Dodder (Cuscuta) is a dangerous weed species that can cause great harm to cultivated plants growing in the garden. If earlier only one species of this weed was included in the Povilikov family, today breeders have about 200 varieties of dodder. She prefers to coexist next to crops of fodder, melons and vegetables. Among other things, the weed is a threat to potatoes, flax, ornamental shrubs and trees. Dodder has an adverse effect on the development of plants and slows down the course of metabolic processes inside tissues, as a result of which the plant loses strength and dies.
Characteristics and description of the dodder
Dodder is a unique weed that does not have leaves and roots and is a long elongated stem that wraps around the entire plant. The color of the stems can be yellow, red or light green. With the help of peculiar suction cups, they attach to the vegetative parts of the plant, infect tissues and suck out juices. Diseased plants almost always die. According to experts in botanical research, this weed can determine the location of its prey by smell. Small dodder flowers form spherical inflorescences of white, pink or green color. After ripening, the weed fruit looks like a rough seed pod, capable of maintaining germination properties for a long time. Dodder seeds outwardly almost indistinguishable from the seeds of its occupied cultivated plants. For this reason, there is a huge risk of sowing a quarantine pest with other flowers.
Dodder is characterized by rapid growth and can cover large areas. For example, one weed seed is enough to form a lesion with an area of more than 6 square meters. Stems with increased turgor pressure in the tissues retain their stability for a long time in case of damage and do not dry out. Forage grasses containing weed residues quickly rot and are unsuitable for animals. Dodder is considered a carrier of viral diseases. It contains toxic alkaloids that cause massive cases of cattle poisoning.
Ways to deal with dodder
How to deal with dodder
Preventive measures play an important role in the fight against this weed. These include pre-treatment of seeds prior to planting, as there is a risk of pest contamination of the seeds. If you manage to find traces of weed in the garden, then try not to use the seeds collected near this place. Such sowing material can negatively affect the harvest, so the best option would be to purchase high-quality seeds in stores that sell goods for summer cottages and gardens.
However, the main reason for the infection of plants is the diseased soil, in which the seeds of this parasite gradually accumulate.To get rid of them, it is necessary to regularly plow a piece of land to the depth of a shovel shank to accelerate seed germination. After the first shoots appear, the weed is easy to find and destroy. At this point, you can plant wheat or oats so that the soil is properly cleaned. On such crops, dodder will not be able to parasitize. Another way to stimulate weed growth is to water the soil abundantly in spring or autumn. Dodder needs food and is not adapted to develop separately from other plants. When there is no suitable nutrient nearby, the weed dies over time.
If the dodder has filled a fairly large area of the site, then all the plants will have to be mowed and burned. Only in this way can the garden be protected from further occupation by a pest. Don't wait for the weed to bloom. In the west, special gas flamethrowers are used to combat the dodder for infected vineyards and fields. In our area, this technique is rarely used for its own reasons.
It is not recommended to apply fresh manure as fertilizer to the soil; it is better to use humus. When composting manure, weed seeds die.
Chemicals
If all the measures related to preventive and agrotechnical measures did not lead to the desired result, it is worth trying to remove the dodder with pesticides. The area, cleared of weed shoots, is watered with a solution of ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate with the addition of ethylhexyl salts. However, consider the fact that other plants may die along with the pest. Unfortunately, it is impossible to cope with it with other fungicides, for example, copper sulfate, kerosene or sulfuric acid.
Herbicides can only resist young dodders. After flowering, the weed increases its resistance to chemicals. An important point is the fact that the treatment with herbicide solutions must be carried out after watering or rain. This will speed up the absorption of toxins.
Reitar, Zenkor Liquid or Gezagard are often used as drugs that effectively fight against dodder parasitizing on fruit and vegetable crops. Carrots are processed using Reytar and Stompa, taken in equal proportions. Foreign-made preparations, for example, Titus and Targa, are considered an excellent remedy for weeds of this type. In any case, for the complete recovery of plants and the release of the site from the pest, it is best to look for an integrated approach to solving this problem, while simultaneously applying chemical and agrotechnical measures.
Traditional methods and recipes will not be able to cope with dodder, so you should not waste time, but use more effective means of struggle.
Dodder species
One of the most common weed species in our latitudes is considered to be:
- Field dodder - is a weed with white flowers and long thin yellowish stems that affect the ground part of the plant. This species has a high fruiting capacity and harms legumes and melons, as well as root crops and less dangerous weeds.
- Alfalfa dodder - looks in the form of strong glomeruli intertwined thin stems of greenish or yellowish color, with a fleecy surface. The flowers are small, form bracts at the base. The weed feeds on a variety of herbaceous plants.
- Clover dodder - the stems are red and resemble an accumulation of felt. After the flowering of the weed, the plant becomes infested with it completely. The flowers are white or pink. Among the plants that are often affected by such a weed, potatoes, flax, beets, alfalfa and clover come out on top.
- Linseed dodder - stands out from other varieties of this weed with green shoots that are of medium thickness.The flowers are yellow, the seed capsule contains single or double seeds. This dodder is the main danger for beets, industrial crops and other weeds.
- Hop dodder - the stems are cordlike, colored dark red or brown. Their thickness is about 3 mm. The flowers are pink. They form oblong racemes that grow up to 2.5 cm in length. This pest feeds on the sap of ornamental fruit trees and shrubs located in the garden.
- European dodder - a threat to tobacco plants, clover, as well as currant and lilac bushes. The stems of this dodder are thin, with a reddish tint. White or pink flowers gather in ball-shaped balls, the diameter of which is about 1.5 cm.
- Dodder one-column - has strong branchy shoots, not exceeding 2 mm thickness in the section. The flowers are collected in the form of fluffy spikelets. The weed feeds on woody and shrubby plant varieties, for example, grapes, cotton, beets, sunflowers, nettles and quinoa.
- Thyme dodder - poses a threat to flax, clover, alfalfa, wormwood, potatoes, as well as other weeds. The parasite, with its red or yellow filamentous thin stems, covers the plant at the base, covering it with a continuous layer of felt. Round-shaped flowers, white with a pink tint, have small pedicels.
