Some Common Diseases of Peppers
The descriptions below will help you identify diseases affecting your crops. By following the recommended controls you may be able to notice the problem early on and check their progress.
- Leaf spot shows up in various forms: leaves, stems, or roots develop small, yellowish-green to brown spots; old leaves may show water-soaked spots; fruit develop small, raised rough spots or rot spots, or fruit may fail to set. There are a few leaf spot diseases caused by various seed- and soil-borne fungi and bacteria. Control measures include use of disease-free seed, crop rotation, and avoidance of overhead. watering.
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2. Anthracnose appears on fruits as dark circular, sunken spots with black spores. It’s a seed- and soil-borne fungus that can also be transmitted by infected plant debris. To control, use disease-free seed, do not cultivate when plants are wet, and rotate crops.
3. Mosiac symptoms include green-yellow mottling of leaves, which become curved and distorted; the plant is usually stunted; fruits are yellow or wrinkled with dark spots, or are small, bumpy, and off-colored. Aphids transmit the virus that causes mosaic.
Gardeners may carry it from infected areas, and the disease can live on crop refuse. To control it, destroy infected plants, do not use tobacco while in the garden, wash hands with soap and water before handling plants, control insects that transmit the disease, and use resistant varieties.
4. Blossom end rot appears as a black, sunken ring on the base of a fruit. It’s different from the other diseases because it’s not caused by an organism, but by a nutrient deficiency.
Large fluctuations in soil moisture can make roots unable to take up adequate calcium, and the cells at the fruit’s growing tip die. To avoid blossom end rot maintain soil pH between 6.0 to 6.8, and maintain adequate, regular moisture by improving soil, spreading mulch, and watering deeply and evenly when needed.
5. Wilts show up as wilting leaves and plants, and eventually plants die. Fruits are few, small, and of poor quality. Wilts are caused by various fungi that live in the soil or on crop residues. Control via crop rotation, a high level of soil organic matter, and good drainage.
Harvesting
Harvesting starts 2.5 to three months after planting and can continue for four to six months with good management, only mature fruits should be picked and also packaged for market. Sweet peppers should be harvested when filled out and still green.
The most important thing about harvesting peppers is to harvest as soon as the fruit matures. It’s the job of the plant to make seeds, so too much of the plant’s effort will go into ripening the fruit instead of producing new fruit if you don’t harvest regularly and often. Make it a practice to go out every few days and pick what’s ready to eat. Try to get the most out of each plant.
Harvested fruits should be placed under shade for grading, sorting, and also packaging to avoid shriveling, Export produce should conform to the required standards with respect to quality, packaging and labeling.
Below is an estimated budget from let’s talk agric:
Operational Budget/Ha/Yr
Activity/Input Cost (Ghc)
Land rent – 250.00
Land preparation – 400.00
Seeds – 750.00
Fertilizer and manure – 2,368.00
Pesticides – 100.00
Labour – 3,000.00
Total estimated cost – 6,868.00
Revenue
Average yield/ha = 10 tons =10,000 kg
Percentage loss of 5%
Available yield = 95/100×10,000kg = 9,500kg
Packaging in 6 kg box = 9500/6 =1,584 boxes
Farm gate price/6 kg box = Ghc10
Income = 1584×10 = Ghc1,5840.00
Net income = Ghc15,840-6,868
= Ghc 8,972.00
References: wikipedia, LetsTalkAgric, Garden
