Spring - apricot season for treating diseases and pests

Growing juicy apricots in your own garden is the dream of many gardeners. This can be prevented by tree diseases and pests. It is necessary to start protecting your crop already in early spring.

Spring apricot treatment for diseases

In spring, fruit trees emerge from a state of winter dormancy, and with the trees, overwintered mycelium awaken, spores of fungal diseases of fruit crops. Apricot is susceptible to cytosporosis, root bacterial cancer, milky shine and a number of other ailments. Spores of these fungi, as a rule, live in the soil, eating decomposed plant debris. Through damaged roots or the bark of the lower part of the stem, they can enter the conducting system of wood and spread throughout the tree. Due to clogging of the pathways of sap flow with fungal spores and poisoning of plant tissues with toxic secretions, the vital activity of the root system is disrupted. But the greatest danger for apricot is moniliosis (monilial burn and gray rot of the fruit) and kleasterosporiosis (holey leaf spot).

Treatment and preventive treatment of wood from moniliosis

Monilial burn is characteristic for the spring, when the apricot begins to bloom. Contribute to the onset and spread of the disease increased humidity and lower air temperature. Apricot trees in regions with a characteristic lingering, cold spring, with fogs and dampness are at high risk of being affected by moniliosis. For peduncles, the critical air temperature is to lower it to -1.5^aboutC. The ovaries are affected by moniliosis and die when the temperature drops to -0.6^aboutFROM.

Signs of a monilial burn:

• flower petals become dark, and then brown. Peduncles dry out and crumble;
• leaves and young growths (mainly annuals) also turn brown and dry;
• in adult trees, the bark of the trunk and branches is covered with cracks, from which a large amount of gum is released.

In the process of the development of the disease, the fungus secretes toxins that kill apricot cells and feeds on the already dead parts of the affected tree. Apricot with signs of moniliosis looks burnt, with dry branches and leaves.

Video: Monilial Apricot Burn

Monilial (gray) rot of fruits occurs in the summer, when the set fruits begin to grow and ripen. Spores of the fungus appear on the fruits first in the form of individual spots of light gray or brown color. Soon they merge into continuous brown layers of mycelium. Within 5-7 days, the apricots rot, dry out and fall prematurely. Often, mummified fruits remain hanging on branches until late autumn. These affected apricots are carriers of a fungal infection next spring.

Photo gallery: signs of the various stages of moniliosis

Manifesting in the form of a monilial burn, the disease not only affects the fruits, but also causes significant damage to the vegetative parts of the apricot tree.

My experience in growing apricots for 17 years led me to the conclusion: if for some reason you do not take timely measures to destroy the fungal infection on the site, then in some years you can lose up to 40-50% of the crop. At the same time, an important component in the fight against fungi is not only the treatment of trees with fungicides, but also the implementation of preventive work. The rules of agricultural technology, which imply constant care for apricots, should not be neglected. These are timely watering and top dressing of trees, weed control, autumn digging of the soil, loosening and mulching of trunks. Considering that the fungal spores winter in plant debris (affected shoots and mummified fruits) winter, in the autumn, all fallen leaves, trimmed branches should be carefully raked and burned, and dried fruit remaining on the branches must be removed. All this will allow trees to increase immunity, their ability to resist fungal infections.

Table: stages (cycles) of processing apricot from a disease of moniliosis

A tank mixture is a composition of drugs for various purposes (insecticides, fungicides, etc.), mixed in one tank for spraying. It is used to treat fruit trees from diseases and pests. The tank mixture is characterized by a complex effect on fungi, viruses or insects. The use of such compositions can reduce the consumption of each of the component preparations by 50% and get a more effective result from processing due to a combination of the properties of the substances used in the tank mixture. In addition to protecting against diseases and pests, the tank mixture helps prevent diseases by stimulating apricot trees to increase resistance to adverse factors.

Video: the fight against moniliosis

Viruses and fungi that cause plant diseases tend to mutate and develop resistance (resistance) to a certain type of drug. The products listed in the table are not recommended for spraying all at the same time. They must be used alternating during the growing season of apricot.

