Beautiful lilies have dozens of varieties and are common throughout the planet. This plant is cultivated not only as a decorative flower, but also as an edible and healing product (in some cases, and countries). Accordingly, lily diseases and their treatment are important issues for gardeners around the world. There are four large groups of these plants belonging to different geographical zones - European, Asian, Caucasian and North American.
Regardless of the origin, the young bulb can be unhealthy, so often gardeners have to doubt that a lily (flower) will appear. Diseases may be characteristic of the time of year or unique to this plant. When buying planting material, you need to carefully examine each proposed bulb - they should be resilient, without a hint of blue-green penicillin mold. Do not trust the sellers who say that such a bloom is normal for a lily: in the future it will destroy all the scales, and then the plant. The length of healthy roots should be 4-5 cm, but the first year may not yet have a pronounced root system.
Garden Lilies: Diseases and Control Methods
The most common and most difficult problem in bulbous plants is botritis. In the people it is also called gray rot. Various molds are common diseases of lilies, and their treatment should begin as early as possible so that the infection does not spread to all plants. Brown and red-brown spots appear on beautiful green leaves and bright buds. The defeat of lilies by botritis is always due to a violation of growing technology.
Even if all the conditions are fully met, gray rot can appear in cold, damp weather, when the trunks and leaves do not have time to dry out by night and accumulate excess moisture. Usually August is considered to be the most dangerous time for lilies (exactly in this month there are sharp temperature changes). Botritis does not kill the plant, but the vegetation practically stops, and the whole bush loses its decorative effect. To get rid of gray rot, it is enough to keep lilies in comfortable conditions, for example, to install small canopies over the most valuable varieties, protecting from rain and excessive dew. The most resistant species to botrytis are various OT hybrids.
Among the other common problems of this flower is rust. Lily diseases and their treatment are always closely related to the care of planting material. The carrier of rust are bulbs on which there are spores of harmful fungi. The infection spreads up the trunk and affects the foliage with small, quickly yellowing spots. If nothing is done, the stems will dry out and the lily will die. To save the plant, you need to remove all the affected leaves, and treat the trunk with 1% Bordeaux liquid or traditional fungicides, which are found in almost every farm. Remote diseased parts need to be burned so as not to infect the surrounding soil and plants.
Also, many diseases of lilies and their treatment are closely related to the "neighbors" in the site. For example, hosts or tulips can infect with variegation, which can hardly be brought out. For the prevention of many types of diseases, it is worth using the biofungicide "Fitosporin" - it protects against rot and is absolutely safe for bees.