In order for the garden to please with a rich harvest of fruits, the summer resident will need more than one year of hard and painstaking work. It is not enough just to plant seedlings, water and loosen them in time. You need to closely monitor the health of apple and pear trees. After all, diseases of fruit trees can quickly destroy both young and adult plants.

Causes of diseases

It is always easier to prevent than to cure. Therefore, it is important to know the causes of the onset and development of diseases in fruit crops.

The most common of these is mechanical damage to shoots, leaves and bark of fruit trees. Such damage occurs at any time of the year. In winter, this is due to heavy snowfalls and freezing rain. In the cold season, rodents are a great danger. The bark and young shoots suffer from their sharp teeth.

In summer, leaves and branches break from strong wind, rain and hail. The green parts of the plant and the root system are destroyed by insect pests. The person himself often becomes a dangerous cause. For example, the trunk of an apple tree is easily damaged by careless processing in the spring, and branches may be damaged during harvesting.

Important! Even a small crack in the trunk of a plant can be a breeding ground for pathogens.

Another cause of disease and even death of trees is thermal damage. They arise as a result of high or low temperatures. For example, in frosty winters with little snow, the wood of the trunk and branches freeze out. As a result, the vascular system of trees is destroyed. In spring, mineral nutrition of plants is sluggish, which leads to its death.

Summer heat, as well as frost, can lead to disease in fruit trees. Burns are formed on the bark and leaves under the scorching rays of the sun. They lead to the development of necrosis. This, in turn, reduces the rate of photosynthesis, and accordingly, reduces the quality of organic nutrition. The fruits in this case develop poorly. They are small and often ugly.

One of the main causes of fruit tree disease is pathogenic microorganisms: fungi, bacteria and viruses. This leads to the development of such dangerous diseases as putrefactive necrosis, powdery mildew, infectious chlorosis, rust, scab, vascular mycosis. Dangerous pathogens inhibit the vital activity of the plant and disrupt metabolic processes. As a result, crop yields are falling sharply.

May contribute to a drop in yield

Numerous pests - insects, molluscs, spiders and mites - are infecting gardens. Gluttonous caterpillars, bark beetles, moths, leafworms and silkworms damage everything. As a result, the development of trees stops, which can provoke death. If the apple tree survives, you should not expect a rich harvest from it next year.

Deficiency or excess of minerals in the soil can provoke dangerous diseases of fruit trees. So, the pale green small leaves of a plant are a signal of a lack of nitrogen. Weak chlorosis between the veins of the leaves will tell the gardener about the lack of soil potassium. Brown spots on the leaves indicate a copper deficiency.

Signs of disease

The following groups of diseases are distinguished in fruit crops:

  • fungal (phyllostictosis, septoria, moniliosis, milky shine, cytosporosis, etc.).
  • bacterial (root cancer, bacteriosis, fire blight, etc.).
  • viral (proliferation, chlorosis, etc.).

In order to successfully treat a disease, you need to accurately diagnose. For each disease, certain signs are characteristic, for example, a change in the color of leaves and bark, the appearance of a white or black bloom on different parts of the plant, putrefactive changes, etc.

The pear often suffers from rust. It can be recognized by the round orange spots that appear on the leaves of the crop. The spots grow rapidly, darken and become covered with a gray moldy coating. Rust build-ups form on the back of the leaf, in which the spores mature. In a short time, the leaves dry and fall off. If you do not take action in time, the tree will stop bearing fruit and die.

Phylostictosis affects the leaves of the apple tree. It can be recognized by small oval spots that are predominantly brown in color. The spots are surrounded by a black rim.

Phylostictosis of leaves

Moniliosis is one of the most common diseases of fruit crops in places with a temperate climate. It is very easy to recognize it by solid brown rot, which almost completely covers the fruits of the apple and pear. At the same time, the pulp becomes pasty. Concentric circles appear on the affected part of the fruit. In appearance, the spores of the dangerous fungus resemble miniature light gray beads.

A bacterial burn can be recognized by characteristic lesions that resemble severe burns. Shoots and branches of plants quickly turn black. The bark on young branches swells with bubbles and becomes wet. In the affected area, a yellowish liquid with a sour odor is released. Unripe fruits rot.

Saplings of fruit trees can be affected by bacterial cancer. Disease-causing bacteria enter the roots of a young plant from contaminated soil. They cause rapid division of root cells, which promotes the growth of dense woody formations. This inhibits the work of the root system. The tree begins to dry out and quickly dies.

Note! Bacterial cancer spores can survive in soil for many years.

Methods of treatment and prevention of diseases

Today, the description of diseases of fruit crops is easy to find in the special literature. Most diseases are treated quite successfully. With the help of timely prevention, the development of many ailments can be prevented. Therefore, it is important to highlight general methods of combating diseases that every gardener should know and apply. The most effective among them are:

  • annual sanitary pruning of damaged and old branches in spring and autumn;
  • careful collection and destruction of infected fruits;
  • protection against mechanical damage;
  • preventive treatment of fruit trees in the spring;
  • careful collection and burning of deciduous litter, dry and damaged branches;
  • storing only healthy fruits.

Treatments for fruit trees

Fruit and gray rot, white spot, Alternaria, curly leaves, clasterosporium, scab, mildew and powdery mildew - this is a far from complete list of diseases of horticultural crops. The most effective way to combat dangerous microorganisms is to treat plants with fungicides.