Treatment of apricot from klyasterosporioz (hole blotch)

Kleasterosporiosis is a fungal disease. Like moniliosis, it can kill apricots if urgent measures are not taken to prevent healthy trees or to treat diseased trees. The disease begins in late spring and early summer with a darkening of the affected fruit and vegetative buds, which stop growing and do not bloom. Then the fungus passes to the leaves and young shoots, gradually covering the whole tree:

• cracks form on the stem, branches and shoots, turning into wounds and ulcers, from which gum is released;
• brown spots appear on the leaves 2-5 mm in size, which quickly fall out, forming holes;
• with severe damage, the leaves fall prematurely;
• small reddish spots appear on the surface of the fruit, then they increase in size and take the form of convex pads of a dark brown color;
• spots gradually merge and turn into a continuous crust of scab;
• of the wounds that cover the fruit, gum also stands out.

Photo gallery: apricot affection with kleasterosporiosis

If spores of the monilia fungus get into the wounds on the bark and apricot fruits, the tree is very likely to get monilial (gray) rot. Most often, trees weakened by adverse external factors, damaged by harmful insects, or unsuitable for growing varieties in this region are affected by kleasterosporiosis.

The development of the disease contribute to:

• wrong choice of seedling planting site (lowland, damp, close standing of groundwater);
• waterlogged heavy soil in the cultivation area;
• climatic conditions unsuitable for this apricot variety (cold spring and summer, heavy rainfall).

Video: kleasterosporiosis (hole blotch) and its treatment

There are several ways to treat apricot from this fungal disease: spraying with fungicides or treatment with copper-containing drugs. It is recommended to use systemic fungicides Skor, Topaz and Horus: either in the form of a tank mixture in various combinations, or each drug separately. Treatment with fungicides is more preferable and effective, since they are absorbed by plant tissues within 2-3 hours after spraying and are not washed off by water in case of precipitation. For spraying with copper-containing chemicals, 3-4% Bordeaux mixture (300-400 g per 10 l of water) or 1% copper sulfate (100 g per 10 l of water) is used. In both cases, a 4-fold treatment of the affected trees and soil in the trunk circles is performed:

1. The first treatment is in the green cone phase.
2. The second treatment is in the pink bud phase.
3. The third treatment - 2 weeks after the second (after flowering apricot).
4. The fourth treatment is carried out as necessary (for example, if it rains).

It is necessary to stop the treatment of trees with chemicals no later than 2-3 weeks before harvesting. As a preventive measure against clasterosporiosis, it is necessary to cut off damaged branches, carefully collect and burn all plant debris (dried leaves, fruits) of diseased trees. Sections should be treated with a mixture of 1% solution of copper sulfate (or 3% solution of iron sulfate) with lime. Cracks with gum that have come out need to be cleaned to healthy wood, sanitized with 1% copper sulfate (100 g per 10 liters of water), dried and covered with a garden varnish or Runnet preparation for some time.

Scab and ways to deal with it

Scab is not so common and dangerous disease for apricots as moniliosis and klyasterosporiosis, but it gives gardeners a lot of trouble and trouble. A sign of the disease is the appearance on the leaves and fruits of a velvety brownish-olive or gray-black coating. The leaves gradually dry up and fall off, the same thing happens with annual growths affected by the disease. Then the fungus switches to flowers and ovaries. Fruits begin to grow unevenly, ulcers and warts form on their surface, they crack and lose their presentation. Manifestations of scab strongly affect apricot productivity, fruit quality, and also contribute to a decrease in winter hardiness of trees and resistance to fruit rot due to weakening of their vitality.

