Common hippeastrum diseases and their treatment

Diseases and pests

Let's look at the most common hippeastrum diseases:

Stagonosporosis or better known name - red burn . External signs: scarlet spots or small stripes. It affects both leaves and tubers , and is sometimes found on the peduncle. Causes the death of the flower due to deformation incompatible with normal development.

Viral mosaic . External signs: green spots of different shades. Light, dark. Moreover, it is the abundance of dark spots that indicates the serious condition of the flower. This disease is almost impossible to cure . Therefore, carefully check your plant for these spots. Carry out prevention (more on this in the corresponding section).

And now we will talk about pests that cause the stem to become deformed, the growth of the plant to stop, and the leaves to change color (turn yellow, darken):

Thrips . This pest is easy to detect; after their invasion, light spots remain. Sometimes they may appear silvery. They drink juice from the leaves, thereby destroying them .

The false shield is soft . This parasite appears in hippeastrum tubers and lives under the scales in the very middle of the bulb. It is because of this parasite that the plant cannot develop normally, its growth is very slow . There can be no talk of flowering; there is a very small percentage that a plant will grow from a bulb infected with false scale insects and will bloom.

Narcissus fly larvae . Signs of the vital activity of this parasite: rotting of the bulb . Basically, they destroy the plant by getting into its bulb and eating everything to the end. Naturally, after this the onion rots. But there is a chance to save the plant. (More details in the section “Treatment of hippeastrum”).

Now, knowing about the main diseases of this plant, you can diagnose your own and begin treatment.

Important! It is impossible to cure heppeastrum from viral mosaic. In the later stages, getting rid of the daffodil fly is just as impossible!

Fighting stagonoporosis

This disease requires drastic methods of control. And it’s not just a matter of emergency digging up bulbs, because most often they wait until the bulb enters the dormant phase with processing. In addition to urgently removing it from the substrate with washing and other traumatic procedures, you will have to cut the bulbs themselves, removing all damaged areas. And there are simply no other means of struggle.

Whether you need to urgently remove the bulb or wait is up to you to decide, focusing primarily on flowering. If your flowering suffers greatly, then it is better not to delay the transplant and carry out this procedure urgently. If the plant blooms without much damage, then watering is sharply reduced in order to quickly transfer it to the dormant phase, visible damage is treated with copper-containing preparations and preventive spraying with fungicides is carried out. And full processing is carried out later, during excavation.

In order to cope with a red burn, you need to methodically process the bulbs step by step:

The bulbous plant is isolated from other representatives of this family and the indoor collection as a whole to prevent the spread of volatile spores.
If the bulb has not lost its leaves or you are doing an emergency transplant, cut off all the leaves on the plant that have at least one spot of stagonosporosis. The rest need to be trimmed, but it is better to completely remove all the greenery.
The plant is removed from the pot, freeing the bulb and roots from the soil. For complete cleaning, the plant is thoroughly washed.
All old scales are completely removed from the bulbs, freeing the bulb itself for inspection and cleaning.
Armed with a sharp knife, they cut out all the spots and red stripes, removing even the slightest traces of them.
The roots are dealt with in the same way: not only all damaged areas are removed, but also dry, injured, flaccid or “doubtful” areas. If there is a stain on the bottom, clean that too.
The cut bulbs are treated without drying the sections - they are treated with the main enemy of the causative agents of stagonosporosis - copper-containing preparations or fungicides.

Suitable for processing bulbs:

copper oxychloride or rubigan (drug concentration - 3-4 g per 1 l);
Bordeaux mixture with a concentration of 1%;
copper sulfate with a concentration of 0.5-1%;
Sulfur preparations are also very effective, but they are not advisable to use indoors and should be avoided for indoor plants;
systemic fungicides (especially if they can be applied to the bulb not with an aqueous solution, but in powder form); Please note that their spectrum of action includes an anti-spore-forming effect.

Processing the bulbs must be carried out very carefully, wearing gloves, avoiding contact of the drug with the skin. The duration of the procedure is from 7 minutes to half an hour (the more serious the lesion, the longer the treatment). But it is always better to follow the instructions for a specific drug. The preparations are never washed off from the bulbs, leaving them as is after pickling.

Preparation for planting comes down to simply sprinkling the cuts and cuts with chalk or crushed charcoal. It is more effective not to simply sprinkle the cuts, but to prepare a paste, a “putty” of chalk and Bordeaux mixture, which is applied to the damage.
The bulb is dried for 3-7 days.
The bulbs are planted in fresh (new) soil and in as close containers as possible (the distance to the walls is no more than 1.5 cm). To plant bulbs after dressing with copper-containing products, it is advisable to use a ready-made commercial substrate. But if you make your own soil, you can use that too. Strictly observe the planting depth and try to leave at least half, or better yet, most of the bulb above the soil, so that at the slightest sign of the appearance of new red spots, treatment can be carried out.
At first, protect the plants from direct sunlight, temperature changes, and waterlogging, watering very carefully. To prevent the reappearance of red spots, it is advisable to spray or water the plant with a systemic fungicide in a standard concentration for another month or longer.

