If you want to get good harvests every year, you need to take care of the garden and prevent tree diseases, and in case of disease, treat them in a timely manner.
Today, a large number of diseases and pests harm apricot trees, thereby reducing yields and increasing moral losses. In this article we will look at the most common diseases and methods of combating them, which will help increase apricot fruiting, and most importantly, keep the tree alive.
Apricot tree diseases
1. Moniliosis. It comes in two main forms:
Damage to Clusterosporiasis
2. Clusterosporiasis (hole spot). Its sign is usually observed at the beginning of summer - the appearance of red lesions on the leaves. Plants that bear fruit abundantly or grow in improperly equipped planting pits are mainly susceptible to the disease. This disease also affects the bark of young shoots. Cracks appear on it, from which the gum is visible.
3. Pests:
- aphid– causes weakening of the plant, which cannot resist sooty fungus;
- plum moth– affects not only plums, but also apricots. It survives the winter in a cocoon in the soil, and at the beginning of summer, emerging butterflies lay eggs in ovaries or petioles. And in the middle of summer, summer butterflies appear and lay eggs on the fruits;
- hawthorn butterfly– chews out leaves and ovaries.
Interesting to know: Türkiye is the world leader in growing and exporting apricots.
Methods of controlling diseases and pests
It is necessary not only to fight moniliosis, but also to prevent its occurrence. Namely:
- pruning - not only affected branches are pruned, but also old ones, as well as incorrectly growing, dry ones that interfere with development
fruitful branches. After such rejuvenation, young shoots that are not affected by the disease quickly grow; - whitewash. The trunks and skeletal branches of the tree are whitened with copper sulfate or lime. Carried out in spring and autumn, rarely in winter;
- spraying - carried out from February using copper or iron sulfate and Bordeaux mixture.
Due to the fact that moniliosis develops in several stages, four periods of plant protection are necessary. The work carried out during these periods is as follows:
1. It occurs in March, before the buds open, provided that the ambient temperature is not lower than 5 degrees.
2. The period during flowering involves three times of treatment:
- 3 days before flowering;
- during it;
- two weeks after the end of the previous stage.
3. When brown spots appear on ripening fruits and their rotting, it is dangerous to use chemical treatments, therefore mechanical harvesting of the fruits is recommended.
4. Autumn period - spraying is also carried out.
With klyasterosporiosis, the summer resident will need chemistry to help. A diseased plant should be treated every 14 days with any of the following substances:
- copper oxychloride;
- Bordeaux mixture;
- tsineb.
Aphids are collected and destroyed mechanically. You can also use spraying with compounds of soap, water and:
- ash;
- dandelion;
- tobacco
The codling moth is quite effectively eliminated by collecting and destroying affected fruits, digging up the top soil around the tree, and cleaning the bark.
Additional measures to combat apricot diseases
1. Improved air circulation.
2. Planting disease-resistant species in the garden.
3. Root pruning.
4. Timely feeding.
As we already know, moniliosis is a dangerous disease of apricot, but although it causes great damage to trees, it is not capable of destroying it. However, a tree weakened by this disease loses the ability to withstand the attacks of other diseases, after which it dies. In this regard, it is necessary to take measures to prevent moniliosis, even if the trees are not infected with it.
Thanks to proper care, healthy trees can grow up to 700 mm per year and delight with an abundance of healthy fruits.
Below, we invite you to watch a video on how to trim moniliosis lesions on apricots:
A common problem that appears when growing an apricot tree is related to changes in leaves. The reasons why apricot leaves turn yellow are influenced by diseases, pests, lack of substances, soil deterioration and weather conditions.
Wilted apricot leaves are a sign of disease
The main causes of the disease
The most common causes of wilting are:
- Impact of aphids. This is a small insect that leads not only to yellowing of apricot leaves, but also to its death. It feeds on leaves, sucking the juice from them: they turn yellow and then curl up into a tube. The presence of aphids will become noticeable on apricots if you look closely at them. Chemicals that should be sprayed on the apricot and nearby plants will help in pest control.
- Exposure to animals. Mice and hares can harm apricots by damaging the bark near the rhizome. To protect against them, wrap the trunk from the ground to a height of 1 m. This will also insulate the tree for the winter. Ruberoid or tiles are used for winding.
- Lack of useful elements. If there is not enough magnesium or phosphorus, this causes yellowing of the leaves. Trees need to be fed with mineral fertilizers, preferably in the spring. This will not only protect the tree from developing diseases, but will also increase the amount of harvest.
