases of Uzambara violet: powdery mildew, rust, viral diseases

Powdery mildew “falls out” as a light coating on the leaves, petioles, stems and buds. Over time, dark spots form on the plant. Typically, powdery mildew affects the plant in the second part of the growing season, in dry and hot weather. Spray the flower with a fungicide and support its immunity by regularly loosening the soil, fertilizing and watering.

Rust causes yellow spots to appear on the upper side of the leaves and orange bumps on the lower side. Subsequently, the leaf gradually turns yellow and dries out. Most often, rust appears in early spring, in warm and dry weather. Affected leaves should be picked and destroyed. Spray with Benomyl, Tilt, Bayleton, etc. You may have to remove the entire flower.


Powdery mildew

Viral diseases can manifest themselves in yellowing of shoots, deformation of leaves, the appearance of spots on them, seedlessness, and disturbances in the development of buds. Usually diseases affect a single flower. First of all, you need to remove the damaged plant, and secondly, start fighting aphids and other virus carriers.

Seeing the Uzambara violet, no one will remain indifferent: its elegant flowers of various shades can decorate any home. You need to learn a lot of subtleties and features of the content in order to grow a healthy flower on your windowsill. To prevent tender plants from withering and dying, arm yourself with knowledge about violet diseases with photographs and their treatment.

Causes of diseases in violets

Experienced gardeners know that it is possible to protect a plant from diseases by providing it with optimal conditions that are close to natural. It is necessary to organize proper care at home.

Violets are heat-loving plants, they feel good at temperatures of +20...+25°C, and do not tolerate drafts and temperature changes. In a cold room, violets stop growing, and frequent watering under such conditions leads to rotting of the stem and roots. Heat also has a bad effect on the flower, weakening it, which leads to illness in indoor violets.

When exposed to direct sunlight, the tender leaves of the plant get burned, wither and turn yellow. Therefore, the light in the room should be diffused and dim.

The soil must be free from pathogenic microbes and pests, so you should not take soil for violets from the garden. The soil for violets should be nutritious and light, providing air access to the roots and the drainage of excess moisture. Heavy, dense soil mixtures are not suitable for the Saintpaulia root system, causing it to rot.

Violet likes moderate moisture rather than heavy watering; it should not be moistened with cold water. To provide the guest from the tropics with optimal air humidity, the pot with the plant is placed in trays with moistened gravel or moss, or the air is freshened with a sprayer.

Dangerous pests

Diseases and pests of violets cause great damage to flower growers:

  • mealybug;
  • mites;
  • scale insects;
  • nematodes;
  • thrips;

Insects can be brought in with garden soil, purchased plants, and cut flowers. Therefore, plants need to be inspected regularly, and if questions arise about why spots and other symptoms of the disease appear on violet leaves, treatment should be started immediately.

Ticks feed on the juice of violet leaves; their presence is indicated by the following signs:

  • thin cobwebs on flowers or leaves that turn brown over time, dry out and fall off (spider mites);
  • young leaves in the center of the rosette turn yellow and thicken (cyclamen mite);
  • the leaves of the plant curl inward, subsequently they wither and fall off, the plant may die (plate mite).

To combat ticks, acaricides are used - Apollo, Neoron, Fitoverm.

Scale insects and false scale insects look like tubercles on the underside of the leaf, having a brown, green or yellow color. Attaching to the leaf along its veins, insects suck out the juices from the plant and produce a sticky secretion on which the sooty fungus multiplies well.

Adults must be removed from plants mechanically by soaking a swab in a soap solution, since they are not susceptible to chemicals. After removing them, the violet bush must be treated with solutions of Aktara, Bankol, Mospilan or other insecticides. The window sill, shelf, and window glass, which may contain scale insect larvae, should be treated with insecticides.

Thrips are small insects that look like elongated flies. They infect plants not only by feeding on their sap, but also by transmitting various flower diseases. Thrips are black, brown or gray in color and settle on the lower part of the leaves. After a while, you can see light dots and stripes on the top, then the leaves become deformed and fall off, the flowers crumble.

In the fight against thrips, insecticides such as Fitoverm, Actellik, Confidor are used, which are applied at the root and used for spraying. Violet leaves should be washed thoroughly before processing. If thrips were noticed on one plant, then you need to treat all the specimens in the house, because thrips migrate quickly and infect flowers.

