Apple trees are often affected by various diseases. All pathologies have characteristic symptoms, which can be used to quickly identify the disease and take the necessary measures to save the plants. Let's look at the main diseases of apple trees and methods of treating them.
Apple trees can get sick for many reasons. These may be unfavorable weather conditions, neglect of agricultural practices, nutrient deficiency and many others. Any disease negatively affects the yield and can cause the death of the tree.
Signs of damage depend on the pathogen.
Pathologies are divided into 3 groups:
1. Fungal (mycoses):
- fruit rot (moniliosis);
- powdery mildew;
- scab;
- rust;
- brown spot (phyllostictosis);
- black cancer;
2. Bacterial:
- bacterial burn;
- bacterial root cancer;
3. Viral:
- star-shaped cracking of fruits;
- paniculation (proliferation);
- rosetteness (small leaves).
The sooner you start treating the apple tree, the greater the chance of saving the harvest and the plant itself.
Fungal diseases
Fruit rot (moniliosis)
Description of symptoms: small brown spots appear on ripening fruits (pictured above). Later they grow and the apples become inedible. The disease spreads very quickly, covering the entire crop. It is almost impossible to detect in the initial stages.
Treatment of fruit rot in the active stage is not possible. It is necessary to carry out prevention, which gives excellent results. In early spring, treat the trees with 3% Bordeaux mixture; you can use fungicides (for example, Horus). The second treatment should be carried out before flowering, using Bordeaux mixture (1%).
After harvesting, repeat spraying the trees with a solution of copper sulfate (0.1 kg per 10 liters of water). Each plant will require 3 liters of solution. Collect mummified apples, you need to get rid of them.
Powdery mildew
The pathogen affects the bark, buds, shoots, and leaves. The main symptom is dirty white coating, later it becomes brown. The leaves turn yellow, dry out, and fall off. The apple tree stops producing new shoots and does not bear fruit.
Therapeutic and preventive measures against powdery mildew start in the spring.
2 treatments will be required:
- Before flowering, spray the apple trees with a solution of fungicides (Skor, Topaz) at the rate of 2 ml per 10 liters of water.
- After flowering, treat the plants with a solution of copper oxychloride (40 g per 10 l of water) or with Hom in the same concentration (40 g per 10 l of water).
In autumn, a 3rd treatment is required. Spray the tree with Bordeaux mixture (1%). You can try to treat the plant with a solution containing: 20 g liquid soap, 50 g of copper sulfate, 10 liters of water.
Scab
The main symptom is the appearance of an olive-brown coating on the leaves of the apple tree, they begin to crumble. Subsequently, cracks and dark gray spots form on the fruits.
Treatment consists of spraying plants with biofungicides (Fitosporin-M, Fitolavin, Gamair, Horus, etc.). Carry out the first treatment before the buds open; throughout the entire season you need to perform 2-4 sprayings with an interval of 2 weeks.
A method of treating scab is spraying with Bordeaux mixture. For the first treatment (before buds open), a 3% solution is required; later (after the leaves appear) use a 1% solution. Spray at intervals of 2 weeks. Up to 7 treatments will be required per season.
Spraying with mineral fertilizers has a good effect.
For treatment purposes, the following solutions can be used in the following concentrations:
- potassium salt - 15%;
- ammonium nitrate - 10%;
- potassium nitrate - 15%;
- ammonium sulfate - 10%.
If fertilizers are used to prevent the spread of fungus, reduce the concentration of the solutions.
Carry out additional work:
- trim dry branches;
- strip the affected bark to healthy wood;
- whiten the treated areas.
Rust
Symptoms: the appearance of stripes and brown spots on the leaves, on which black inclusions (accumulation of spores) are visible. In the future, the fungus spreads to branches, bark, and fruits. Some of the young shoots die off. The bark in the affected areas cracks, unripe fruits fall off.
Treatment needs to begin in early spring, before the buds open.
How to treat:
- Remove affected leaves and branches, cut them 10 cm below the diseased areas.
- Disinfect the sections with a solution of copper sulfate (5%).
- Treat the trees with Bordeaux mixture (1%). Spray 3 times at 3 week intervals.
If juniper grows in the garden, it needs to be removed and the area needs to be dug up. The plant is a source of rust infection.
Brown spot (phyllostictosis)
Symptoms: appearance on small leaves brown spots with a dark brown rim. In the center there are black dots (fungal spores). The spots can cover the entire surface of the leaves.