Affected scab fruits lose their presentation and slow down in development

The initial period of the disease is considered to be the end of April or beginning of May, when the apricot blooms. At the end of May, secondary signs of the disease appear. High air temperature favors the development of fungal spores (20-25^aboutC) during flowering and fruit setting, as well as one hundred percent air humidity, when the formation of mycelium in the lesion occurs within 1-1.5 days. If you take the necessary measures to process apricot from scab, then this disease can be avoided. Spraying is carried out in three stages:

1. Before the apricot blooms (in the pink bud phase).
2. After flowering (in the period of petals falling).
3. A month after flowering (during the growth of the ovaries and ripening of the fruit).

For treatment from scab, it is recommended to use the same systemic fungicides (Chorus, Skor, Aktara) and copper-containing preparations as for spraying trees from moniliosis, and at the same time. Therefore, processing apricot from moniliosis at the same time protects the plant from scab.

Video: scab apricot processing

In order to prevent scab disease, you should adhere to simple rules for tree care:

• timely destroy fallen leaves and affected shoots after sanitary pruning;
• regularly loosen the trunk circles during the growing season and dig the soil in the fall;
• spray trees with modern effective fungicidal preparations;
• grow trees on the most suitable light and loose soils, in open, sunny and well-ventilated areas.

Apricot flowering delay and protection against spring return frost

Apricots are one of the earliest flowering fruit trees. The main flowering period is in May. It often happens that during this period there is a strong cooling with a decrease in air temperature below 0^aboutC. Even a slight freeze to -2^aboutC causes damage to peduncles and their premature shedding.

The solution to this problem is to delay the onset of apricot blossom. For this, it is necessary to shorten the annual growth of fouling shoots by one third or half from mid-May to mid-June (depending on the initial growth length). As a result, new shoots with flowering buds of the next year will begin to grow from the sinuses of the vegetative leaf buds. In the spring of next year, these buds will bloom 10-14 days later than the main flowers. If during the period of the first flowering wave a sudden freeze occurs and the main color is damaged, then after 2 weeks the buds of the second flowering wave will bloom. Thus, the crop will only be partially lost.

Photo gallery: spraying and pruning apricot tree as a way to delay flowering

During spring treatments of apricot trees, it is recommended to spray them with a 0.3-0.6% solution (30-60 g per 10 l of water) of DNOC insectofungicide to delay flowering. Processing the tree crown with this preparation in early spring allows to slow down the development and blooming of flower buds for 8-17 days. Spraying should be done at the beginning of the period of bud blooming (before the onset of the "green cone" phase). To increase the winter hardiness of flower buds during late spring frosts, it is necessary to spray apricot crowns with a mixture of urea (700 g) and copper sulfate (50 g) diluted in 10 l of water in the autumn after the growing season (after leaf fall). This treatment also allows you to delay spring vegetation and flowering for up to 7-10 days and to avoid freezing of flowering trees.

Processing a Damaged Tree Trunk

The bark of an apricot stem can be damaged as a result of a sharp change in air temperature during a sudden winter thaw (frost war) or when a tree is affected by fungal diseases (gum disease). Through the damaged bark, an infection easily gets into the wood tissue, which will only aggravate the plant's disease state. In any case, the place of damage must be processed without fail and create conditions for the wound to heal.

The process of healing gum apricot gum:

1. In spring, gum on apricot should be cleaned with a sharp disinfected knife to a healthy tissue.
2. Treat with a solution of copper sulfate (1 tbsp. L. Per 1 liter of water). Leave the wound open for drying.
3. Two days later, spray the lesion with a strong urea solution (700 g per 10 liters of water).
4. To cover a sore spot with a mixture of liquid mullein with clay (1: 1) or with Rannet, or with garden var.

If the treatment is carried out in the spring (which is preferable), then by the end of the summer or beginning of autumn, the wound on the apricot will heal. If the damage is treated in autumn, then the next day you should whitewash the trunk for the winter.

Video: how to deal with gum detection on apricot

Spring processing of apricot from pests

Of garden pests, apricot leaves and fruits can damage:

• leaf aphids
• codling moth
• butterfly hawthorn,
• leaflet.

