Ficus - a very unpretentious plant.Caring for this decorative crop is mainly in moderate watering, maintaining a suitable microclimate in the room, and timely fertilizing. But sometimes ficuses, like any other indoor plants, of course, can hurt.
In case of infection with bacteria, viruses orharmful insects this flower, of course, must immediately begin to heal. Below in the article will be considered the most common diseases of ficuses with photographs of affected plants. In addition, the reader will be able to get acquainted with the methods of treatment of the most common infections of such indoor flowers.
Most often, these indoor plants are infected:
gray rot;
root rot.
Ficus pests in most cases are attacked such as, for example:
spider mite;
shield;
aphid;
mealybug;
thrips.
Most often, the infection of this ornamental culture with fungi or harmful insects is associated with improper care of it.
The main symptom of this ficus disease isappearance on the leaves and stems of plants characteristic gray bloom. Over time, brown spots begin to appear on the affected areas, expanding further. In the end, the leaf blades of ficuses completely darken and fall off.
This disease is caused by a fungusvarieties called botrytis. Gray rot is in fact a very dangerous ficus disease. In the photo above, you can see how poorly the botrytis-infected indoor flowers look.
The main cause of this disease is thatthe plant is grown in a damp and stuffy, unventilated area. Also ficuses can become infected with gray rot if they grow in a pot too close to each other. Another reason for the development of gray rot is the old, too compacted soil in the pot.
It is necessary to treat ficuses for this disease immediately after the appearance of its first signs. The plant infected by botrytis, unfortunately, dies very quickly.
Patient ficus in the first place should be isolated from other indoor plants. Next you need:
remove any damaged parts from the plant with a sharp knife;
coat the wounds with a paste-like mixture of glue CMC (30 g), a small amount of chalk and some fungicide (3 g);
spray the flower with a preparation containing copper, for example, Bordeaux mixture or any other fungicide.
In this disease, the plant first begins to turn yellow leaves. Subsequently, they wither, darken and crumble. In the end, the flower dies.
The main reason for this ill-treatable,presented above in the photo, ficus diseases - care for a culture with impaired technology. Most often, such a problem with plants occurs when the soil is over-wetted systematically. If on the surface of the soil, a crust is also periodically formed, the roots of the flower remain without oxygen. As a result, the disease begins to actively progress.
In the event that ficus is diagnosed with root rot, it should:
remove the plant from the pot and shake the ground from its roots;
carefully examine the ficus;
remove all darkened and softened roots;
make pruning crown, removing all the leaves and branches with traces of the disease.
Also from the ficus you need to remove if necessary andsome of the healthy green mass according to how many roots were cut. In this case, the plant in the future will put strength not to maintain a large crown, and to recover.
Above, we have reviewed the most commonfungal diseases of ficuses with photos. And their treatment and prevention - the procedure, as you can see, is relatively simple. Fungal infections manifest themselves primarily in spots on the leaves. Most often it is the gray rot caused by botrytis. But sometimes ficuses can be infected with other types of fungus, for example, anthracnose or cercospora.
Fight against ficus leaf diseases (pictured onpage they are presented clearly) of such varieties should be on the same technology as with gray rot. That is, to use for the treatment of plants fungicides.
Get rid of ficuses from the fungus is usuallyrelatively easy. But it is much easier to prevent the development of this plant disease. Ficus should be grown in a well-ventilated area at a temperature of 23-25 ° C. Watering these plants should be necessarily warm water and only when the top layer of soil in the ground dries out by about 1 cm.
Thus, we introduced our readers towhat are the most common infections and diseases of ficuses (with photos). Their treatment can be carried out both by folk methods and with the use of chemicals.
Ficuses are affected by fungal diseases quite often. But a lot of trouble for lovers of such indoor plants can bring and all sorts of pests.
For example, a fairly dangerous type of ficus disease is infection with a spider mite. Signs of such an infection have the following:
in the early stages, white specks appear on the green parts of the plant;
the appearance of cobwebs;
in the late stages of shrinking and leaf fall.