Start treatment at autumn period. Procedure:
- Destroy fallen leaves.
- Dig up the tree trunk circles.
- Trim the thickened crown; this should be done annually.
- In the fall, spray the trees with a urea solution (5%), treat the soil with the same preparation, but at a concentration of 7%.
What to do in spring:
- Spray the trees with Bordeaux mixture (3-4%) before flowering. After the buds have formed, treat only with a 1% solution.
- Perform a second spray after flowering is complete.
In the future, 1 more treatment will be required (no later than 20 days before harvesting).
Cytosporosis
Signs of damage: the appearance of ulcers on the bark dark color. In the future, they penetrate the trunk, increase in size and become brown-red. The bark and branches gradually die off.
Treatment is as follows: in the spring it is necessary to treat the tree 3 times:
- during the period of bud swelling (Hom fungicide - 40 g per 10 liters of water);
- before flowering (copper sulfate solution - 50 g per 10 liters of water);
- after the end of flowering (Hom - 40 g of substance per 10 liters of water).
In late autumn, trim off the affected branches and burn them. Clean the wounds with a sterile instrument. Up to 2 cm of healthy tissue needs to be removed.
Disinfect the sections copper sulfate(3%), cover with garden solution. Treat tree trunks with lime, feed apple trees with mineral fertilizers (phosphorus or potassium).
Black cancer
Signs of damage: the appearance of black spots on the leaves, the formation of black rot on the fruits. In addition, the bark begins to darken, multiple cracks appear on its surface, and it begins to turn in the opposite direction.
Start treatment in the spring, before the temperature environment will rise to 15 °C and above. Using sharp knife, remove the affected areas (down to the wood), capturing healthy bark (1.5-2 cm). They need to be burned.
Disinfect the wounds with a solution of copper sulfate (1-2%) and cover with garden varnish. After the trees bloom, spray with Bordeaux mixture (1%). Black cancer may reappear within a year or two. In this case, it is better to cut down the diseased trunk or the entire tree and burn it.
milky shine
The disease affects the bark of the apple tree. The first symptoms of the disease can be seen on the leaves. They turn yellow and white-silver stripes appear on them. Then the leaves fall off. Subsequently, dark spots form on the bark.
Methods of control: remove the affected areas of the tree bark, treat the cuts with a 1% solution of copper sulfate and garden pitch. It is recommended to spray the tree with Bordeaux mixture (1%). Carry out 2 treatments in the spring - before and after flowering. Timely spraying with fertilizers has a good effect.
Bacterial diseases
Bacterial burn (bacteriosis)
Main signs: the appearance of black spots all over the apple tree. The leaves begin to darken and curl, but they remain on the branches. The flowers turn dark brown and fall off. The fruits acquire a dark shade and do not ripen.
Treatment measures include:
Main symptoms: the appearance of growths on the roots (main, lateral), root collar. At first the formations are small and soft, then they increase in size and harden. IN autumn time the growths rot and collapse. At the same time, a large number of bacteria are released into the soil.
Bacterial root canker is introduced into the garden only with seedlings; the disease cannot be treated.
Prevention measures include:
- Careful selection of seedlings (no growths on the central root, root collar).
- Trimming lateral roots with growths.
- Disinfection of the root system after pruning in a solution of copper sulfate (1%) for 5 minutes, followed by rinsing in clean water.
It is necessary to add phosphorus and potassium to the soil mineral fertilizers. You cannot use only nitrogen. It is better to take manure from organic fertilizers.
Bacterial necrosis
All parts of trees are affected (from bark to fruits). The flowers turn brown, then black, and fall off. Spots appear on fruits and leaves. The edges of the leaves become necrotic, the leaf blade curls along the main vein and dries out. Spots appear on the shoots, which then cover the entire young shoot.
A necrotic spot forms on the branches and trunk of the tree, which subsequently increases in size. Oily spots appear, from which liquid oozes. Cambium, inner layer the bark swells, turns yellow-orange, and peels off from the wood.
Treatment consists of the following activities:
- Trim the affected branches, including 2-3 cm of healthy tissue, and burn them.
- Disinfect the sections with carbolic acid (5%) or copper sulfate (1%).
- Cover the cuts with oil paint or garden putty.
- Treat stains on trunks with a 5% solution of zinc chloride. There is no need to clean the wounds. This procedure should be carried out every 3-4 years.