Nematodes are small, up to 2 mm, worms that live in the ground and feed on plant roots. Signs of root infection by nematodes:

  • roots are brown, black;
  • the stem of the plant is elongated and thickened;
  • the petioles of the lower leaves are short, the upper leaves have none;
  • the leaves are compacted and dark green, curling inward;
  • roots are brown, dark in color with thickenings (galls).

There are no effective means of destroying worms, so to prevent infection, peat or crushed dried marigold flowers are added to the soil. You can use an infusion of marigolds or peat to water violets.

If the plant is only slightly affected, then use a cotton swab soaked in soapy water to clean it from insects and their sticky secretions. You need to prepare a solution of green soap (15 g per 1 liter of water), spray the violets, then re-treat them 2 more times after 7-14 days.

Aphids suck sap from plant leaves, slowing their growth and inhibiting flowering. Aphid colonies are clearly visible; they prefer to settle on the underside of leaves. The danger of aphids is that they carry viral diseases, further infecting a weakened plant. To combat aphids at the very beginning of infection, it is enough to remove the damaged parts of the violet and wash it with warm soapy water.

What to do, if

Sometimes novice gardeners have questions that can be answered by their more experienced colleagues.

Droplets appeared on the violet

The question is often asked why droplets of liquid formed on the violet; there are 2 possible answers:

  • if these are drops of water on the edges of the leaves and they appear in the morning, then high humidity can cause their occurrence (after watering, the plant releases excess liquid that accumulates in the form of drops);
  • if the drops look like sugar syrup, then most likely the plant has scale insects.

Violet has lumpy leaves

When beginning violet lovers buy a young plant, they see smooth, even leaves. After some time, you can notice that the leaves have become hard, lumpy, and the rosette has become very thick. This may be due to overexposure when the plant is located near a window and most of the day is well illuminated by the sun. To eliminate this problem, the violet bush needs to be sent to the eastern window or shaded with something.

There are midges

If you notice that midges have appeared above the violets, there may be several reasons:

  • excess moisture due to excessive watering;
  • high air humidity;
  • the use of organic fertilizers such as humus, tea leaves;
  • rotting old leaves;
  • using garden (unsterilized) soil to prepare soil mixture.

Midge larvae, hatching in the ground, feed on rotting organic particles and damage the roots of the plant, causing considerable harm to it. If a midge appears on violets, how to get rid of it:

  • spray the flower with a pink solution of potassium permanganate;
  • add wood ash to the ground;
  • Dissolve 10 g of soap in 0.5 liters of water, water the soil in the pot.

Common diseases with photos

Saintpaulias can be affected by various pathogens of viral, bacterial and fungal origin; here are the most common and dangerous of them.

Powdery mildew

In the initial stage of powdery mildew disease, a small white coating appears on the leaves and petioles, resembling scattered flour. As the fungus spreads, it damages all parts of the violet, the leaves become uneven, the plant becomes depressed and dies. To prevent the appearance of powdery mildew, prevention is carried out as follows: reduce the supply of nitrogenous fertilizers, watering and air humidity, ventilate the room with violets.

Downy mildew is caused by fungi from the peronosporaceae family. Symptoms of damage will be different:

  • a silvery coating appears on the underside of the leaf;
  • then light green, brownish, red-brown spots appear on the upper surface of the leaves;
  • Without treatment, the plant weakens, withers and dies.

Late blight

A dangerous fungal disease that causes damage to the roots and then to the above-ground parts of the violet. The first sign may be wilting of leaves with sufficient watering. As it spreads, late blight causes root rot, the stems become brown in the affected areas, and the leaves also become covered with brownish-brown spots. High soil and air humidity promotes the growth of fungus.

Rust

A fungal disease that is easily recognized by brownish spots on the top of the leaves. On the inner surface of the leaves there are colonies of the fungus - yellow tubercles. More often, plants develop rust during the transition from winter to spring, when their immunity decreases. You need to know how to fight infection - with the help of broad-spectrum fungicides.

Fusarium

The causative agents of this disease are fungi from the genus Fusarium, which penetrate the root system from contaminated soil and then spread through the conducting vessels of the entire plant. The fungus cuts off the nutrition and water supply of the plant, causing its rapid death. The petioles of the leaves begin to darken and fall off, the roots are black when examined and do not hold the earthen ball. The plant can be saved only in the initial stage of the disease.

