How to help royal geraniums if its leaves turn yellow and what to do with other diseases?

Royal geranium will undoubtedly decorate your window or garden, and will bring warmth and comfort to the atmosphere.

This plant blooms very beautifully, has leaves of an unusual shape. Large, bright colors, flowers with wavy edges distinguish geranium from other plants. This magnificence makes a person stop their eyes and listen to beauty.

But this "queen" is very capricious and prone to a number of diseases. What are these diseases and how to deal with them we will consider in this article.

Botanical characteristics

King geranium is a perennial herb or shrub plant. The leaves of the royal geranium are palm-dissected, wavy at the edges. The stems are branched, there are straight and creeping.

The plant is capable of weaving. The bush is wide. Peduncles are not stretched up, they are on the same level with the shoots. Flowers of various colors. large 10-15 centimeters in diameter. Fruit - a box with sepals, which opens from the bottom up. Geranium propagated by seeds and cuttings.

The place of growth of royal geraniums is South America. The plant is thermophilic, does not winter in the open ground.

Photo

Read below for photos of the main plant diseases and methods for their treatment.

Diseases and their treatment

Royal geranium is not without reason the title of “queen”; it is very capricious and prone to the development of diseases.

Foliage problems

Common trouble - leaves turn yellow and fall - develops in a plant for a number of reasons:

• if the yellow leaves remain elastic or dryness appears on the edges - this is a lack of moisture;
• if the yellow leaves are sluggish and rot, this is an excess of moisture;
• if the yellow leaves have no characteristic signs of moisture, then the plant simply does not have enough nutrients.

To restore the plant, you need to control watering, it must be moderate, but at the same time sufficient. As well as, every two weeks, it is worth carrying out regular feeding of geraniums.

Most often, the plant is infected in the cold months of the year, at this time it is recommended to remove geranium from windows and balconies to create a cozy atmosphere for it.

Stalk exposure and falling of the lower part of the crown

The cause of the disease is a lack of light.

To save the plant, you need to move it to a sunny place. If this is not possible, then it is worth creating an abundant artificial lighting for geraniums using lighting devices with daylight paws.

Drying and falling buds

The cause of the disease is increased humidity and excessive watering of the plant.

To protect geraniums, it is worthwhile to ensure a dry climate in the room where the plant lives. And you also need to temporarily limit watering.

The plant does not bloom indoors

The reasons for the lack of flowers may be as follows:

1. little daytime color;
2. there is no difference between day and night air temperature;
3. the plant is too overfed.

To save the situation, you need to temporarily stop fertilizing the plant and provide it with enough light.

You can still transfer the plant to another room, where the air temperature will change.

Lack of flowering in open soil

The disease may develop due to:

• abnormal heat in the warmer months of the year;
• excessive or insufficient plant nutrition.

To plant bloomed need:

1. water more abundantly on especially hot days;
2. rearrange geranium pots in shadow or partial shade;
3. during the growing season, it is worth completely abandoning the use of fertilizers.

Why do soft watery pads appear and what to do?

The causes of the appearance of such growths on the leaves:

• too abundant watering in at low air temperature;
• lack of light.

So that the plant does not hurt it is necessary to organize favorable growth conditions for it:

1. reduce watering;
2. increase the temperature in the room;
3. install artificial or additional lighting.

Alternariosis and cercosporosis

These are fungal diseases. They hit the leaves - large, dry brown spots appear. Around the brown part, the leaf turns yellow, and eventually falls off completely.

Control measures:

• remove infected leaves until they die;
• at the beginning of the growing season, treat the plant with fungicides.

Root rot

Disease caused by the fungi Pythium and Rhizoctonia.

Reasons for development:

1. excess moisture in the soil;
2. high temperature for comfortable growth;
3. an excess of nitrogen in the soil;
4. residual parts of the pathogen in the soil;
5. sudden changes in air temperature.

To protect the plant you need:

• use aerated substrates;
• organization of sufficient lighting;
• provide the plant with good air ventilation;
• carry out treatment with systemic fungicides.

Bacterial spotting

The causes of the development of the disease are:

1. abnormal heat;
2. wet weather;
3. the presence of pathogen in irrigation water.

So that the plant does not hurt:

• maintain a moderate level of humidity;
• protect the plant from heat;
• avoid spraying and rain falling on the leaves of geraniums;
• to feed with a high potassium content;
• carry out processing with copper-containing agents.

Late blight

The causative agent is the fungus Phytophthora nicotianae Breda de Haan. The whole plant is spotted from bottom to top. The plant quickly fades and fades.

Causes of pathogen activation:

1. waterlogging of the soil;
2. excessive planting density;
3. excess fertilizer;
4. sudden changes in air temperature.

You can avoid the development of the disease if:

• provide a place for the growth of geraniums with good ventilation;
• Responsibly approach the selection of high-quality loose substrates;
• carry out fungicide treatment - Ridomil, Previkur.

Gray rot

With the development of this fungal disease, brown spots appear on the aerial part of the plant, and a dense coating of gray color covers the entire lower part of the geranium. The plant quickly fades and dies.

Reasons for development:

1. increased moisture of the substrate;
2. poor ventilation in the place of growth of geraniums;
3. excess nitrogen in the soil;
4. excessive spraying of the ground part of the plant.

To protect the plants you need:

1. carefully observe the rules of agricultural technology;
2. at the first manifestations of the disease, treat plants with systemic fungicides - Vitaros, Fundazol.

Preventative measures

So the geranium doesn’t hurt it is worth taking all possible measures to counter bacterial and fungal diseases of the plant:

1. the soil for the growth of geraniums should not be excessively moist and dense;
2. the amount of nutrients in the soil should fully cover the needs of the plant;
3. the soil should not be too saturated with nitrogen;
4. before planting, you need to provide the soil with a good drainage system to protect the geranium from stagnation of moisture and, subsequently, root rot;
5. Do not water geraniums by means of top watering and control. so that moisture does not fall on the leaves of the plant;
6. rarely plant plants, if possible separately;
7. the soil should be regularly cleaned of plant debris, as well as loosen and mulch.

Conclusion

If all the comfortable conditions for the normal growth and development of the plant are created, but he has some other signs of the development of diseases, it is not necessary to carry out exclusively preventive measures.

In order for the royal geranium to grow for a long time and please the household with its beauty, it is worthwhile to resort to the use of fungicides, pesticides or other specialized means in time.