Biological bactericides with targeted action are effective: Gaupsin, Pentofag-S, Fitosporin, Alirin-B. To prevent the spread of bacterial necrosis, treatment with Bordeaux mixture (1%) is necessary.
Viral diseases of apple trees
Mosaic
Symptoms: the appearance of pale green or yellowish spots on young leaves. The veins are colored normally. As the disease progresses, the leaves become fragile and fall off. The apple tree grows and develops poorly.
Control measures: the disease cannot be treated; a tree with signs of damage must be uprooted and burned.
As preventive measures use the following:
- Purchasing healthy planting material.
- Compliance with quarantine measures.
- Spraying against sucking insects will prevent the spread of the virus.
Star cracking of fruits
The disease affects young fruits. Shapeless spots appear on them, in the center of which star-shaped cracks form. The surrounding tissues become dark brown, almost black. The leaves on the branches of the upper tier become lighter, and the tree grows poorly.
The apple tree will remain sick for life, having become infected with viruses. Fighting them is impossible. If a disease is detected, the tree must be uprooted and burned.
Preventive measures:
- use of virus-free planting material;
- spraying against sucking insects (aphids, mites);
- weed control.
Paniculation (proliferation)
Signs of damage: side shoots appear on apple trees in huge quantities. They are distinguished by short internodes, the bark acquires a reddish tone. A sick tree stops growing.
Sharp, large teeth appear on the edges of the leaves. The flowers become green and ugly. Fruiting slows down, the fruits become very pale and tasteless.
Diseased apple trees cannot be treated; the trees must be uprooted and burned as quickly as possible. As a preventive measure, also use sprays against sucking insects that carry viruses. You can purchase varieties that are resistant to damage viral diseases, for example, Antonovka vulgaris.
Rosette (small leaves)
Signs of damage: leaves become small, hard, ugly, yellow-green. The edges curl and the leaf blades take on a cup-like shape. The fruits of a diseased apple tree are small and tasteless. The internodes of the shoots are greatly shortened, and rosettes of leaves (normal and deformed) appear at the tops.
Treatment consists of timely removal and destruction of the part of the tree with signs of the disease. Process the cuts oil paint, adding zinc sulfate to it.
Before buds open, spray the plant with a solution of zinc sulfate. If the disease is not very advanced, use a 5% solution, for moderate lesions - 8%, for severe lesions - 12%. If necessary, re-treat with a 0.5% solution. Prevention measures include: spring application of fertilizers for trees and timely removal of weeds.
Brown spots affect leaves throughout the growing season. A set of measures is needed to prevent and treat such spots.
- Copper shortage often develops on soils overfed with nitrogen, as well as overly moistened. Manifests itself in the appearance of brown spots on the tips of leaves in mid-summer. The shoots die, the leaves become smaller and deformed.
- Brown spot affects apple trees with a thickened crown. The development of a fungal disease occurs when high humidity air, with a lack of manganese in the soil. The spots may be round, angular or irregular shape, often lighter in the center. The affected areas will peel off over time. The disease can develop as early as early summer.
- Leaf burns expressed in yellow-brown, chaotically located spots. Burns on the leaves appear after watering the apple tree in sunny weather, when spraying leaves with fungicidal or insecticidal preparations in increased concentration.
Treatment and prevention
To eliminate copper deficiency Treating the apple tree with copper sulfate or Bordeaux mixture against fungal diseases is sufficient. From foliar feeding You can treat the leaves with a solution of copper sulfate at a concentration of 0.05%.
To ensure that the apple tree does not experience a lack of nutrients, fertilizing with nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus fertilizers is necessary.
Fertilizer application requires compliance with certain rules. In spring, the apple tree needs nitrogen to stimulate the growth of new shoots. In autumn it is better to apply phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. Any are better absorbed in moist soil. Therefore, dissolve fertilizers in water or organize watering of the tree trunk circle. Fertilizers must be applied to the width of the tree crown. Organic fertilizers– rotted manure, compost, bird droppings– it is also recommended to lay it in the fall.
To prevent damage to the apple tree by brown spot preventive treatment with fungicides, destruction of fallen leaves, and pruning of the tree for free air circulation are required.
Treatment with copper sulfate and foundationazole poses little danger to people and bees, and spraying with homme is best carried out in the absence of garden plot children, animals. Also, you should not use hom during apple tree blossoms - it is dangerous for bees. For spraying, you will need from 2-5 liters of a solution of fungicidal preparations per tree, depending on its size. Treatment with fungicides at air temperatures above 27 degrees is ineffective.