Gray rot

Gray rot, or botridia, is one of the main diseases of violets, also of a fungal nature. Furry spots of mold appear on the leaves and buds of an infected violet. It is necessary to fight the fungus with the help of fungicides, it is necessary to reduce the humidity of the room and watering, and arrange ventilation.

Prevention of diseases in violets

You can protect your favorite flowers from diseases and pests by taking preventive measures and carrying out regular treatments with certain medications.

  1. Do not place new plants next to your home flowers; keep them in quarantine.
  2. Sterilize the soil, even if you buy it from a flower shop.
  3. Remove old leaves and faded flower stalks.
  4. To avoid mycoses, ventilate the room and do not place flowers too close to each other.
  5. Do not bring fresh flowers from the garden into your home, as they will bring pests and pathogens into your home.

Treatment with Fitoverm

Fitoverm treatment is used to control plant pests. To rid violets of ticks, thrips, and aphids, one Fitoverm ampoule is diluted with 1 liter of water; you can also add 1 teaspoon of flea shampoo, which contains permethrin. Treatment is carried out 4 times every 3 days by spraying violet leaves and flowers.

Treatment with potassium permanganate

Potassium permanganate is used as an effective remedy for the control and prevention of diseases of violets - gray rot, fusarium, late blight, powdery mildew. To spray violets with potassium permanganate, use a slightly pink solution - 1 g per 5 liters of water. If you need to disinfect the soil, you can dilute up to 3 g of powder with 5 liters of water.

Alcohol treatment

Treatment with a cotton swab moistened with alcohol is carried out before using insecticides in the fight against mites, thrips, scale insects, and mealybugs. It helps remove stationary insects and the sticky coating they secrete.

Watering with Fitosporin

Fitosporin is a contact fungicide. Watering with Fitosporin is used to combat bacteriosis, rust, late blight, and powdery mildew. To do this, 5 g of powder is dissolved in 5 liters of water for 30 minutes. After this, the solution is drawn into a medical syringe and the soil in the pot is well moistened. Plants can be sprayed with a solution of Fitosporin M (10 g of powder per 1 glass of water).

Nissoran treatment

Nissoran is a broad-spectrum acaricide that kills eggs, larvae and nymphs of ticks, but not adult ticks. After 7-14 days, the ticks die, leaving no viable offspring. The consumption rate of the product is 1 g per 1 liter of water.

Be sure to keep the violet purchased (or acquired in another way) in “quarantine” for two to three weeks. If you have any suspicions about its condition, treat the plant with Fitoverm and water the substrate with Fitosporin-M once a week for a month to prevent diseases.

If you use ready-made soil for planting and replanting Saintpaulias, be sure to sterilize it first, since soil from greenhouses, greenhouses and flower beds can sometimes be contaminated. Conduct your own soil collection away from the city, somewhere in the forest. Wash and sterilize old pots well.

Nematodes

The most dangerous insects for violets are nematodes - tiny worms. They usually affect Saintpaulias weakened by disease or improper care. Nematodes settle in the soil on the roots. They often penetrate into the roots and into the vessels that feed the rosette, after which they suck out the juices from them. As a result of their vital activity, toxic substances are produced. In places of damage, swellings and thickenings (galls) form on the roots. The process of the flower’s absorption of nutrients from the soil is disrupted.

It is almost impossible to detect the pest in its early stages. Only when transplanting violets, during inspection of the roots, can the lesion be determined. When there is a large accumulation of nematodes, light green spots appear on the leaves, which darken and dry over time. Thickenings appear on the stem. The growing point of the violet also begins to dry out, and new leaves appear deformed.

To prevent infection with nematodes, we recommend purchasing substrate for your indoor violets only in specialized stores. Be sure to heat the soil you prepare yourself in the oven or disinfect it in any other way, for example, steam it or freeze it in the freezer.

Ticks

In a dry, hot room, various types of mites are frequent guests of indoor violets. Below are the signs of a tick and photos of different types.

Red spider mite

  • So, you will detect the appearance of a red spider mite by red dots and thin cobwebs on the leaves of the plant. The leaves curl and fall off.

  • You can recognize a common spider mite by its heavily cobwebbed leaves with brown indentations on the surface. As a result of its vital activity, violet leaves become brittle, darken and fall off.

Cyclamen mite is visible only under a microscope

  • Cyclamen mites like to settle on young leaves in the center of the rosette. They suck the juice from the leaves, causing them to become deformed and covered with yellow spots. The flower stops growing, the stem bends and becomes shorter, the leaves curl and die, the buds become deformed and do not open.

