Special fungicide for citrus sooty mold

Citrus sooty mold is caused by a variety of fungi and often occurs on the leaves, tips, and fruits of citrus. Due to the dense coal seams, it hinders photosynthesis and weakens the tree vigor, which can lead to less flowering, difficulty in fruiting, and poor fruit quality. Let's talk about the special fungicide for citrus sooty mold.

1. Special fungicide for citrus sooty mold

Special fungicides for citrus sooty mold include: ethoprop , mineral oil, mancozeb, etc. Special care is required when using them in summer and autumn when the temperature is high, otherwise the peel may be easily damaged, resulting in phytotoxicity or causing sun fruit.

2. Why is citrus sooty mold difficult to eradicate?

1. The suitable conditions for the occurrence of sooty disease are temperatures of 18~23℃ and relative humidity of 70%~80%, and the suitable environment for citrus is also warm and humid areas, which makes the pathogen base relatively high. If there is a sudden sunny or rainy day, it is very conducive to the growth and reproduction of sooty mold spores, which can easily cause infection and epidemic. Especially in some old orchards , it occurs more commonly due to poor ventilation and light transmission, weak disease resistance of trees, and large number of parasitic bacteria.

2. Take care of the disease but not the pests. The sooty pathogenic bacteria overwinters in the form of mycelium, conidia, and ascospores on diseased parts and diseased fallen leaves. The following year, the spores are spread by wind, rain, insects, etc. Compared with citrus trees, the pathogen prefers to parasitize on the secretions and excretions of insects such as aphids, whiteflies, psyllids, and scale insects, which is why sooty disease occurs more severely from May to September. If we simply kill bacteria without preventing and controlling pests, sooty disease will come back sooner or later.

3. An alternative to coal smoke disease. We have said before that soot disease is caused by a variety of fungi, and among them, there is one that is quite special, namely, Soot Fungus. Different from the genus Soot fungus, it is an obligate parasite that can produce sucking cells and parasitize in the host epidermis. In the early stage, it can form a large number of nearly circular mold spots on leaves and fruits, which are not easy to peel off.

3. Prevention and treatment of citrus sooty mold

1. Strengthen orchard management and carry out scientific pruning. Ensure ventilation and light transmission for fruit trees, reduce field humidity, and apply organic liquid fertilizer during the growing season to enhance the trees' disease resistance.

2. Strengthen the prevention and control of Homoptera pests such as aphids, scale insects, and whiteflies to cut off the nutrition source of pathogens and reduce the occurrence of diseases.

3. Pay attention to prevention and use medication scientifically. Clean the garden carefully in winter and spring. In the early stage of soot mold of coal soot fungus, you can use ethoprop + mineral oil for prevention and control. For soot mold of coal soot fungus, it is appropriate to use 75% oxime·tebuconazole dry suspension, which can also prevent fat spot yellow spot disease, sand skin disease, etc.

4. In addition, be sure to keep the leaves clean after applying the medicine. If there is sufficient water, the affected branches and leaves of the diseased trees can be washed with water once every month to prevent recurrence.

That’s it