The medlar is a plant of great value throughout the world and this has to do with the fact that its fruits are edible, although they are also used ornamentally, that is why we can see it in all kinds of gardens, parks and walks.
Although it is very resistant, it is important to know the pests and diseases that can affect it, and how to treat them.
Features
Image – Wikimedia Commons / Joanbanjo
We have all enjoyed the sweetness and flavor of the loquat fruitwhich comes from a plant that is directly related to cherry trees, apple trees and quinces, but there are some medlar diseases that attack and deteriorate its fruits, although with proper treatment everything has a solution.
Both its easy cultivation, for the production and consumption of fruits, as well as its ornamental characteristics, thanks to its flowers that are very beautiful as well as very aromatic, make the medlar a highly valued plantalthough we can also highlight the wood of its trunk, which is widely used to make crafts or musical instruments among others.
Loquat pests
Image – Wikimedia / Whitney Cranshaw
It is not only diseases that attack the medlar, there are also pests and they are these:
- Mealybugs: Mealybugs, small white mosquitoes that attack the leaves, deteriorating the plant. It is fought with anti asocoa mealybugs or homemade preparations.
- Aphids: Another of the insects that cling to leaves and stems, to which a preparation similar to that of the cochineal can eliminate.
- Fruitfly: The fruit fly itches on the underside of the leaf, leaving a yellowish-brown circle. The treatment to eliminate it must be carried out from April and repeated every 15 days.
Medlar diseases
Something that contrasts with its beauty is that the melliferous flowers of this plant attract a lot of insects and that humidity, among other factors, can cause certain diseases, which we will detail below:
Speckled loquat
One of the main causes of the disease and deterioration of the medlar fruit is a fungus that has been detected in recent times and who they call Fusicladium eryobotryaea, which in the world of agriculture is commonly called Mottled or Black Níspero.
Loquat speckled symptoms
One of the main symptoms of this disease called medlar mottling are some dark to black round-shaped spots on its fruitswhich will cause them to begin a deformation process that will leave them small, that is, they will never reach the size they really should be.
This disease also attacks the young branches, where spots similar to those of the fruits, but of a dark brown tone, will be found, while the leaves will also be stainedbut with a more greenish tone that will culminate in yellowing its entire surface.
A weather condition that presents high percentages of humidity, rainfall and even medium to high temperatures, will make these symptoms even greater is precisely the arrival of autumn.
What can be done to control the disease?
There are a number of measures that can be used as a treatment to control loquat speckle:
One of the causes of the spread of the disease is that spoiled fruit from the previous harvest has been leftas well as fallen leaves around it, so it is convenient to remove them. It is recommended to use specially prepared copper-based products, at the time when its leaves fall and when the flowering process begins.
Purple spot
Another diseases that the fruits of the medlar may presentwhich means a physiological alteration that directly attacks your skin and results in all purple spots that make it difficult, for example, to sell.
Symptoms of purple spot disease
As its name suggests, the presence of spots of that color is the most important symptomwhich usually occurs due to certain meteorological changes that alter the water structure of the plant, especially at the time when the fruits begin to ripen.
How to fix this problem
The only requirement to prevent or solve the purple spot is to apply calcium and zinc to its fruits, since the lack of these is the triggering factor of the disease.