- Climate. Another reason for yellowing leaves is bad weather conditions. These include drought, extreme heat, and prolonged rains. During dry periods, water the trees well, and after excessive rains, stop moistening the soil.
Verticillium wilt
One of the causes of leaf changes is verticillium wilt. This apricot disease is caused by fungal spores. They can remain in the soil for a long time, but when exposed to insects they are transferred to the bark, remaining in the cracks of the trunk. Sometimes fungal spores spread so strongly in the soil that while the roots absorb nutrients, the spores also penetrate the tree.
Having become infected with this infection, the plant begins to dry out, the leaves become yellow, lethargic, then dry out and die. If treatment is not started quickly, the trees will die and dry out. For this purpose they use “Fundazol”, “Topsin-M”, “Vitaros”, “Previkur”. As a preventive measure, the bottom of the trunk should be treated with lime mortar, which will get rid of insects that carry fungal spores.
"Topsin-M" will help fight infection
What to do if the cause of yellowing is not established
It often happens that it is difficult to determine the reason why apricot leaves have dried out. If no pest or weather effects are noted, it is best to remove the seedling.
When planting and caring for the plant, you must follow a number of rules:
- Make sure that the seedlings are healthy and not infected with fungal diseases. You need to check if there are pests on them.
- If injuries occur, the damage must be covered as soon as possible with a special garden varnish.
- Leaves and branches that have wilted should be promptly pruned and burned.
- In spring and autumn, you need to spray the trees with Bordeaux mixture; occasionally the plant is sprayed in the summer, but after harvesting.
- Harvest ripe fruits in a timely manner.
If the tree cannot be saved, then its roots must be uprooted, and apricots can no longer be planted in this place; only planting pome fruit trees is permissible.
Bordeaux mixture is used to prevent infections
The main reasons why leaves wither and turn yellow are exposure to pests and diseases. If the tree is sick, it must be sprayed with special preparations, but it is easier to protect the tree from pests and diseases than to get rid of them. Therefore, always do preventive spraying in the spring, before flowering, and in the fall, after harvesting. Water the trees on time and feed them with mineral or organic fertilizers.
Vlad
Why do branches dry on apricot trees?
Experienced gardeners say that the days when it was possible to collect honey apricots in buckets without much effort are long gone. Today, this fruit tree has its own problems and threats, which not only deprive the owners of the harvest, but can also destroy the plant. One of the most dangerous signs is drying branches. Why does this happen and how to stop it? Every gardener should know the answers to these questions.
Apricot fire blight
This is one of the most terrible diseases that can infect a fruit tree. All over the world, from Russia to the USA, this disease destroys plants and forces gardeners to incur heavy losses.
Attention! Recognizing bacterial blight on apricots is not that difficult. Along with the drying of the branches on the tree, ruptures in the bark with leakage of milky-white liquid, blackening of leaves and buds are observed.
The biggest danger of this disease is that it is almost impossible to cure. This is why proper prevention of fire blight on apricots is so important:
- Before you buy planting material for the garden, you need to find out if there is a source of bacterial infection in the place where it was grown.
- During the growing season, young apricots need to be treated with preparations that contain copper.
- When performing preventive pruning of trees, you need to use clean tools, which should be treated with formaldehyde solution or alcohol. The sections are covered with water-based paint with a small admixture of copper sulfate, before they are treated with varnish.
Drying tree branches may be caused by improper care.
- Wild rosaceae should be removed within 100 m around the garden.
Advice. If a fire blight infected tree is found in your garden, it is best to cut it down and burn it to protect the remaining plants in the garden. You can try to save a tree that is not too damaged by removing diseased branches.
Other reasons for drying out of apricot branches
Scientists name more than 100 reasons that can lead to drying out and death of apricots. Here are the most common ones, besides bacterial burns:
Eating sweet apricots is easy and pleasant. But growing a good tree with high yield in your garden is not so simple. Success in this awaits only those who are not lazy to look for the necessary information and use it.
Apricot diseases: video
Growing tasty and juicy apricots in your garden is quite difficult. Need to know. The blossoming green crown of a fruit tree can suddenly turn limp and yellow. If the leaves of an apricot wither, this is the first signal that the plant needs help. In this case, immediate action is required to avoid the spread of the cause of the disease to the fruits.
Causes of foliage wilting
The main reasons for the lethargy of the apricot crown include 4 factors:
Pest infestation
Another lover of apricot leaves are leaf rollers. Butterflies very quickly cause greenery to wilt. To combat insects, the effective remedy Chlorophos is used. The chemical can only be used after harvesting the apricots. If it is necessary to carry out treatment during fruiting, apply an infusion of garlic. To prevent damage to the bark by rodents, the trunk is regularly whitewashed to a height of 1 meter.