But to healthy, well-developed trees, these insects cannot cause significant harm. Thorough tree care, which consists of regular preventive treatment of apricots with fungicides and insecticides, destruction of weeds, timely cleaning of fallen leaves and whitewashing of tree stems to protect them from sunburn and wintering insects, provides immunity or high resistance of plants to diseases and pests.

Table: Apricot tree pests and their control

Prepare a so-called tank mix, for example from HOMA (0.4%) and Fufanon (0.1%). This mixture can be sprayed with all berry and fruit plants. Such treatment is a preventative measure for many cultures, and for some it is uprooting. One spring treatment of the plant replaces 3-4 sprayings in the summer. In spring, pest larvae hibernate from hibernated eggs and many adults come to the surface from the ground. Spring spraying against a complex of pests not only reduces their numbers, but also prevents the appearance of the next generations of such pests as weevils, leaf beetles, sawflies, aphids, ticks.

T. Alexandrova, amateur fruit grower

Household Management Magazine, No. 3, March 2010

Types of drugs and methods for processing apricot trees

Currently, gardeners have at their disposal a large number of modern preparations for treating horticultural crops from insect pests and various fungal and bacterial diseases. These are chemicals classically used in horticulture (various vitriol and Bordeaux mixture), as well as fungicidal and insecticidal preparations of various operating principles - from contact to biological.

Table: main types of drugs for the prevention and control of diseases and pests of apricot

Video: how to spray the garden in spring

Reviews

During the flowering period of the apricot, trees are sprayed with a 0.1% solution of foundationazole (10 g per bucket of water). If in the past years a tree was severely affected by moniliosis in your garden, it is better to spray twice - at the beginning and middle of flowering. It is done in wet and rainy spring. You just need to remember that after spraying, dry weather without rain should stand at least 2-3 hours, so that the drug has time to soak into the tissues of the plant and the pistils of the flowers.

Varava, Kherson region, Ukraine

//forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?page=57&t=4263

I’ll tell you who is interested in how he worked his garden in the last extremely unfavorable season: 1) March 7 - 3% Bordeaux mixture (98 l of solution on 43 trees) 2) 10 days before flowering (March 27) - Chorus (140 l of solution on 43 trees) 3) 2 days before flowering (April 5) - Chorus + Skor + Aktara (140 l of solution for 43 trees) 4) End of flowering, 80% of the color showered (April 17) - Topaz + Skor + Actellik (140 l solution on 43 trees) 5) After a week (April 24) - Strobi + Topsin M + Enzhio (140 l of solution on 43 trees) 6) After 13 days (May 7) - Speed ​​+ Switch (140 l of solution on 43 trees). Processed using a gasoline sprayer. How did I determine the time before flowering? Yes, just in the previous year, I photographed a bud, starting on March 15 every week, since I have little experience - it was these photos that helped me determine the exact moment of flowering next year up to a day. That's right - I did the wrong thing, I don’t want to argue and I won’t, but when everyone in the okrug last year had barely enough to eat, I collected 692 kg in total from my 43 trees (I saved about 30% of the harvest).

Melitopol, Melitopol, Ukraine

//forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=4263&page=45

To effectively control moniliosis, you need to do 3 treatments per phase: - pink bud; - blooming of flowers (stage of "popcorn"); - mass flowering. From what you have, you can take: - in the first phase - Benomil or Topsin-M (+ Folpan for the prevention of claustosporiosis); - in the second - Horus and Skor; - in the third - Luna Experiences; And the fourth treatment, which is done more from kleasterosporiosis in the phase of perianth ("shirts") falling from the growing ovary (shuck fall) - Strobi + Poliram.

Victor, Vinnitsa, Ukraine

//forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?p=1106894#post1106894

Having learned the subtleties and nuances of spring processing of the apricot orchard, realizing the importance of this process, it is possible to grow both apricots and other stone fruit crops without any particular difficulty: cherries, plums, peaches. The main thing is not to forget to spray the trees in time and do the garden work necessary for the season. Then your pets will gladly give you a good harvest.