Mint diseases. The ubiquitous mint leaf beetle Why is there a white coating on mint leaves?

Females place their eggs in the ground. Young larvae feed on small mint roots without causing noticeable harm to it. The formation of pupae occurs in the soil. The revived beetles climb to the surface and actively eat mint leaves.

One generation of insects develops per year.

To kill insects, mint is treated with a solution during the period of leaf growth.

Mint leaf beetles are found in many regions of Europe. These are pests of essential oil crops, feeding on mint and lemon balm, as well as other plants of the family.

Adult insects reach a length of 1.1 millimeters and have a bright color - blue-green with a bronze tint. Adults and larvae spend the winter in the ground. Spring activity is observed at average daily temperatures above +14 degrees. Having climbed to the surface, the beetles spend some time motionless, hiding in the axils of the leaves. Then they begin to eat intensively, especially in the morning and evening hours.

For sexual maturation, females need approximately one and a half months of active feeding. They place the eggs on mint inflorescences. Fertility up to 250 eggs. Reproduction continues from June to September. Beetles and larvae accumulate on the shoots in large numbers, often causing entire sections of mint to dry out.

The second generation of beetles appears in mid-October. Insects go to winter in the adult stage.

For preventive purposes, spatial delimitation of beds is used. Treatment with infusion of hot pepper or chamomile (150 grams per ten liters of water) is effective. If pests are numerous, spray with a solution of Metaphos (2.5%) or Chlorophos (0.2%).

Peppermint mite

Mint mites are considered the most dangerous pests of mint. Most often found in the southern regions of Europe and Russia.

These small insects, up to 0.5 centimeters long, feed on the sap of the tops of plants. When feeding, they secrete a special secretion that leads to the destruction of the chloroplast and the death of shoots.
Ticks appear on mint beds in mid-May. Females are capable of laying 10 eggs per day. Ten or more generations of pests develop in a year.

Classmates

This summer, a pest has also appeared in our peppermint beds - the mint leaf beetle.
On the advice of neighbors, experienced summer residents and gardeners, we treated all the bushes with a chamomile solution.
And, you know, it helped. They saved our mint bushes.
Tell me, please, is it clear that tincture of chamomile or the same hot pepper is safe for people, but what about the drugs “Metafos” and “Chlorophos”? Can this mint be eaten simply by washing it well?

Mentha) is a genus of plants in the Lamiaceae family. The genus has about 25 species and about 10 natural hybrids. All types are highly aromatic, most of them contain the substance menthol. Plants of the Mint genus differ significantly in their chemical composition, which is manifested in a different smell and in a different composition of essential oils.

The name of the genus comes from the name of the nymph Mintha (or Minta), the goddess of Mount Mente in Elis, beloved of the god of the underworld Hades. Hades's wife Persephone turned her into a plant - fragrant mint.

Mint is widely used: in food products, in cosmetics - Japanese mint(Mentha arvensis) and peppermint(Mentha piperita); in herbal medicine and aromatherapy - peppermint, watermint(Mentha aquatica), pennyroyal(Mentha pulegium); in pharmacology - mainly peppermint.

Mint is a genus of perennial herbs common in most countries with temperate climates. Thanks to the pleasant, cool, refreshing and aromatic taste of its dark green leaves, mint is widely used in the culinary, confectionery, liquor and tobacco industries.

It is added to teas, soft drinks, syrups, ice cream and candies. Mint powder is added to minced meat. Mint sauce goes well with lamb dishes. In the form of fresh greens, it is added to soups and salads.

In many countries in Europe and Asia, mint is also cultivated for its essential oil, extracted by distilling stems cut before flowering. It is widely used for medicinal purposes, as well as in the perfume industry.

Propagation and planting of mint

Mint is easily propagated vegetatively - by rhizomatous cuttings, preferably in the phase of 3-5 leaves. Planting is carried out in early spring (late April - early May) and in August. Soil preparation is done in advance. Before planting, the deeply cultivated and weed-free area for mint is finally cut up with a harrow, and then divided into ridges. In damp places they are made higher, and in dry areas, on the contrary, the ridges are deepened into the ground so that rainwater can be better retained. The cut rhizome cuttings are placed in the grooves made in the beds and covered with soil.