Diseases
Various diseases cause apricot leaves to wither . Moniliosis infection is common. The fungus appears in damp, rainy weather, when spring days are quite cool. There are two types of fungal symptoms. In spring it looks like a burn, in summer it looks like gray rot. At the initial stage, the crown acquires a brown tint, then dries out and falls off. Then the disease spreads to young shoots and manifests itself in the form of cracks in the bark. The advanced stage affects the condition of the fruit. To fight infection, all damaged areas must be removed. Treat sore spots with garden varnish. As a preventative measure after harvest, . A special preparation is used to irrigate the crown.
Diseases of apricot crops include a soil fungus, the causative agent of verticillium. The damage can spread to all the trees in the garden. First of all, the fungus has a negative effect on the root system. Infection occurs from insects that carry the infection. The access to nutrients is stopped. The foliage turns yellow, the shoots dry out. If the disease is not noticed in the early stages, it will lead to complete loss of the harvest and death of the tree. From the first days of the lesion, spraying with Fundazol or Topsin - M is carried out.
Another dangerous disease is clasterosporiasis. Symptoms appear as brown spots on the foliage. At later stages, holes form in place of the spots, and the bark of the branches becomes covered with multiple cracks. Damaged areas should be removed from the tree immediately. To preserve the culture, treatment is carried out with 4% Bordeaux mixture. An alternative is to use Chorus. The drug is diluted in water, 3 g per ten-liter bucket.
To preserve the harvest, when the first symptoms of the disease are detected, the diseased plant should be quickly and efficiently treated. Preventive measures will protect not only apricots, but also other plants from various infections. Fruits grown in your own garden are much tastier and will bring great benefits to the whole family.
Why do apricot branches dry out? There may be several reasons for the drying out of fruit tree branches. One of them is the disease cytosporosis. Apricots are primarily affected, although other stone fruits are also affected.
First of all, weakened trees damaged by frost, drought, and sunburn can be called vulnerable. The disease is also called infectious drying, that is, fungal spores penetrate through various mechanical damage, frost holes, cuts and saw cuts. It turns out that winter has passed, and so have the frosts. The tree develops and suddenly... Quite unexpectedly, we notice that the leaves begin to wither. Here and there. For some reason the young branches are drying up. Not only apricot, the same picture happens with peach. But individual sections of bark, entire branches are already drying out, and even trees are dying.
It seems to us that this happened suddenly. But cytosporosis, the drying out of fruit trees, does not come so easily. This means that the trees were weakened and wounded. The fungus penetrated the wood and began to develop there. The mycelium even penetrates into the core. An increased secretion of gum can be noted. It is she who disrupts the movement of juices, clogging blood vessels, which leads to death. With the onset of warmth, in spring and autumn, outbreaks occur cytosporosis diseases. Drying can occur simply at lightning speed. Unlike black crayfish, the bark does not turn black, but has a brownish-red color. Also, it does not peel off, but is wet. Pay attention to the pycnidia - these are dark gray pads, located over the entire area, and not concentrically.
Although the disease cytosporosis differs from black cancer, the control measures are the same.
First of all, do not allow spores to penetrate into the wood. To do this, seal the wounds with garden pitch, cover large areas with a mixture of mullein and clay, and cement large hollows. All damage from frost, sun, and drought must be disinfected with copper sulfate and then repaired.
Unfortunately, wound treatment is only effective in the initial stages, that is, before the fungus penetrates the wood and cambium.
Potassium and phosphorus supplements will be very useful. Be sure to apply potassium-phosphorus fertilizers in the fall. You can use available fertilizer for this purpose - ash. Combine fertilizing with watering. A tree lacking moisture and nutrients is more susceptible to disease. Now there are many excellent products for foliar feeding on sale. They allow nutrients to quickly penetrate the leaves and support the plant. Don't neglect such opportunities.
If you are unsure about the health of your garden or if the winter was difficult and many branches were damaged, then in early spring spray with a 3% solution of Bordeaux mixture.
Read more about means of combating fruit drying read the article fruit tree cancer . Do not neglect winter whitewashing. In the spring it will no longer be useful, but will only become a decoration. On the contrary, this operation, carried out on time, will protect against frost damage.
The reason for the drying out of fruit trees may be monilial burn. Read more about it.
Often contracted Verticillium wilt (wilt)
Loading...