Horus, a popular antifungal agent, is a broad-spectrum drug. Its use is possible at low spring temperatures (3-5 ° C). The active substance easily penetrates the cells of the mycelium even at the wintering stage and destroys them. The instruction recommends preparing the chorus solution only before processing the plants. The granules of this toxic chemical dissolve easily in water. You cannot store the prepared fungicide solution.

Often, gardeners are frightened by the cobweb that forms on fruit trees in spring. The cause of its appearance can be spider mites, apple moth, gypsy moth, winter moth or honey beetle.

The spider mite is a dangerous pest that damages all parts of the plant.If the cobweb is very small, and the leaves are covered with silvery-cream spots, then this is a red tick. In this case, the apple tree must be treated with bicol or verticillin.

Spider mite

Other types of spider mites are more aggressive. They suck the sap from the foliage, which leads to premature leaf fall and even the death of the apple tree. This is why it is recommended to spray the orchard with the tobacco solution. For it, take 1 kg of tobacco dust and pour 10 liters of water into it and insist for several days. Strain the tobacco infusion and add the same amount of water and 45-50 g of shavings of laundry soap. Processing is carried out twice with a break of 7 days.

A common disease of fruit crops, scab is known for the fact that the fungus settles on the fruit and spoils their appearance. First, cracks appear on apples and pears. Later they turn into a black, lichen-like plaque. The leaves are covered with light green spots. The damaged areas quickly darken and die off, and holes are formed that look like raindrops. The affected fruit will not tolerate long-term storage.

Mosaicity is a viral disease. Its distinctive symptomatology is the appearance of a yellow-green mosaic pattern on the leaves. Leaf areas devoid of chlorophyll begin to dry out quickly, which leads to metabolic disturbances. The wood softens, the branches become brittle and break easily under the weight of the fruit. The infection promotes the development of bunches of fattening shoots. Fruits crack, become covered with a dense crust, lose their taste and presentation.

Unfortunately, the treatment of viral diseases of fruit crops with the help of chemical preparations does not bring success. Therefore, simple agrotechnical rules will help to reduce the risks of infection of apple trees with the mosaic virus:

  • pruning can only be carried out during the deep dormancy phase of plants (February);
  • complex fertilizers should be used for feeding, and nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers should be abandoned;
  • zinc sulfate reduces the effect of the virus, therefore, fertilizing with micronutrient fertilizer with zinc should be done;
  • it is necessary to increase the immunity of plants to viruses by spraying fruit trees with phytohormones epin or zircon.

Folk recipes for combating diseases of fruit crops

You can also fight dangerous diseases of the orchard with the help of proven folk remedies. This is especially true during the ripening of the fruit.

One of the most common diseases of fruit trees is powdery mildew. The leaves are covered with a white powdery coating, which gradually turns brown. In this case, the leaves dry out, fruit ovaries are poorly formed and crumble. In order to save crops, gardeners can try some good recipes to combat this fungal disease.

  • For 4.5-5 liters of water 1 tbsp. a spoonful of soda, 0.5 teaspoons of small shavings of laundry soap, 20 ml of vegetable oil and 1 aspirin tablet. The solution must be mixed thoroughly. Spray trees every 10 days.
  • Milk whey is a good remedy for powdery mildew. Lactic acid bacteria, safe for fruit crops, quickly crowd out fungal infections in the competition. For processing the culture, an aqueous solution of serum is used in a ratio of 1:10.
  • Medicinal phytonastes based on marigolds, calendula, wormwood and celandine are prepared at the rate of 3 kg of grass per 10 liters of water. Plants need to be crushed well, pour warm water and leave for 10 days. Spraying of fruit crops is done once a week.

Important! If you plant pyrethrum (Dolmat chamomile) in the garden between fruit trees, then the likelihood of infection of cultivated plants with powdery mildew decreases significantly. In addition, the plant is not demanding to care for and will delight summer residents with its bright colors all summer and autumn.

A dangerous pest of garden crops, aphids form whole colonies on plant shoots. The result of mass destruction by a pest can be a complete loss of yield and even the death of a plant. Getting rid of a dangerous pest is not easy, but ordinary wood ash can come to the rescue. To prepare the product, take 2 tbsp.ash and pour 10 liters of hot water (70-80 ° C) into it. Add 1 tbsp to the mixture. a spoonful of liquid soap and insist for a day. Plants are sprayed with a strained solution in warm weather. The processing time coincides with the period of flowering and ovary formation.

Another effective way to combat aphids is the treatment with black henbane infusion. You will need 1 kg of dry crushed raw materials, which should be poured with 10 liters of water and insisted for 12-15 hours. Strain the finished infusion, dissolve 40-50 g of soap shavings in it and spray the plant.

Important! Processing with black henbane infusion should be carried out strictly before flowering. All parts of the plant are poisonous and contain alkaloids dangerous to humans, so you need to work with it carefully: do not get it on the skin of your hands and mouth, keep it away from children and pets.

With a dangerous moth, capable of destroying a rich harvest of fruits, you need to start fighting in the spring. This prolific pest hibernates in the soil and bark of apple trees. With the onset of heat, it begins to actively multiply. For the fight against voracious larvae, a decoction of wormwood is best suited. Fresh grass (0.5 kg) must be well chopped and filled with water (8-10 liters). Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer over low heat for 30-40 minutes. Cool the broth, dissolve 30-45 g of grated soap in it and spray on garden crops. The processing time coincides with the end of flowering plants. Spraying should be repeated after 6-7 days.

Taking care of an orchard is difficult, but interesting. A caring owner must be patient and considerate of his plants. Indeed, only timely work and preventive measures can prevent crop loss and the death of fruit trees.