Sciarides

In an over-moistened and rotted substrate, flies and mosquitoes - sciarids - can appear. Adults are almost safe for violets, but their larvae quickly destroy and compact the substrate, reduce the access of oxygen to the roots, which causes enormous harm to the violet’s root system. However, if there are a huge number of midges, they begin to eat the leaves and stems of homemade violets. Sciarides pose a particular danger to young, not yet mature violets. Their vital activity leads to rotting of the stem and root system of the flower.

To get rid of them, you need to treat the soil with a solution of Aktara or Karbofos (water it). Additionally, you can coat the edges of the pot with chalk to prevent cockroaches. Adults are destroyed by any aerosols such as “Dichlorvos” or “Raid”. If the substrate is heavily infested with midges, it should be replaced completely. New primer should be calcined for 30 minutes in the oven to guarantee. The pot should also be disinfected. In the future, avoid waterlogging the soil.

Aphid

Aphids may appear on the back of young leaves of indoor violets. She can fly to you from the neighboring balcony through the window, or you yourself can bring her into the apartment with flowers bought in a store or cut at the dacha. In addition to Saintpaulia leaves, it affects peduncles, buds and flowers. These small green (gray or black) insects feed on the sap of the plant. As a result, the growth of the flower slows down, the leaves fade, and the flower petals become deformed and dry out. When the aphid colony is numerous, it forms a white layer of sticky liquid on the surface of the leaves.

To fight aphids on violets, purchase one of the insecticides in the store: Fitoverm, Actellik, Mospilan, Actofit. Carry out the treatment strictly according to the instructions and in the quantity indicated on the packaging. Once is usually not enough to get rid of prolific insects.

Thrips

Thrips on violets also like to feed on sap. These are small flying “insects” of a dark brown color. They have a wide range of attacks on indoor plants, including eating foliage. Thrips carry causative agents of various violet diseases from outlet to outlet, so they are very dangerous for indoor crowded plantings. You will see their presence by white stripes, brown or black spots on gnawed leaves and flowers. You can try to collect thrips by hand, but it is better to treat the flower with preparations such as Fitoverm, Actellik or Aktara. It is necessary to process not only the violet leaves, but also the substrate. Pick off flower stalks - Saintpaulia pollen is a favorite food of thrips.

Mealybug

The affected violet quickly fades. Its leaves become dull and yellowish. Remove wilted parts of the plant. Treat the plant against mealybugs with one of the preparations: Aktara, Actellik or Fitoverm. It is better if you replant Saintpaulia into new soil, having first removed the remnants of the old substrate from the roots.

Woodlice

With high humidity in the room and frequent waterlogging of the substrate, woodlice settle in pots with violets. Woodlice are tiny white land-dwelling crustacean insects. They look like small armadillos. In moist and loose soil they multiply quickly and damage the roots and leaves of violets. Their presence is especially dangerous for still young, immature plants. In old houses and basements, where dampness prevails, woodlice can still be found today. Perhaps some individuals have made their way into your home.

Drugs - acaricides, of which there are a large number in special stores, will help destroy woodlice from violets. Purchase the appropriate preparation and carry out the treatment (spraying the plant and watering the substrate) in accordance with the instructions.

Podura (springtails)

Sometimes, on the surface of a damp substrate in a pot with a violet, springtails or podura settle. When the owner sees this insect for the first time, he literally freezes with horror - after all, tiny white or cream-colored insects with antennae are crawling in the pot under the flower. There are specimens painted in a greenish or silvery tint. The average size of a podura is approximately 2 mm, but there are also large specimens, up to 1 cm in length. Some of them crawl, others also jump with the help of a special fork attached to the underside of the abdomen. By the way, this feature (jumping) distinguishes springtails from the larvae of other insects - mealybugs, fungus gnats and thrips.

In fact, poduras in small quantities are not dangerous for indoor plants, including violets. They are part of the natural soil fauna. Poduras settle on the surface of the ground, love dampness and readily reproduce in it. Poduras feed on plant particles that begin to rot. We recommend immediately reducing watering the plant. Indeed, during overflow, when water stagnates on the surface of the substrate, forming silt, “uninvited guests” form a mass population and become a problem for both the flower and its owner. Particularly large specimens of springtails can damage young Saintpaulia seedlings, and at low room temperatures, minor damage can cause various infections.