All copper-containing preparations and gruel for treating cuts can be used before digging - lubricating damaged areas and spots in order to inhibit the development of the disease and its spread until further measures are taken. If red spots reappear in areas raised above the soil, they are treated without digging with the same means used for etching.

Stagonosporosis, or Red burn, or Red rot on the Hippeastrum bulb. © Hoya

What to do if the leaves turn yellow?

Have the leaves of the hippeastrum turned yellow? Your flower has fallen asleep! The appearance of yellow leaves indicates that the plant has fallen into some kind of hibernation.

Don't worry, hide the flower in a cool place so that no one will disturb it, and stop watering it for 4-5 months .

Occasionally moisten the soil with a spray bottle. As soon as the leaves dry out, cut them off.

Description of the plant

Hippeastrum is a perennial bulbous plant. The plant bulb is large (diameter from 5 to 10 centimeters), has a round or conical shape, consists of closed scales that taper upward to a short thick stem. The leaves are belt-shaped, dark green in color, length varies from 40 to 60 centimeters. Hippeastrum blooms with large flowers up to 20 centimeters in diameter, depending on the variety. One inflorescence can contain from 6 to 12 buds, which bloom one after another. Hippeastrum flowers have wide petals; depending on the type, they can be simple or double. The color of the flowers is extremely diverse; hippeastrum can bloom with white, pink, red, yellow, and even combined buds. Currently there are about 90 species of plants.

Attention is the best defense against red burn

The most important (and dangerous) source and factor of stagonosporosis is inattentive purchase. Most often, the plant becomes infected before it even gets into your home. And almost never manifestations of stagonosporosis are accidental or spontaneous. This is why it is so important not to ignore the opportunity to examine the bulb with the utmost care. The bulbs of hippeastrum and amaryllis, eucharis or clivia should be examined from all sides and the slightest signs of any red spots should be noted. Healthy planting material is the main, determining measure to combat red burn.

The development and spread of stagonosporosis is influenced not only by the “initial” infection of plants, but also by several other very dangerous factors:

constant temperature fluctuations, especially sudden changes;
too much watering, damp soil, stagnation of water in the trays;
insufficient lighting;
bulb injuries during planting or carrying;
lack of access to fresh air.

So, in this regard, attentiveness, this time, to care is the best means of prevention. If you take care of the plant correctly, maintain optimal humidity and check the degree of drying of the soil between waterings, drain water from the trays on time and strictly follow the recommendations for a temperature range that is comfortable for the plant, stagonosporosis will not have a chance.

For preventive purposes, some gardeners recommend treating all newly acquired bulbs with a solution of a systemic fungicide. And this is not a bad strategy.

Growing conditions

If you decide to grow homemade hippeastrum, you need to take into account some features of the plant. This is a light-loving flower, but it does not tolerate direct sunlight. In addition, hippeastrum is quite thermophilic; the favorable temperature for its comfortable existence and flowering is about 20 degrees Celsius. But he is unpretentious to the composition of the soil in the pot - he does not care about the presence of fertilizers; when flowering, he spends the energy that the bulb received last season.

Care

Rest period

Hippeastrum has a pronounced dormant period: at the end of summer or early autumn, its leaves stop growing, and then the leaves die off completely, and a dormant period begins from October to January. At this time, the plant needs to create comfortable conditions so that next season it will delight you with large, bright flowers. To do this, already at the end of August, the hippeastrum should be watered less frequently, as a result of which its leaves will begin to dry out and must be removed immediately. If the leaves still continue to turn green, they need to be cut off at a height of about 5 centimeters from the bulb. The pot with the plant is placed in a dark, dry room, but not in the basement. The required temperature is 8 - 12 degrees. Make sure that the roots of the plant do not dry out; to do this, periodically moisten the soil in the pot.

At the beginning of January, the pot with hippeastrum should be placed on a shaded windowsill and the intensity of watering should be increased depending on the growth of the leaves. As soon as the peduncle reaches a height of 15 centimeters, the plant’s soil can be fed with a solution of phosphorus fertilizers. After a month, the plant should bloom.

If you do not have a room to store hippeastrum during the dormant period, it will be useful for you to know that you can simply keep it in a sunny place and water it as needed. Then it will bloom either in spring or late autumn.

Flowering period

Caring for hippeastrum, which is gaining buds or is already blooming, is extremely simple. The pot with the plant should not be removed from a sunny place. You also need to ensure that the room temperature does not fall below 15 - 18 degrees Celsius, but does not exceed it, so the plant must be kept away from the radiator. Periodically turn the pot towards the light in different directions, but be careful: since the peduncles are long and heavy, they can lose balance, fall and break.