If you are going to grow mint in your garden or vegetable garden, keep in mind that mint has one drawback - it is quite aggressive and grows strongly, thanks to creeping rhizomes, occupying more and more spaces. To prevent it from causing you a lot of trouble, it is recommended to immediately protect it by burying restrictive strips of iron, plastic or slate at the depth of the rhizomes.

Where to grow mint?

Mint prefers a sunny location and fertile, deep, loose and fairly moist soil. It also tolerates shade well, but in this case the soil should be less moist. This crop grows especially well on moist, rich black soil. On calcareous soil it loses a lot of flavor. Places with excessive moisture and heavy clay soil are unsuitable for mint.

The preceding plant can be various vegetables, under which the soil is fertilized with manure. Usually mint does not stay in one place for more than 2-3 years, since its shoots “migrate” from the planting site. After mint, potatoes, onions, green peas and other vegetables are planted.

Mint care

Caring for mint involves loosening the soil, hilling, watering (as needed) and weeding. Plant feeding is carried out in early spring. To obtain more green mass in the spring, as it grows, it is recommended to carry out severe pruning: the mint will bush better.

To protect against frost, the ridges are covered in the fall with a layer of loose soil, or covered with spruce branches, straw, dry leaves, spruce branches or manure. Mint plantings should be renewed every 3-4 years, as they have poor weed resistance and quickly fall out.

Preparation and storage of mint

Mint produces a harvest from the first year of life. Before eating fresh, remove the leaves from the stem and tear, chop or use whole, depending on the recipe. Fresh mint is added as a spicy herb to salads, lactic acid soups, meat, seafood and fish, bean and pea hot dishes. It should be borne in mind that heat treatment kills freshness, so it is recommended to add spice to hot dishes before serving.

Cut mint wilts very quickly on a hot day, so keep it in a cool place - wrapped in a damp kitchen towel or placed in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Mint also dries well. It is recommended to collect for drying in July-August, at the beginning of flowering, since the leaves during this period accumulate the greatest number of useful substances and are pleasant to the taste. The cut stems are dried in the shade in bunches, then the inflorescences and leaves are torn off, ground into a not very fine powder and stored in a tightly closed container in a dry, cool, place protected from the sun. In this form, mint retains its scent well all winter.

In dry form, mint can be added to meat soups, roast beef and lamb, veal, to marinades and sauces for meat, to pea and bean soups and other hot dishes.

Pests and diseases

Growing mint is damaged by the mint flea. Measures to combat it would be similar to those recommended against cruciferous flea beetles. This insect produces only one generation per summer. Not only adult beetles harm the plant, but also their larvae (roots). The mint flea pupates in August. This means that in the fall, after the second harvest of mint, you can treat the bed with karbofos (10% emulsion concentrate) 60 g per 10 liters of water.

In vegetable gardens located in low damp places, mint noticeable damage is caused by beetles and larvae of the mint leaf beetle. Like the previous pest, this insect can damage leaves. Unlike other plants, fusarium in mint manifests itself differently - the plants are stunted in growth, wither, the stems at the root collar darken and rot. Effective control measures have not been developed, but it has been noted that excessive dampness of the site contributes to the development of fusarium. Increased ventilation of the plantation, adherence to high agricultural technology and limited watering are necessary.

Powdery mildew also affects mint. It appears as a white cobwebby coating on the leaves, and at the end of summer black dots also appear. Control measures - weeding, thin planting and on the seed plantation twice, every 10-12 days, spraying with a 1.5% solution of colloidal sulfur with the addition of 40 g of liquid (potassium) or green soap to 10 liters of solution.

mint rust. In infected plants, orange spots appear on the lower surface of the leaf blade. The infection affects plants through the roots. Affected plants must be removed and should not be fertilized.

Aphids. Insecticidal oils and soaps are suitable as a means of control. The biological enemy of aphids is ladybugs.

Ticks. Small arachnids of different colors (red, brown, yellow or green). They damage leaf cells and feed on cell sap. Affected plants wither and brown spots appear on the leaves. Natural enemies are ladybugs. For control, you can use streams of water or insecticidal soaps.

