Fungal diseases of apple trees

Apple tree is the most widespread garden culture in amateur gardens. Such popularity is explained not only by the value of the fruits obtained, but also by the unpretentiousness of the plant itself. The apple tree is not too demanding for the composition of the soil, it tolerates winter frosts well. However, like any living organism, this garden culture is prone to diseases. The most dangerous diseases of apple trees are fungal scab, black cancer and fruit rot.

Parsh is a fungal disease that occurs in all parts of the country. Fungi affect fruits and leaves, and sometimes shoots become infected. Pathogens survive the winter on fallen leaves. After the snow melts, fungi form perithets, which look like black hillocks formed on fallen leaves. After maturing, the fruit body bursts, throwing into the air a lot of fungal spores. Once on a tree, the spores germinate, forming new mycelium, penetrating into the tissues of fruits and leaves. Affected by scab, apples crack, they form black and dark brown spots with a whitish coating. The same spots can be seen on infected leaves. For the development of mycelium, moisture is necessary, so the scab spreads particularly quickly if the weather is rainy and warm.

How to treat fungal diseases of apple trees? The main attention is recommended to give measures of prevention, as well as containment of the distribution of scab in the summer. If the garden is affected by this fungal infection, then even before the spring budding, the trees need to be treated by spraying them with pesticides. In this case, a solution of nitrafen (300 grams per ten-liter bucket of water) or a 1% solution of DNOC is used.

In early May, in the so-called green cone phase, the trees are sprayed with Bordeaux liquid (3-4% concentration). To prepare this mixture, you need to dissolve 300-400 grams of copper sulfate in a small amount of water, and then bring the volume of the solution to five liters. In another vessel, 300-400 grams of lime is quenched with a small amount of water, and the volume of the solution is also adjusted to five liters. Now mix both solutions and apply the resulting bright blue formulation for spraying.

Diseases of apple trees caused by fungal infections are not limited to scab, not less widespread disease is fruit rot. The source of infection are the apples that were affected last year, which remained on the tree for the winter. In the spring in these mummified fruits maturing spores, which again infect the tree.

Like other fungal diseases of apple trees, fruit rot most actively develops in damp and fairly warm weather. The fastest affected fruit is already having mechanical damage, which, for example, can be inflicted by insects.

If the affected fruit falls into storage, then it will infect healthy apples, especially the infection spreads, if the store has a high level of humidity.

To combat fruit rot use the same drugs as for treatment of scab. It is equally important to take measures to prevent the defeat of apples with caterpillars and other insect pests. A mandatory measure is the regular removal from the tree of diseased fruits and their destruction.

Another group, which includes fungal diseases of the apple tree, is called black cancer. It is a chronic infection that affects the ground skeletal parts of the tree. Black cancer is a disease of old trees, young apple trees, as a rule, do not get sick. The manifestation of the infection looks like brown spots, which seem to be slightly pressed into the body of the trunk or large branches. Then the spots are transformed into small hillocks over which the bark becomes black. Growing over time, the stain can ring the trunk, as a result of which the tree will die.

Penetrates infection into the trunk of the tree through mechanical damage - cracks, sunny or frost burns, mechanical damage to the bark.

Preventive measures against infection with black cancer include the proper selection of the site under the garden, the selection of varieties resistant to infection, covering the places of damage to the cortex on slices, and removing from the garden sick trees. But what if the infection has already occurred, can the apple tree survive? Diseases of fungal origin can be cured rather difficult, but possible. If you find signs of black cancer, you must carefully cut out the affected area, taking at least two centimeters of healthy tissue. Then it is necessary to disinfect the cut site using a five percent solution of copper sulfate or diluted to a three percent concentration of nitrafen. After that, the place of the cut is covered with nylon putty or a mixture of clay and mullein (ratio of components 1: 1).

At the initial stage of the disease, you can do without removing part of the cortex. In this case, the affected area is thoroughly impregnated with copper naphthenate dissolved in kerosene, the concentration of the solution is 20-25%.