Eggplants — much like their closemouthed cousins , tomatoes — are far tastier clean out of the garden than purchase at the food market store . Growing this amazing vegetable is n’t as complicated as you might think , though they do require warm temperatures , compost - rich soil , and regular lacrimation for the greatest rate of achiever . Sadly , even when you give them everything they need , there ’s a small chance that troubles may arise , often in the form of diseases .
A handful of bacterial and fungal diseases can strike your eggplant piece , causing flawed yield , marred foliage , decreased product and sometimes plant death . identify and remedy these pathogen can be very challenging because many of them await likewise . Your local cooperative extension service can recommend a industrial plant pathology lab to support a specific diagnosing through a render sample . But regardless of which diseases might be hold back in the wing , when it comes to eggplants , an ounce of prevention is worth much more than a pound of therapeutic .
To avoid fungous and bacterial diseases in the first place , be sure to rotate crops every year , give each plant plenty of infinite , remove all garden debris at the end of the raise season , avoid working in the garden when leafage is slopped , choose varieties with raise disease resistance , and keep a close eye out for job , especially during wet weather . Treatment with copper color - found fungicides and/or bio - fungicides , such asBacillius subtilis , might rise successful in battling some of these pathogens , but keep in mind that most of these diseases are well manage when symptom are first fleck .
1. Bacterial Wilt/Southern Wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum)
industrial plant affected by this bacterium disease are in grownup trouble . Although it ’s naturally found in tropic region andgreenhouses , the disease often arrives to the garden via buy flora grown where the disease is present . It ’s grease - birth but can be send by soil , water , plant issue , and even on clothes and prick . Bacterial wilt assault many common bedding plants and veggie , including mad apple .
ab initio only one or two leaves wilt during the day , while the remain leaves appear respectable . As the infection spreads , more leaf wilt and white-livered until the integral plant life succumbs , despite the stem turn remaining upright . Lower stanch might develop sinister - brown splotches , and slimy , viscid ooze comes out of the base when they are cut . If you take two freshly slue stems and bear the ends together for a few seconds , a thread of slime will connect them as they are split . When cut stems are placed in water system , milky flow of bacteria are seen stream out of the snub .
Bacterial wilting can survive for farsighted menses in the soil on roots and plant debris . Like many other diseases , it favors high temperature and high humidity . lamentably , there ’s no cure for this disease . Once confirmed , infected industrial plant must be removed and discarded in the scraps . Keep them out of thecompost pile .
2. Cercospora Leaf Spot (Cercosporaspp.)
This fungal disease affect the leaves and stems of eggplant ; the fruit remains unaffected . The first mark of this disease are small , round yellow lesions on the foliation . Eventually the lesions develop soft , gray hair at the center with a dark - chocolate-brown ring around the exterior . Sometimes concentric rings look , hence the disease byname “ frog middle . ” In severe infestations , defoliation can occur , and fruit size and yield is greatly reduced .
Cercospora leaf spot survives the wintertime in plant life junk , and when spring arrives , the spores are spread by flatus , rain , people and animals . To keep spores off plant , mulch new planted seedlings with husk or hay to prevent septic soil from slosh onto the leaves .
3. Damping Off (Pythiumspp.,Fusariumspp.)
unseasoned eggplant seedling might succumb to damping off . Pythium species are the most mutual crusade of this disease , resulting in morose , piss - soak lesions at the base of untested seedlings or on develop leaves . Eventually , septic seedlings are girdled and descend over . These kingdom Fungi can survive for longsighted periods in soil , plant debris and smoke . Damping off is most severe when condition are too wet or seedling are overcrowded . Keep air pass around around seedlings and H2O from below whenever potential . Sterilize flats and pots before reuse them and remove any symptomatic seedling to keep the disease from spread .
4. Alternaria Rot (Alternaria alternata)
Eggplant fruit impress by this fungus develop small , hoar , water - soaked wound , often bug out at the bottom remainder of the yield or at a site of accidental injury . Eventually , the lesions grow in sizing and produce hazy - bet plot of land of spores . They can go on on both unripe and fledged fruits . Discard infected fruits as soon as you notice them , and use an constitutive fungicide to prevent the disease from spreading to other fruits .
5. Anthracnose Fruit Rot (Colletotrichumspp.)
Sometimes called good yield rot , this fungal disease often remains asymptomatic until the yield is right and ready to harvest . The disease starts out as little , deep-set , gooey spots that eventually merge into larger splodge . When spore - fix occurs a few day afterwards , concentrical circles get over the lesions and orangish or pinkish jelly - similar patches of spore can be found covering the lesions . Prevent fruit from touching the grime , and harvest before they become to a fault ripe . Remove infected plants from the garden and throw out , and plant with disease - destitute seminal fluid .
6. Fusarium Wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melongenae)
Fusarium wilt symptoms often begin with drooping folio petiole . Sometimes a single ramification may droop before the relief of the works . In garden egg , this wilting often depart with the lower leaves , quickly progressing up the plant until the whole affair collapses . The entire plant life may be killed , often before it reach matureness . If you cut the main stem of an infected plant life , you may see dingy streaks running lengthwise through the stem . You might see sinister - brown , sunken pestilence at the root of the plant .
The fusarium fungus survives in the land for several year and is propagate by equipment , water and plant debris . Like many other disease , it favors ardent soil and high wet . If fusarium wilt has been a problem for you in the past , be sure to rotate crop and try originate in raised layer to promote good drainage .
7. Verticillium Wilt (Verticilliumspp.)
Verticillium wilt is because of a grouping of soil - carry pathogens that block the vascular system of the plant , causing it to wilt . Symptoms build slowly in eggplant bush , often starting as a characteristic V - determine lesion that grow on old foliage tips , eventually expanding to cover the entire leaf . As the disease go on , the plant becomes greensick ( i.e. , does n’t produce enough chlorophyll ) and withers , eventually die . Cutting through the chief stem of the flora will reveal dark - browned discolouration inside .
Verticillium fungus can come through for many years in the soil and on plants . They prefer slightly cooler summertime temperatures , between 70 and 80 degrees F. Because this being reside in the filth , harvest gyration and dirt solarisation are helpful in deterring it . Grafted eggplants are said to be more resistant .
8. Phytophthora Blight (Phytophthoraspp.)
This fungal disease can strike either the root or the shoot organization of the plant . If it go into via the roots , they quickly sprain brown , stimulate the plant life to die . fore and leaf infections start as sorry unripened , water system - soak lesions that turn dark brown and dilate . As the lesion age , they dry out . Infection can spread to the fruits , do the same , distinct dreary - green lesion that appear on the stems and leaves . Often the yield shrivels but does n’t drop from the plant .
Heavy amounts of rain , wet soil , and poor drain in the main favor this disease .
9. Southern Blight (Sclerotium rolfsii)
This fungal disease can attack both seedlings and mature plants . In seedlings , it causes damping off at the stain level , while in mature plant , it can affect the intact industrial plant , render glowering - chocolate-brown stem lesions at or just below the soil line . septic leafage yellowness and finally wilt . A clear-cut feature of southerly blight is the buff - similar web of off-white fungal threads that develop around the molder stems . pocket-sized , brown , hard , leaf mustard seed - like masses ( sclerotia ) form in the “ fans ” of fungal train of thought . These people overwinter in and around septic plant debris and can survive for many years . When condition are right , the fungous mycelia within the sclerotia issue and broach a new contagion . To avail master southerly blight in places where a late transmission has occur , maintain a land pH of 7 or above ; the sclerotia are inhibited in more or less more alkaline conditions . mysterious plowing is also in force .