Foliage affected by brown spot should not be planted in compost heap, it must be burned.
Carry out preventive pruning of old, damaged branches, remove branches in contact with other apple trees. Treat the cut areas with garden varnish.
To prevent burns on leaves Watering rules must be followed. It is not recommended to water the tree crown, especially in sunny weather. Sprinkling can be done in the evening after sunset.
It is not recommended to exceed the doses of fungicidal preparations indicated on the packaging. The leaves are very sensitive to copper-containing drugs, so be careful. Before the leaves bloom, they are treated with a 3-5% solution of Bordeaux mixture, and after the leaves appear, the dose is reduced to 1%.
Brown spots on leaves occur when there is a lack of minerals, non-compliance with agricultural technology and damage to the apple tree by a fungal disease. Provide the apple tree proper care and then your trees will always be healthy and bring a rich harvest.
Video
The video describes the required minimum protection for an apple tree:
Many gardeners like to plant apple trees on their plots due to their relative unpretentiousness to growing conditions. In addition, the fruits, leaves and flowers of this tree have a large number of uses in everyday life. However, as happens with other plants, sometimes apple trees begin to get sick, and the diseases have different prerequisites and are also expressed differently. In our article we will talk about why brown spots may appear on an apple tree, what means and how to deal with this problem.
Brown spots on leaves - manifestation process
Those who first encounter the appearance of brown or other colored spots on the foliage and fruit of an apple tree are confused and try to understand why this happened.
It is worth remembering that the causes of stains are always associated either with an attack by pests or with the consequences of an advanced disease. If brown spots appear, you can definitely say that the tree has been affected by apple tree rust. The symptoms of this disease are quite easy to calculate. First of all, in the summer, round spots begin to appear on the upper part of the foliage, very similar in color to rust. These rusty spots gradually begin to increase in size until mid-summer, when growths begin to appear on the leaves in addition to the spots, growing more and more over time. This is exactly what rust looks like on apple tree leaves. And it is worth getting rid of it as quickly as possible so that the disease does not have time to cause a decrease in the tree’s immunity.
Rust on apple tree leaves is the cause of the disease
Main and main reason The appearance of rust on an apple tree is caused by a fungus.
Most often, this happens when a tree grows near a juniper. Rust can appear along with juniper spores, this allows it to form tissue growths and star-shaped growths on the foliage of this plant. New spores with rust are formed on these outgrowths, and they are transferred in the spring by the wind to the leaves of the fruit tree. After this, leaves, shoots and even fruits begin to be affected.
This disease mainly affects plants grown in the South, South-West and South-East of Ukraine, as well as in the Crimea. 
Rust on apple tree leaves - how to treat it
The first and most obvious way to prevent rust spots is to plant the apple tree as far away from the juniper as possible. It is recommended to fence the trees with other green spaces.
You should try not to plant fruit trees next to conifers at all.
If your tree has already been affected by the disease, use the following control measures:
- The first step is to remove the infected tree members as quickly as possible, be they foliage, shoots, branches or fruit. You need to trim even those parts that have a small speck or growth of brown or yellow color. The branches are cut 5-10 cm below the infected area.
- Next you need to treat the trees with chemicals. Suitable for this
- Bordeaux mixture - one percent mixture;
- "Topaz";
- cuproxate;
- cineba – solution 0.4%;
- "Vectra".
It is worth treating the tree with these substances once every five to seven days.
- In the first month of spring, when the buds have not yet appeared, it is worth clearing the areas that were previously affected until the new wood takes hold. After stripping, treatment with 5% copper sulfate and coating with garden putty is necessary.
- During the period when the leaves bloom, you need to spray the trees with fungicides, that is, solutions against microbes. This procedure must be carried out three times every 14 days.
Now you know how to treat a tree if brown spots appear on the leaves of the apple tree. You also know how to prevent apple tree rust. Try to follow these tips to achieve the most prolific harvest possible. If the symptoms on your trees differ from those of rust, then you should carefully read the next point.
Spots on apple tree leaves - other causes
Rust on an apple tree is not the only reason why brown or similar stains may appear on an apple tree. Sometimes it happens that an apple tree simply lacks some useful substances. Depending on what specific substances are missing, spotting has different colour. For example, brown around the edges indicates a lack of copper. Based on similar symptoms, it is easy to determine whether darkening and other problems began to appear on the apple trees in your garden as a result of a deficiency or excess.