To remove the fungus, you should sharply reduce watering of the plant. Pay attention to the composition of the substrate - it should not contain components that cause the development of fungi and mold: sawdust, tea leaves, dry leaves. Deprived of their usual comfortable habitat, springtails will disappear on their own and will stop bothering your violets.

Another folk method against fools. Place the pot with the flower in a basin and fill it with settled warm water “over the top”. When the springtails float to the surface of the water, you will collect them with something like a strainer.

Regular raw potatoes, cut in half, will help to collect springtails. Place both halves cut side down on the surface of the substrate for several hours. All the springtails will gather on the potato cuts. All you have to do is carefully lift the halves from the ground, holding them with a flat spatula from below, in order to collect all the individuals and destroy them. This procedure will have to be carried out several more times until you are sure that you have gotten rid of all the individuals.

If the colony of springtails has become too numerous, we recommend treating the plant with insecticides. The drug Bazudin is suitable. It is scattered over the surface of the substrate in a thin layer. The fools will probably die within a few hours. The drug Pochin will cause a similar effect. Only its granules should be mixed with the soil. It will begin to act immediately, and in a few hours all insects will be destroyed. You can also treat the soil with a solution of Mospilan, Aktara, Pyrethrum according to the instructions. But the main thing is to dry the soil optimally.

Scale insects and false scale insects

If you find at least one adult violet on an indoor violet, we advise you to treat the flower and all nearby rosettes as soon as possible. Scale insects carry many young ones under their shells, which easily move and disperse. Scale insects can be removed from the plant manually - with tweezers, a toothbrush or a napkin moistened with alcohol (vodka). Then the plant should be treated with a suitable preparation (Aktellik, Agravertin, Aktara). Avoid crowding of plants, adjust watering and lighting

Conclusion

Abundantly blooming violets decorate any corner of our home and give their owner or hostess a lot of positive emotions. We always want to protect our green pets from diseases and harmful insects! But this is not always possible, and it is important to know what to do in this case. We hope that our tips will help you identify “uninvited guests” at the very beginning of their invasion, get rid of them and correct mistakes in flower care that led to this situation.

Violets are very responsive to care; if you care for and cherish these lovely plants, they will delight you with exquisitely modest flowers all year round. However, many pests encroach on such beauty, among which are aphids.

Tiny insects are a nuisance not only in the backyard or in the garden - they are also quite at ease in the apartment if there is a food source there - indoor plants. And a juicy violet with fleshy leaves and delicate buds is a real delicacy for them. A few days of feasting and the plant can die. How to fight aphids on violets?

How do aphids get into the house? Alas, without knowing it ourselves, we let the pest in with our own hands. For example, bringing insects with a bouquet of meadow flowers. Or - with an infected “newly established” plant, and even with the soil. Pets that have access to outdoor exercise can also become carriers of the pest.

If aphids are infested on violets, they begin to suck the juice from the plants. At first, the leaves become covered with a sticky coating, then curl and turn black. Young shoots and flower buds are especially vulnerable. Insects move from one infected plant to another, from violets to other species, and are gradually able to spread throughout all flower pots.

In addition to feeding on plant sap, aphids also transmit diseases. What diseases can a violet catch? White or green aphids on leaves become a source of fungal and viral plant diseases. Therefore, getting rid of the pest is much easier than treating the plants later.

How to remove aphids from violets

If there are aphids on violets, what should you do and take to get rid of them?

There are many different methods for exterminating pests, but the specifics of their action should be taken into account, since:

  • processing is carried out indoors;
  • not all preparations destroy aphids, there are those that simply repel them, and the insects are able to move to healthy plants;
  • Many drugs are harmful to the health of people and pets.

If aphids have settled on violets, how to fight them
with a pest?

Chemicals

In any store for summer residents you can purchase insecticides that quickly and effectively get rid of pests on violets. It is very important to strictly follow the instructions for use and use personal protective equipment - gloves, a respirator.

How to treat violets against aphids? What chemicals are suitable?

After the aphids are poisoned, the room must be well ventilated. You can do this work on the balcony, if it is warm outside, and leave the plant there for several days. Repeated treatment is carried out as necessary after 1-3 weeks.

Traditional methods

If aphids appear on violets, how to get rid of them using traditional methods, without resorting to “chemistry”?

