Pythium in hydroponics: how to prevent it
In hydroponics, the quality of plants is essential for business success, so among the main concerns of producers are diseases that can proliferate and harm the harvest.
With that in mind, Hortivinyl has prepared special articles to help you prevent diseases in your greenhouse. In this post, you will learn a little more about Pythium, a fungus that, unfortunately, is common and very harmful to plants.
What is Pythium?
Pythium is a fungus that naturally inhabits soils or substrates, which has swimming appendages in its spores, which help it spread through water. This fungus can affect the plant quickly, at any stage where it needs water, causing large losses through rot, especially in the roots.
How does Pythium disease occur?
The disease occurs when the plant comes into contact with contaminated water, seeds, seedlings or substrates. Water is a great vehicle for dissemination, because Pythium species are natural inhabitants of rivers and ponds.
How can it be prevented?
The best way to prevent Pythium in your greenhouse is prevention, in order to prevent the pathogen from entering the system. For this, there are some precautions that can help prevent Pythium:
- Be careful with the quality of the water in your system: this will help a lot, because if the water in the nutrient solution is contaminated, it will infect the entire system. Preferably, the water should come from artesian wells or be filtered before entering the system.
- Have the soils or substrates suitable and technically treated to prevent spread of the disease;
- Have good cultivation techniques, such as proper spacing of each plant;
- Have cleaning and sanitation measures, such as not mixing old and contaminated lots with new plants;
- Have quality seeds with good resistance.
What to do when the system is contaminated with Pythium?
When the hydroponic system is contaminated with the fungus, a rigorous cleaning process must be carried out before starting a new crop, as the pathogen spreads in the water.
According to Revista Campo e Negócios, in the NFT system, just run a solution of sodium hypochlorite through the profiles. Then, it is very important to circulate clean water in the system, since chlorine has phytotoxicity, which is harmful to plants.
Another product that can be used for cleaning is hydrogen peroxide.