After flowering

Fading flowers should be cut off and wait until the peduncle dries out naturally. It is then carefully pulled out of the bulb. After flowering, hippeastrum should be watered regularly and kept in a well-lit place. You can feed the plant's soil with a weak solution for fertilizing indoor plants, but since hippeastrum is unpretentious, fertilizing for vegetable crops (cucumbers, tomatoes) is also suitable. During this period, a new embryo is formed in the plant bulb, so it is important to observe the conditions of maintenance, otherwise the hippeastrum simply may not bloom next year.

When the weather is consistently warm outside, the pot with the plant can be placed on the balcony or in the garden. Before the dormant period begins, you must remember to water the flower and also protect it from direct sunlight.

The soil

The soil in which hippeastrum grows should be light, rich in organic matter, have good moisture permeability, and slightly acidic. It is better to use purchased soil, choosing from special types for bulbous plants. You can add sand to it. You can make the soil yourself; to do this, mix:

turf soil - 2 parts;
humus – 1 part;
leaf soil - 2 parts;
sand – 2 parts;

In summer, hippeastrum can also be grown in open ground. In good weather, there they receive all the conditions for the bulbs to store energy for the next season. Remember to cover plants during periods of heavy rainfall. It is necessary to dig up the bulbs before the first autumn frosts.

the correct soil composition guarantees rapid plant growth and minimal risk of disease

Watering

Proper watering of hippeastrum is the key to its regular flowering. During the period of active growth, the plant is watered abundantly, as soon as it becomes noticeable that the soil in the pot has begun to dry out. Closer to the onset of the dormant period, the amount of watering is reduced, and after all the leaves have dried, they stop altogether. The vitality of the root system during the dormant period of the plant is maintained by adding water to the tray of the pot. This is done so as not to cause the growth of fresh leaves during the rest period of the hippeastrum.

Feeding and fertilizers

The plant does not require fertilizers, but this part of care will never be superfluous. As soon as the hippeastrum has bloomed, it is necessary to start fertilizing so that it blooms with beautiful, large flowers next year. During the period after flowering, the leaves actively grow; they form the scales of the bulb, which are responsible for the flowering of the plant in the next season. Hippeastrum responds well to both organic and mineral fertilizers. Experienced gardeners alternate these two types. Use nitrogen-potassium fertilizers in the period after flowering, and in the period before the flowers appear, focus on phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.

Transfer

If you want to transplant the plant into another pot, you should do this. Immediately after flowering, cut off the faded flowers and transplant the bulb into a new pot so that about 1/3 of it rises above the ground. If the scales are easily removed from the bulb, then you can remove them before transplanting. Do not remove brown scales that are adjacent to the bulb. It is better to replant the plant no more often than once every 3 years. The diameter of the pot should exceed the diameter of the bulb by about 7 centimeters.

hippeastrum can be replanted every 3 years into a pot that is at least 7 cm larger than the bulb itself

Reproduction

Children

This is the easiest way. It allows you to preserve all the features of the variety. But the disadvantage of this method is that the babies appear irregularly, in addition, their formation depends on the variety. During transplantation, the children are separated from the bulb. They must have developed roots and a size of at least 2 cm. With this method of propagation, a plant grown from a child will bloom in 4 years.

Seeds

Seed propagation is used to develop new varieties. This method is the longest and requires a lot of work. A plant grown in this way will bloom no earlier than after 5–6 years. In order to obtain seeds, the stigma of the hippeastrum flower is pollinated with pollen from other varieties. After this, the seeds ripen in about 2 months. When the seed pod begins to open, the seeds are collected, but some “dummies” may be found among them. Preference should be given to the largest seeds. They are sown in the ground at a distance of 1.5 - 2 cm and wait for germination.

Dividing the bulbs

Increasingly, gardeners prefer the bulb division method. Take a healthy, strong onion and cut it into 2 parts so that approximately equal amounts of scales and bottom remain on each half. Cover the cut with activated carbon, and then place the resulting halves in peat. After 2 months, new babies should appear, then they need to be transplanted into separate new pots.

flowers may be different colors, but they are always big and beautiful

Disease Prevention

It is better not to mess with the diseases of this flower, as with human ones. Try to take preventative measures as needed.

General prevention goes like this: a detailed inspection of the flower wipe the area where they were with .

Water the flower at all stages carefully. Avoid getting water on the bulb or using a strong jet. The water should not be cold or hot; cool, settled water is better.

A wonderful plant, hippeastrum does not require complex care. Most of his diseases are curable, but still try to avoid them. Timely feeding and proper care will do their job and your flower will feel great.

Take a closer look at all sorts of changes in his appearance and you will not be able to miss the beginning problems. Happy flowering!

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Red burn (stagonosporosis) is a fungal disease of hippeastrum. In order not to lose your collection, carefully select the bulbs when purchasing, process them in a timely manner and properly care for the plants.

Causes

By purchasing low-quality planting material, there is a risk of getting a diseased plant. In some cases, it is not possible to discern the signs of stagonosporosis; as a result, a diseased plant with red spots on the leaves will grow from the acquired diseased bulb.

Favorable conditions for the development of red burn are sudden changes in temperature and waterlogging of the soil.