  • Celandine grass. 100 grams of dry or 300 grams of fresh raw materials are infused with a liter of water for two days. Then spray the infusion onto the violets. every couple of days the treatment is repeated until the aphids are completely destroyed;
  • Yarrow. 3 tablespoons of dried raw materials are steamed with a liter of water and left for two days. The plants are treated with a spray bottle, repeating the treatment 2-3 times a week until the aphids disappear;
  • Marigold. Dried flowers are steamed in the proportion: half a glass per liter of water. Infuse the broth for two days, filter and pour into a spray bottle. Treatment is carried out two or three times, with an interval of 5-7 days;
  • Shag. Crush the shag, pour 50 grams of it with water, let it brew for two days. Filter and dilute with another liter of water. The solution is used to spray violets infected with aphids;
  • Mustard. After diluting a tablespoon of spice in a liter of water, spray the plant with the solution and spray the soil against pests;
  • Onion. Grind a medium-sized head and fill it with warm water (one liter). After 6-8 hours, the infusion is ready to kill aphids. It must be filtered and poured into a spray bottle. Violets can be re-treated after 5-7 days;
  • Laundry soap. After grating the block, take a tablespoon of shavings and dilute it in a liter of warm water until completely dissolved. They spray violets with soapy liquid; alkali is destructive to aphids, and the viscous consistency of the soap prevents them from spreading;
  • Fairy. If half a teaspoon of dishwashing detergent with this or a similar name is diluted with a liter of water, the effect of the solution against aphids will be similar to soap;
  • Soapy vodka water. Having prepared a solution of laundry soap for aphids, pour a little vodka into it. For a liter of water, take a tablespoon of soap shavings and an alcohol-containing drink. Spray violets three times with an interval of 3 days;
  • Kerosene. Fuel consumption is minimal, only 1 gram per 5 liters of water. Add 3 tablespoons of soap shavings to the solution. Spray the violets, repeating the procedure every other week;
  • . 20 grams of the substance are diluted in 5 liters of water. Spray the plants affected by aphids, repeating the treatment after a week. Ammonia will be an additional nitrogen supplement, so if the soil is already rich in the mineral, this method requires caution.

Traditional methods of control allow you to get rid of pests quickly and safely, and aphids no longer appear on violets.

Conclusion

If your favorite violets have been attacked by aphids, you should not delay treatment. Insects can cause a flower to die and infect other indoor plants. Fortunately, the choice of means of control is quite large, and you can choose the most effective and safe one.

Violet is an unpretentious plant that does not require special care or special conditions.

But It is this miniature flower that is most often overcome by various diseases.

To successfully fight them, you need to know the main signs of infection.

The causative agents of diseases are bacteria and fungi.

Diseases that affect Saintpaulias can differ in the manifestation of symptoms, and therefore a novice gardener cannot always understand the reason for the death or wilting of flowers. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you look at photos of the most common diseases.

Quite often, indoor violets are affected by insect pests. How to recognize insects and cure plants, read the material

Powdery mildew

Powdery mildew is one of the dangerous diseases that violets are exposed to. The source of the disease is fungal spores floating in the air.

There are many ways to infect Saintpaulia - the fungus can enter the room with newly purchased plants or with previously contaminated soil. Flowers that have strong immunity can easily resist the disease, while the likelihood of infection of a weakened plant is high.

The development of fungus is provoked by factors such as:

  • Increased level of air humidity;
  • Low room temperature;
  • Insufficient natural or artificial lighting;
  • Accumulated dust on violet leaves and surfaces of pots;
  • Excess nitrogen in the soil.

A sign of infection of a flower is the appearance of a whitish coating on the leaf blades and stems. This white powder is the same fungal spores. There are two types of disease - real and false. Externally, they can be distinguished by the appearance of brown spots on parts of Saintpaulia, which indicates a false form of the disease.

Treatment of powdery mildew is carried out using chemical compounds that can be purchased at a flower shop. Among them, the most effective are Topaz, Fundazol and Benlat..

Rust

When rust occurs, the leaves of Saintpaulia are the first to suffer. They become covered with a characteristic coating; yellow and brown bulges appear on the leaf plate on the front and back sides. The causative agent of the disease is a fungus.

Under proper conditions for keeping Saintpaulia, they die in the fresh air, but when an optimal environment for reproduction is created, they begin to actively spread throughout the plant. This is facilitated by the high level of moisture and elevated temperature in the room where Saintpaulia is kept.

IMPORTANT! The cause of rust on the leaves can be an excess of fertilizers, so it is important to maintain proportions when feeding violets.