– the plant is attractive not only to humans, but also to many pests and diseases. Their list turns out to be very extensive and, accordingly, when growing mint, you need to be on the alert all the time.

It starts to bother me as soon as it grows back mint flea beetle(Longatarsus licopi Faudr.). Its rather small beetles and larvae, 1.5 mm in size, are straw-yellow in color and make round holes in the leaves. These pests are especially rampant if the spring is dry, without heavy rainfall and at the same time warm. The damage caused by this pest in some years can be very severe.

Another tormentor of mint - green shieldweed (Cassida viridis L.), which also begins to rage immediately from the beginning of spring regrowth and during the period of intensive growth. Beetles and larvae make rounded holes in the leaves and gnaw off the edges.

Peppermint leaf beetle (Chrysomela menthastri Suffr) is a small bug, 7-10 mm in size, green in color with a metallic sheen. Beetles and larvae chew holes and damage the edges of leaves.

(Aphis menthae L., Brachycaudus helichryi Kalt) - up to 2 mm in size, dark green, located in colonies at the bottom of the leaf. Basically, it damages the upper part of the shoot and the plant stops growing normally and forming full-fledged leaves. Destroyed during deep autumn digging. In some years it can noticeably affect plants.

Cicadas (Empoasca pteridis Dhlb) - adults and larvae suck the juice from the leaves and they begin to dry out. Young, growing plants are especially susceptible to attack by the pest.

Mint can be attacked from both sides weevils (Tanymecus palliatus F ., Bothynoderes punctiventris Germ.) - beetles gnaw off the edges of leaves, and the larvae quietly and unnoticed feed on the roots. The only joy is that this pest is not announced every year.

But meadow butterfly (Pyrausta sticticalis L.), which can eat up the plant almost completely, in some years causes very severe damage.

Peppermint mite- a dangerous pest in the south. It overwinters in the soil at a depth of 10 cm. From May to August it feeds on the sap of the tops of shoots, and in August it goes into the soil for the winter. Distributed with planting material. Control measures: deep digging, treatment of planting material with acaricides and return of mint to its original place no earlier than after 3 years

Gives an unaesthetic appearance to the plant and raw materials slobbering pennice (Philaenus spumarius L.). Adults and larvae cause deformation of vegetative and generative shoots, and its presence is accompanied by the appearance of white foamy lumps on the stems and in the leaf axils.

If mint grows in combination with wheatgrass or in the place where potatoes grew last year, beware wireworm(larvae of click beetles), which gnaws the roots. Here the control measures are only preventive - the battle with wheatgrass and planting mint after crops that are not interesting to this pest.

In addition to the listed pests, mint can be damaged by all kinds of caterpillars, which, like the cabbage cutworm, round-winged moth and burdock, gnaw leaves, the meadow moth, whose caterpillars eat the entire above-ground mass, and, of course, the ubiquitous mole cricket, which gnaws the roots.

How to deal with all these numerous parasites? Insecticides are used in production, for example deltamethrin (Decis), which is applied once in case of severe damage by these pests, but no later than 25-30 days before the intended harvest. However, in a summer cottage, in a craving for everything environmentally friendly, it is better to take preventive measures, that is, change the place where plants are planted at least once every 2 years, dig up the vacant area deeply, turning the soil, remove it on time and burn plant residues.

Against the pests listed above, you can try to spray the plants with a concentrated decoction of celandine (200 g of dry leaves per 10 liters of water, leave for a day, then add soap and spray the affected plants). A concentrated decoction of bird cherry twigs or an infusion of pine needles (1:1) can help with the scoop.

Of the diseases on mint, the most harmful rust(Puccinia menthae Pers.), which is found in all mint growing areas. This is a fungal disease, the development of which is promoted by high humidity, low air temperatures, excess nitrogen in the soil, as well as perennial mint cultivation. Brown pads appear on the underside of the leaves, which later acquire a dark brown color. Rust is usually combated using preventative measures and spraying. But, for example, in the USA they invented a rather exotic method - burning out the above-ground part using a flamethrower with a propane-butane flame at a pressure of 2-4 atm. and unit speed 1 km/h.