- Nitrogen.
The lack of this substance in the soil leads to the fact that the leaves of the apple tree turn sharply yellow and stop growing. At the same time, the shoots of the tree begin to acquire a brown color and also do not grow to normal size and fall off very early.
- Phosphorus.
Phosphorus deficiency also leads to changes in the color of tree foliage. In this case, they begin to take on a bluish tint with purple or purple spots. As in the previous case, foliage growth stops. The edges begin to curl down a little. The leaves quickly age, dry out and fall off. If the tree is not treated in time, flowering and ripening will be greatly delayed and may not occur at all.
- Potassium.
A symptom of potassium deficiency is the color of the leaves turning brown, after which slow drying begins. Individual branches on the trunk also dry out. Leaves may not grow to the desired size. 
- Magnesium.
With a deficiency of this substance, as with nitrogen deficiency, the leaves turn yellow, but purple spots begin to appear. This also affects the fruits, which become smaller and lose their taste. Leaves in large quantities fall until, in the end, the turn reaches the young foliage.
Boron starvation has the greatest effect on the apple tree. The growing point of the stem dies, the peel of the fruit becomes thicker and tougher, the taste changes to bitter, and brown dots appear. The fruits themselves stop falling and dry out.
- Manganese.
Old leaves are covered with a dark yellow coating due to a lack of manganese, while the veins should remain green. If you do not notice the plaque that has appeared for a long time and do not treat the tree, the shoots will begin to die.
- Copper.
As we said above, copper deficiency causes brown spots on the edges of apple tree leaves. In addition, cracks and swellings begin to form on the bark of the tree trunk, and the tops of the shoots will gradually begin to dry out.
- Iron
With a lack of iron, healthy leaves of the apple tree begin to take on yellow-orange shades, the shoots die, and the tops suffer from dryness.
What kind of symptoms appear on the leaves, fruits and trunk of your trees determines what treatment they need. The disease quickly goes away if the lack of certain nutrients is recognized in time and the plants have access to them in time.
But you should be careful, because an excess of microelements also leads to unpleasant and harmful consequences, so you must carefully identify the most obvious signs.
If you quickly respond to such symptoms and maintain soil fertility, then you will not have problems with how fruitful the harvest will be.
Apple tree, like any other garden culture, often encounters diseases and pests. Quite often they affect leaves (especially small leaves), and if action is not taken in time, the disease can lead to the death of the entire plant.
Diseases and their causes
Very often, gardeners notice that the leaves of their favorite apple tree have dried out, turned yellow, orange spots have appeared on them, or the flowers have not bloomed after winter. Quite often, this garden crop withers and withers in June, and holes appear on the plates. Such wilting disrupts photosynthesis, which has a bad effect on the plant and in most cases the tree dies.
Diseases of apple tree leaves can be caused by microorganisms, as well as uncomfortable growing conditions. At the same time, weather and improper agricultural practices most often cause infectious diseases, but they, in turn, create favorable conditions for the propagation of viral and fungal microflora.
Fix problems related to improper care, is simple, but getting rid of diseases caused by fungi and bacteria is much more difficult, and viral infections and are not treated at all. Let's look at the most common diseases.
- Scab– often affects the leaves and fruits of apple trees, when dark spots with a light rim around the edges appear on them. If treatment is not done in time, the scab spreads from the leaves to the fruits, the tree begins to wither, the leaves and ovaries fall off, and the fruits grow one-sided and cracked.
- Black cancer- a fungal infection that manifests itself in the form of brown spots on the leaves, this is accompanied by the overgrowth of the bark with bumps with spore-bearing growths. The disease leads to fruit drop or mummification.
- Leaf rust– quite often this problem arises in gardens where apple trees grow in close proximity to juniper; this is where the rust pathogen likes to live and under any unfavorable conditions weather conditions(rain, wind) it is easily transferred to fruit trees, where it makes itself known as rusty, raised spots with small dark brown inclusions. Total defeat leads to the fact that the leaves fall off in July, and photosynthesis is accordingly disrupted, which leads to inhibition of fruit ripening.
- Powdery mildew easily distinguishable from other crop diseases. With this disease, the leaf plates become covered with a brown coating, and then curl up and fall off completely. If the fungus infects the apple tree at the very beginning of the growing season, then in most cases it leads to the death of the entire plant.