Root and stem rots

Symptoms of gray rot are characterized by the appearance of a powdery gray or brown-white coating on the leaves and stems. The causative agent of the disease in Saintpaulia is the fungus botrytis.

Gray rot affects the above-ground part of Saintpaulia and the root system of the flower. In a short time, the violet withers, its lower leaves fall off, and numerous stems become watery. Usually the disease penetrates into the soil along with roots and other remains of vital activity from past flowers.

If there is a suspicion of this disease, then the infected flower must be urgently removed from other plants. The fungus spreads at high speed and can destroy an entire greenhouse in the shortest possible time.

The diseased plant itself must be thrown away immediately. The soil from this pot cannot be stored; it must also be disposed of.

Expert opinion

Nesterova Olga Nikolaevna

Specialist in landscaping, master of landscape design. Indoor floriculture consultant

Prevention of the disease is thorough preparation of the land when replanting Saintpaulias. The soil needs to be calcined in the oven or frozen for some time in the freezer. Extremely low or high temperatures will kill the fungus. You also need to adjust the schedule - excessive soil moisture provokes the growth of bacteria.

Bacteriosis

Bacteriosis most often occurs under the influence of high temperatures, that is, during the hot season. The lower leaves gradually die, become covered with a thin layer of mucus and fall off.

Unlike diseases caused by fungal spores, bacteriosis can be cured.

The affected violet should be moved to a separate place so as not to infect other flowers. Then the soil actively watered with antibacterial agents - foundationazole, previkur and immunocytophyte.

In order for Saintpaulia to sprout leaves again, you need to adjust the temperature in the room and improve ventilation.

Late blight

This dangerous disease occurs due to the penetration of fungi into the body of the violet. Pathogenic bacteria enter the body of Saintpaulia through microcracks that form on the stems, leaves, and root shoots.

Some time after infection, the violet roots begin to rot and become watery and soft.

Signs of late blight are the appearance of brown spots on the leaves of Saintpaulia, their bending inward.

Due to the fact that fungal spores can remain in the ground for a long time and not manifest themselves until a favorable environment arises, it is better to get rid of diseased violets.

The pot in which it was kept needs to be sterilized. If it is made of clay, then the container can be calcined in the oven.

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Fusarium

Fusarium is a disease that affects both the aboveground part of the violet and its root system. Under the influence of the disease, the roots of Saintpaulia rot, soften and gradually die.

At the final stage of development of fusarium, the infection spreads from the roots to the top, being transmitted to the stems, petioles and lower leaves.

The main symptom indicating the appearance of fusarium is the wilting of leaves at the very base at the lower levels. In this case, the stems become saturated with excess liquid and gradually die off.

The death of a plant is accelerated by weakness immediately after flowering, insufficient feeding or application of the wrong type of fertilizer. At temperatures below 16 degrees Celsius, roots die faster.

The development of fusarium can be prevented by removing the infected flower from the windowsill where other violets are kept. It is almost impossible for such a specimen to come out, and therefore it is destroyed along with the soil.

After this, the container in which the violet was contained is treated with copper sulfate or another disinfectant.

Prevention of fusarium is a solution of phytosporin. They need to water the violets monthly.

Bronzing of leaves

The appearance of spots on the leaves is otherwise called bronzing.

This disease is characterized by a change in the appearance of the violet, since under the influence of the disease the growth of the plant stops and its development is disrupted. The source of bronzeness is a virus.

Because of this, Saintpaulia stops blooming and then stops growing altogether. The flower stops appearing new leaves and ovaries.

In some cases, the bronzing virus provokes the appearance of brown and red spots on the surface of the leaf.

Treatment options

Most violet diseases are incurable, and therefore little helps in the fight against them. Infected flowers are removed from other plants and destroyed along with the soil lump.

However, if there is hope of saving at least one specimen, then fungicides will come to the rescue.

The drugs are aimed at destroying fungal spores and counteracting infections. In addition to proper processing, violets need to change their maintenance conditions:

  • reducing humidity levels by reducing watering of flowers;
  • placing violets in a warm and well-lit place;
  • removing the top layer of soil in which fungal spores can live.

Disease Prevention

Following some recommendations for their care will help reduce the risk of violets becoming infected with various diseases:


The diseases that violets suffer from can be very dangerous. If treatment is not prescribed on time, Saintpaulia and its neighboring species may become infected and die.

Useful video on the topic

The following video will help you visually familiarize yourself with the symptoms of Saintpaulia diseases.

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