Powdery mildew (Erysiphe cichoracearum DC f. menthae), which manifests itself in the fact that a white cobwebby coating appears on the leaves and stems in the 2nd half of the growing season. Later, black fruiting bodies with spores appear. This disease is very common in the Non-Chernozem zone, where wet and cool weather conditions in August provoke the active development of the disease. Control measures: autumn plowing to a depth of 20 cm; dusting with ground sulfur at a dose of 20 kg/ha; spraying with a 1% solution of colloidal sulfur.

Verticillium wilt(wilt) is a disease caused by a pathogenic fungus that penetrates through root hairs. The top 2-3 pairs of leaves turn black and the plant dies. Agrotechnical control measures - compliance with crop rotation, destruction of damaged plantations after harvesting. Replanting after 9 years. Breeding wilt-resistant varieties, such as Prilukskaya 6.

Anthracnose (white grouse) - Brown spots appear on leaves affected by the fungus. The fungus overwinters on dead remains. Control measures: plowing, 3-4 times spraying with 1% Bordeaux mixture.

Septoria or leaf spot(Septoriamenthicola Sacc) - characteristic features are round or angular brown spots (up to 8 mm in size) on the leaves, limited by a black rim and covered with black dots. Control measures are the same as for anthracnose.

The growth of rhizomes is caused by mycoplasma (Mycoplasma). Affected plants are stunted in growth, leaves acquire anthocyanin coloring, and rhizomes cease to form. With this disease, it is necessary to destroy damaged plants as quickly as possible and actively fight all gnawing and sucking pests that can transfer the disease from plant to plant. And, of course, transplanting healthy plants to another area.

The optimal measures to combat all of these diseases are prevention: replant plants in time, cut off plant debris and burn them, rather than compost them. To avoid rust and powdery mildew, you can cut the crop at the end of July, before the disease begins to spread, and therefore without resorting to chemical means of protection. In addition, an important factor reducing resistance to powdery mildew is excess nitrogen nutrition. But adding phosphorus and viburnum, on the contrary, will increase the plant’s resistance.

Photo: Nikolay Alekseev, Maxim Minin, Rita Brilliantova

Peppermint has been valued for many years for its amazing taste and medicinal qualities, which is why this plant is often grown in home gardens. Parts of this vegetation are successfully used for cosmetic purposes, as well as in cooking and traditional medicine recipes.

The green mint leaf beetle is most often found in European territory. He loves to enjoy essential oil crops, so he often chooses lemon balm or mint.

After a month and a half, mature females begin laying eggs on mint inflorescences - in one season, one individual can lay about 200 eggs. The breeding season of the green mint leaf beetle lasts from June to early September.

Both larvae and beetles usually accumulate on mint shoots in fairly large quantities, which ultimately causes damage and subsequent drying of the plantings. The second generation of leaf beetles appears in early October.

The larvae go through 4 stages of development and develop in the egg for up to 3 days. They are highly sensitive, so at the slightest danger or touch they curl up and fall to the ground. The larvae of the green mint leaf beetle cause serious damage to mint plantings: they skeletonize the leaves, make through holes in them and eat around the edges.

To pupate, the larvae go into the ground, going to a depth of 2-3 centimeters. A week later they turn into pupae, and in August new bugs fly out. During the season, 2 generations of mint pest develop.

Leaf beetles pose a real threat to many agricultural crops. To combat them, an integrated approach is used, based on mechanical, biological and chemical destruction of individuals.

At the first detection of individuals on the site, you can try to collect the adults manually. Preventive measures include timely pruning of diseased parts of the plant and their subsequent destruction, burning of fallen autumn leaves and any plant waste, deep digging of the soil after harvesting before frost.

The preparations Actellik and Fosbecid are used for spraying with insecticides, but it is strictly recommended to stop their use 40 days before harvest.

In addition, it is advisable to use folk recipes against insects - spray mint with an infusion of hot pepper or tomato tops. A good effect is obtained by treating plants with infusion of chamomile and dusting the soil with tobacco dust. In addition, it is recommended to promptly get rid of weeds that can attract the mint leaf beetle to the area.