The fusarium fusarium is one of the most annoying fungi you can find in your marijuana crop . This fungus lives in the soil and feeds on waste from other organisms. The name given to this disease is fusariosis and then I will tell you how to eradicate it.
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What is the fusarium fusarium?
The fusarium fungus comes from the nectriaceae family and, in fact, is quite broad in genus that encompasses different types of filamentous fungi that inhabit the substrate. Generally, these types of fungi are saprophytes, which means that they depend on the remains of various organisms to be able to feed. This means that it acts in a parasitic way, colonizing cannabis, feeding on the plant and causing it to get sick and eventually die.
What happens when the fusarium fungus attacks a plant?
The fusarium fungus attacks the marijuana plant from the ground, colonizing it through the xylem ducts, preventing the flow of the sap. If we made a resemblance to the human body, this fungus would clog the veins of our body, blocking blood flow.
This fungus weakens the plant and makes it sick , causing death, since no effective product has been developed to combat it. So the best thing you can do if your plants are infected is to eliminate all the plants that have the fungus.
Sap blockage causes yellowing and wilting of stems and leaves, accompanied by necrosis. There are several factors that can favor contamination and spread of the fungus. If you use seeds, soil, tools or cultivars contaminated by fusarium , you will undoubtedly transfer the fungus to other plants s the reproductive conditions are really favorable: high humidity, low light, acidic and poor soils in nitrogen and rich in potassium, temperatures of between 12 and 28 ºC.
It is essential to keep in mind that this fungus has conservation mechanisms that allow it to continue in activity in the substrate for up to 6 years, so the plants that have died from this fungus will contaminate others around them.
- Fusarium symptoms
- Rot and stems lignification
- Yellowing on the leaves
- Necrosis
- Root rot
- The attack generally advances from the bottom of the weed to the top.
How to prevent and control the fungus?
As I said earlier, there is currently no treatment that is effective for fungal fusarium infected plants . Therefore, the only and best option is prevention. This means that to avoid this you will have to disinfect all the tools you use and always acquire a good quality substrate.
Spread the risks and try to keep it at less than 30 ºC. Many cannabis growers often add a beneficial fungus called trichoderma to the substrate. However, if your plant is affected by the fusarium, it is advised to get rid of it as soon as possible so that they do not harm healthy plants.
Carefully monitor the remaining plants for symptoms of the fusarium fungus and treat the substrate with the trichoderma fungus that will colonize and prevent the fusarium from penetrating the soil. One tip: before sowing cannabis seeds, apply a natural fungicide based on green nettle or horsetail.
