What does top rot look like and how to deal with it?

Any gardener at least once faced with plant diseases, the causes of which are several. And if you grow tomatoes, but after some time the top rot has appeared, you should know what to do in such situations. This disease affects not only tomatoes, but also sweet peppers. Your attention is offered detailed information about the top rot, the causes of its occurrence and the methods of treating the bushes.

Top rot of fruits is often formed in the harvest; many gardeners face similar problems. Tomatoes may look healthy on the outside, but if you look closely, you can sometimes find the presence of specific spots that appear on the top of the tomatoes and begin to grow over time. It is a bacterial disease of tomatoes, some call it black or horse rot. It can be confused with late blight, so it is important to know the differences in order to correctly diagnose the disease and start treating the fetuses. Education spoils the appearance of tomatoes that should not be eaten.

Unlike phytophthora, apical rot does not belong to fungal etiology. The cause of the disease is quite simple - improper crop care.

Rot is often found on eggplants, peppers and zucchini, but does not occur annually. If we are talking about an epidemic of the disease, then the fruits can be covered with spots throughout the garden, and this kills a third of the crop. But this does not mean that such bushes should be removed, the disease can be stopped and the plant can be cured, on which new stepchildren will soon appear and bloom, forming fresh ovaries. There is no doubt that the next harvest will be rich and healthy and can be eaten.

Some tomato varieties and hybrids may be more resistant to top rot, depending on their susceptibility to this disease. But if they are plum or pepper-shaped tomatoes, they can quickly become covered with such spots. Large fruits are also often subject to this disease. Therefore, before choosing a tomato variety, study their susceptibility to different lesions and provide quality care for the future harvest.

To combat disease in different cultures, it is necessary to be able to distinguish them from each other, so it is important to become familiar with the causes of their occurrence. If rot appears on the top of the tomatoes, it means that the plant has not received enough calcium and does not have enough moisture. If this element saturates the culture, the fruits grow due to the correct construction of cells, which affects the size of the future harvest.

The root system of any plant absorbs calcium, after which it spreads along the stem, going to the top of the bush.

Let's consider what can lead to such consequences. It happens that gardeners carry out insufficient watering of the soil or do it not regularly.Calcium is carried along with water, so in the hot season it is necessary to provide the right amount of moisture, because it quickly evaporates from the leaves and stems.

However, watering too often can lead to excess moisture, which is also not a good thing, as the soil will begin to acidify and the plant's calcium absorption will stop. Thus, it is important to maintain a balance, to feed regularly, but in reasonable amounts, this is the only way to get a good result.

The presence of the disease can be detected only after the symptoms appear, so it is necessary to carefully monitor the condition of the bushes. Top rot is indicated by small spots of light brown color that appear on the top of the tomatoes. This often happens during fruit formation when the tomatoes are still green. If treatment is not started on time, the spots will begin to increase in size and spread to neighboring fruits. The affected part dries up and becomes dark brown.

It should be noted that in places where top rot has manifested itself, bacteria multiply, which leads to weeping rot. Gardeners can face a latent disease that forms inside the tissue cavity.

The disease can affect plants both outdoors and in the greenhouse, so it is important to explore different treatment options to get rid of the problem. If you find fruits with stains, first of all, they must be removed from the bushes and thrown away, as they cannot be saved. After that, proceed to the use of dressings with preparations that have a calcium content. Calcium nitrate, which is in great demand among agronomists, can help with this.

Fighting with drugs for foliar feeding will be very effective. The first step is to process the leaves, which are best able to absorb nutrients, in contrast to fruits, the skin of which is too dense. 15 g of calcium nitrate must be diluted in a bucket of water, and then used by spraying the plants. In this way, the leaves are saturated and the amount of calcium in the stem increases, and the fruits will be able to receive the element necessary for growth.

Along with this, it is necessary to carry out root feeding with calcinite, which is poured under the root in each hole. If the summer is hot enough, dilute 1 g of nitrate in 5 liters of water, and pour it under the bush. This top rot top dressing is suitable for greenhouse plants. It is important to remember the main rule - before using any drugs, the bushes need to be watered abundantly with clean water, this will allow the nutrients to be absorbed much faster.

Sometimes beginners make the mistake of disrupting the balance of potassium and calcium, so it is necessary to calculate the proportions correctly so that the plant receives the required amount of one and the second elements. You can follow this ratio - calcium - 1.0, potassium - 0.7. However, you cannot feed on the same day, alternate calcium and potassium nitrate.

If you have studied the condition of the soil and found a lack of calcium, use limestone nitrate, a solution of calcium chloride, which is prepared with the calculation of 4 g per bucket of water and applied 2 times a week. A good mixture is considered "Fertivant", as well as the drug "Fitosporin-M", which is sprayed on the plant.

Experts recommend "Gumfield" and "Calcifol 25", the latter is offered in the form of a powder, in which a quarter is calcium. There are no chlorides and nitrates in this fertilizer, so it is not toxic, which is a great advantage.To prepare a solution, it is enough to take from 2 to 5 g of the drug and dilute in a liter of water. The treatment is carried out by spraying the leaves up to 5 times.

To increase the mobility of calcium, it is recommended to use boron, which is contained in the Brexil Ca fertilizer. You need to process the bushes every 2 weeks, after watering the plant abundantly. Summing up, it should be noted that the drugs that are able to defeat the top rot include products that contain calcium chloride, boron and superphosphate.

We must not forget that there are many folk recipes that are used by gardeners, as they are quite effective. If tomatoes have already formed on the bushes and you do not want to resort to the use of chemicals, you can consider alternative options. However, such funds will only help at the initial stage of the disease, which means that it is necessary to inspect the bushes to detect the first signs of rot.

One of the ingredients that is often used as fertilizer is ash, or rather its decoction. About 300 g must be sieved, then poured with a liter of water and boiled for a quarter of an hour. This solution is filtered and poured into a 10-liter bucket of water. Fertilizer needs to be sprayed on each bush of the plant, and after a few minutes it will begin to absorb the desired element.

When it comes to bacterial rot, it is better to use Bordeaux treatment liquid. The medicine for your tomatoes can be calcium chloride, which can be found in any drugstore. A 5 ml ampoule is dissolved in 5 liters of water, and the plants are sprayed with the resulting liquid. This is a safe and easy way to improve the health of your tomatoes.

If you've heard that regular baking soda can help deal with top rot, then this statement is not correct. Experienced gardeners point out that there is no calcium in the formula of this product, which the plant needs so much, therefore, it is better to use the previous options to combat the disease.

You learned about apical rot, the cause of the problem and how to deal with it, but you can prevent all of these consequences if you perform simple tasks. Prevention is a productive method of combating various diseases. If you have come across rot before, why not take care in advance so that it does not reappear.

• To do this, it is advisable to monitor the condition of the soil, make sure that it is moist enough, do not allow it to dry out, but also do not overdo it with watering. Experts recommend doing this every 5 days in the evenings or early morning when the sun is not baking.
• After watering, it is important to loosen the soil under each bush. It is necessary to mulch the soil to prevent drying out.
• Provide good ventilation in the greenhouse where the tomatoes are growing.
• For a good harvest, it is important to remove weeds, apply mineral fertilizers and fertilize.
• After picking tomatoes from the beds, it is necessary to remove any residues, dig up the soil so that the pests that remain in it freeze out.
• To impart looseness to the soil, experienced gardeners sow green manure, which has a beneficial effect on its structure.

As you can see, there are several rules, the observance of which will allow you to protect plants from various diseases and make you take pride in a rich harvest of healthy fruits.