Step-by-step preparation of a solution from Bordeaux mixture

Most of the vegetable and fruit crops are exposed to fungal diseases. Usually, the disease overtakes during periods of humid, hot summer. In this case, the plant begins to rot, stops growing. Many drugs have been invented for the prevention of common diseases, the destruction of pathogenic fungi.

The name of the Bordeaux mixture is associated with the French city of Bordeaux. After all, it was there that scientists made a drug that, since the 19th century, successfully destroys pathogens. The liquid is also effective for the prevention of fungal diseases in the garden and garden.

Content:

• Bordeaux mixture - what is it
• Methods for preparing a fungicidal solution
• Use of Bordeaux mixture, rules for processing plants

Bordeaux mixture - what is it

Bordeaux liquid contains two main components that act in different ways. The active part of copper sulfate is copper ions together with crystalline hydrates of sulfuric acid salt.

Given the high acidity of copper sulfate, it is not used in its pure form. After all, the substance will burn the plant, destroy it. But for pathogenic microorganisms, pests of the garden and vegetable garden, copper sulfate is a poison.

You can buy the drug ready-made, or mix the components yourself.

The property of lime to neutralize acids has been known for a long time. By mixing quicklime with copper sulfate, a Bordeaux liquid is obtained for processing plants.

Methods for preparing a fungicidal solution

The effectiveness of the effect of Bordeaux liquid depends on the ratio of the components of the mixture. In ready-made preparations offered by stores, a litmus strip is put into the bag. She will tell you if the solution is prepared correctly or not. It should be neutral or slightly alkaline. Then the liquid will acquire the color of the sky. Litmus paper will check the solution more reliably.

It will turn blue - there is more alkali in the mixture, red - acid. A metal object immersed in a liquid - a wire, a nail or a bolt - becomes covered with a green coating in an alkaline environment, and a reddish-copper coating in an acidic environment.

To bring the Bordeaux mixture to the desired state, it is diluted with milk of lime.

It is not difficult to prepare the Bordeaux mixture on your own (this is how a one percent solution of Bordeaux liquid is prepared):

1. First, a container is selected. It should be made of wood, clay, glass. An enamelled bucket or saucepan will work as well.
2. Powder with copper is dissolved in hot water, taking 100 grams of vitriol per liter.
3. After thorough mixing, add five liters of cold water.
4. Water at room temperature is poured into a container with lime in the amount of 120 grams.
5. After some time, slaked lime and copper sulphate are mixed by first filtering them through several layers of gauze.
6. When making a mixture, it is necessary to constantly shake and stir it.

In a three percent preparation, the content of quicklime will reach 450 grams, and copper sulfate - 300 grams. Ten liters of water is required. It is recommended to increase the amount of lime, then the chemical reaction will go well. Use the ratio of copper sulfate to lime as 1: 3.5.The ready-made Bordeaux mixture must be used immediately, otherwise its beneficial properties will deteriorate every day.

The prepared solution is not mixed with other preparations containing organophosphorus substances, karbofos. The only one with whom the Bordeaux liquid gets along is colloidal sulfur. Only a properly prepared solution will have a healing effect on trees, shrubs, root crops.

Use of Bordeaux mixture, rules for processing plants

The effectiveness of Bordeaux liquid in the fight against numerous diseases of fruit, berry, vegetable crops has been tested by time. The solution is saved pears and apple trees from scab infection, raspberries - purple spot, currant and gooseberry - anthracnose, septoria. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture tomatoes not afraid of fungus phytophthora, grape opposes mildew, and Cherry and plum - perforated spot, gray rot. The fungicide is also effective against onion flies.

It is best to apply Bordeaux mixture for spraying in early spring, before the buds have blossomed.

This will allow not to damage them with the drug, but to destroy the fungi that are starting to become active. In the summer, spraying with Bordeaux mixture is rarely used, only when symptoms of the disease are detected. In this case, the treatment is carried out with a one percent solution. It is important that the plant is completely watered with a fungicidal substance, then the disease will recede. The procedure is repeated three weeks later. It is necessary to stop processing three weeks before fruit ripening.

Each crop has its own pattern of spraying with Bordeaux liquid:

• Apple trees in the spring are treated with a 3% solution of the product, after flowering - with a 1% solution.
• The currants will be under reliable protection when treated with the mixture at the time of leafing and after flowering.
• Strawberries treated with a 1% solution of liquid two to three times per season. First, during the period of outcropping, then after three weeks and after harvest.
• One percent remedy is used for the prevention of diseases tomato... The processing of tomato bushes is started two weeks after they were planted in open ground, repeating the procedure twice with a break of a week.
• Sick cucumbersgrown in greenhouses will recover after spraying with a bordeaux liquid solution.
• For potatoes the remedy is also used for lesions by late blight. For planting vegetables, a one percent preparation is used.
• Fruit crops need a drug for prophylaxis, for vegetables as a medicinal solution.

More information can be found in the video:

Precautions when using Bordeaux mixture include the following:

1. The dishes in which the product was prepared cannot be used for other purposes related to feeding animals, storing water in it.
2. The sprayers are kept downwind during operation.
3. For processing potatoes or tomatoes, three, maximum ten liters per hundred square meters will be enough. For a small apple tree, three liters of solution are poured into the sprayer.
4. If the remains of the drug are found, they are poured into a pit located away from water bodies and wells.
5. The mixture is treated with gloves. After the procedure, hands and face are thoroughly washed.
6. If even splashes of liquid get on the fruits, then the products are thoroughly washed before use.

An effective remedy against diseases of horticultural and horticultural crops - Bordeaux liquid must be used competently, in compliance with safety rules.