Control The Verticillium Wilt

Treatment Of Verticillium Wilt

Curl, wilt, discolour, and death of the plant is a symptom of verticillium wilt. Normally during spring or fall when temperatures are mild, plant suffers from this disease.

Being a fungal disease it invades susceptible plants through their roots and spreads through the plant’s vascular system. It extensively affects the plants, trees, shrubs, garden annuals and perennials etc. As it travels up the vascular system of the tree, dark discolourations occur. On peeling the bark, dark streaks on the wood can be seen.

Verticillium wilt is hard to diagnose because of its similar signs and effect with those of other plant diseases and environmental problems. Leaves wilt, gets curled and become reddish yellow slowly turning to brown and dropping out. This leads to the death of stems and branches. Sometimes only one side of the plant is affected and the other remains as it is.

Control Verticillium Wilt:

Once it enters the plant, verticillium wilt cannot be cured. So the best way is to remove and destroy when it is small or the plants which are small and can easily be replaced. After the removal of the plant, the disease still remains in the soil. So, curing of that soil area should be done before sowing another batch of seeds or plant saplings.

By building up its resistance one can provide the best possible care to the diseased plant. Regular watering of the plant is needed with the necessary providence of afternoon shade. Low nitrogen and high phosphorus fertilizer is very important for the plant with the removal of dead and dying branches

Soil solarization works well if the top 6 inches of soil is exposed to extreme sunlight in order to kill the fungus. Tilling and digging of soil and then uniformly sprinkling water in it is the first step. This is followed by covering the area with a plastic tarp, burying the edges under a few inches of soil. This helps to keep the heat in. After three to five weeks a large amount of fungus is killed though some remains. With only special care and attention, plants can be preserved for years.