You can fight this pest as a chemicaland folk remedies. In the first case, in order to rid the insect from Ficus, it is necessary to use acaricides or insectoacaricides. Most other insecticides with a tenacious mite, unfortunately, can not cope.
Most often for spraying infected ficus used:
"Actofit", which is special in that it does not harm the plants even with an overdose;
"Appolo" with a very long period of exposure;
"Vertimek", which is most effective to use with other insecticides.
From folk remedies to combat this disease ficus best suited:
Pet shampoo or dishwashing gel withby adding Persian chamomile. This tool should be mixed with water, whipped into a foam and spread on the affected areas. After 20-30 minutes the drug must be removed from plants.
Tincture of onion peel mixed with any detergent.
Настой чеснока.For the treatment of ficuses, the teeth of this burning vegetable should first be crushed and infused for 24 hours. At the same time, about 15 g of garlic should be used per 1 liter of water. The resulting infusion should be sprayed with green ficus mass.
Tar soap. 10 g of this "medicine" must be dissolved in 1 liter of water and used for spraying the plants.
The main signs of this ficus disease are:
the appearance of yellow spots on the leaves;
twisting and dropping leaves;
plant growth and desiccation.
First of all, a flower infected with a shield can, of course, be removed away from other indoor plants.
As with the mite case, to combat thispest is best to use acaricides. Also, be sure to clean the ficus from the shield manually. This is best done using a thick sponge for washing dishes and soapy water.
Wipe the green parts of the plant likecan be more careful, from all sides. Leaves and branches should be covered with a thick layer of foam and rinsed with water at a temperature of 50 ° C after about 2 minutes. This procedure should be carried out at intervals of a week.
Signs of infection of ficus with this insect are primarily:
wilting young leaves;
the presence of a sticky insect secretion on the plant;
characteristic deformation of old leaves;
visible colonies of aphids at warp sites.
Fight against these insects when growing ficus usually folk remedies. At the same time, soda-soap solution or tobacco infusion is most often used to destroy aphids on plants.
In the first case, the remedy for curing this disease of ficus is made as follows:
from the bar of laundry soap cut off the fourth part;
rub the grated soap and pour it into 1 liter of water;
add to a solution of 1 article soda ash.
Plants should be treated with this solution approximately once a week until the aphids disappear.
For the preparation of tobacco infusion acquirea little shag (you can also shake out the contents of several cigarettes in some container). Next, boil the water. Dissolve approximately a glass of shag in 2 liters of boiling water and infuse the agent for 12 hours.
When infected with this parasite:
on the plant one can notice white, as if slightly buried powder, insects;
on the leaves of ficus appears white mealy plaque and sticky mucus;
flowers look drooping and lethargic.
A mealybug is usually fought using a solution of green soap (15 g per 1 l of water). To spray the ficuses with this tool relies 3 times with an interval of a week.
Also, to combat the mealybug, you can use and infusion of garlic. In this case 5-6 cloves of this vegetable are taken for 1 l of water.
Распознать этих насекомых, питающихся соками plants, quite easy. The body of these parasites can have a yellow, brown or black shade. In adults there are two pairs of wings. They move at the same time very quickly, making sharp jumps.
On a plant, signs of infection with thrips are:
leaf discoloration and the presence of a large number of points on them;
the appearance on the lower part of leaf blades of yellow or brown spots, which after some time become silvery.
To combat these insects, you must first put the infected ficus in the shower. Next, you should treat the plant with one of the following drugs:
"Fitoverm";
Aktara;
Moslilan;
"Intavir".
You also need to install on the perimeter of the flowers blue or yellow sticky traps. It will be very useful to replace the ground or at least its top layer in a pot with a sick plant.
Most often, fans of decorative indoor flowersface exactly the pests and ficus diseases described above. Their treatment for aphids, scutes, fungus, etc., is often successful. But still when growing ficuses, you should try to create the most favorable conditions for them. In this case, the risk of plant infection will be significantly reduced.
Чтобы фикусы не болели, помимо всего прочего, elementary preventive measures must be observed. Newly purchased flowers should be placed in quarantine. Dry plants should be promptly removed from existing plants in the house. The soil in the pots when transplanting plants must first be disinfected.