- milky shine- a dangerous disease that can cover the entire plant. Its first symptom is the appearance of a pearlescent light gray hue of foliage.
- Moniliosis– affects the leaves, covering them with a drooping coating of a grayish tint. Such spots quickly spread from the foliage to the fruit, turning them into inedible fruit.
- Phyllosticosis– this disease is also called brown spotting, it manifests itself in the form of dark yellow or gray, their shape can be absolutely any. In this case, the epidermis quite quickly transforms into transparent film. Purely visually, this is a bit like a pesticide burn, but the disease progresses quickly and leads to the death of leaf tissue if measures are not taken in time.
- Bacterial burn- this is a bacterial disease that does not immediately lead to the death of the plant - this process can take 2-3 years, so when timely treatment you can overcome an unpleasant attack. Foliage with a bacterial burn takes on a charred appearance, which is accompanied by the appearance of dark spots in the bark and bending of the shoots.
The destruction of the vegetative parts of the tree inevitably leads to its death. There are cases of self-healing from this pathology on poor soils. Bacteriosis of the apple tree begins precisely with the foliage - the plates darken at the edges and gradually the lesion affects the petioles, stem, and from there it spreads to the wood. Very often, the first symptoms do not alarm gardeners, but such a disease can destroy an apple tree of any age.
Let us dwell separately on viral diseases. They cannot be treated, and the affected plant should be destroyed and burned as quickly as possible, otherwise the virus will spread to neighboring trees and destroy everything fruit crops Location on. The leaves of an apple tree are most often affected by mosaic disease - its first manifestations are expressed by white-green spots between the veins of the leaves, while in the heat they are slightly paler (a white coating should immediately alert gardeners). As the disease progresses, the leaves become quite fragile and fall off. Such early leaf fall deprives the plant of photosynthesis and inhibits the viability of the entire tree.
Among non-infectious pathologies, the following should be highlighted:
- Frost-sunburn- occurs as damage to leaf plates, bark and branches of a young apple tree against the background of a strong temperature change or freezing. Leads to complete death of leaves.
- Chlorosis– quite often observed in plants cultivated on poor and depleted soils, while the tree does not receive enough nitrogen, sulfur, magnesium and manganese. As a result, the leaf plates turn yellow and become almost white, while the growth of the fruit stops, and their taste properties sharply deteriorate.
To help the plant, it is necessary to determine exactly what substance it lacks:
- If the leaves turn pale green, this indicates about nitrogen deficiency, the apple tree needs urea or ammonium nitrate.
- If chlorosis is especially pronounced between the veins lower leaves- it says about a lack of magnesium. At the same time, the veins themselves retain their green color, and the leaf tissue between them first turns pale and then completely turns yellow. In this case, foliar spraying with magnesium sulfate is highly effective.
- When interveinal yellowing of apical leaves occurs, the plant signals about iron deficiency, this often occurs when the plant is planted on carbonate soils or overly limed soil.
- If the veins themselves turn yellow on the upper leaves, this is sulfur chlorosis, the plant will be helped potassium or magnesium sulfates.
- Rosette or small leaves - with this pathology, tree leaves acquire an unusual claw- or lanceolate shape, large rosettes of dozens of such modified leaves are formed on the tops of the shoots. The reason is most often related with zinc starvation, which inevitably leads to weakening of the tree and a decrease in its productivity.
- About phosphorus deficiency signals the folding of the leaf plates with their edges down, and if they curl into a boat and at the same time wrinkle, it is necessary to feed the crop with potassium.
- Shredding leaves is often associated with nitrogen and zinc deficiency.
It should be noted that non-communicable diseases are quite easy to cure - for this it is necessary to carry out sanitary pruning, protect the plant from unfavorable temperature conditions and apply nutritional supplements.
Treatment options
Treatment of plant diseases should begin immediately after the problem is detected. Many ailments develop slowly and with a timely response, the chances of saving the plant are quite high, and in some cases it is even possible to harvest the crop.
Special means
Most often, apple trees require special preparations for treatment, which can be purchased at any specialized store.
During the development of fungal diseases, copper-containing preparations, for example, copper sulfate, have a universal effect. It is advisable to add a solution of green soap to it - this will ensure greater adhesion of the medicine to the leaf blades. It has proven its effectiveness against cytosporosis and apple canker.
Fundazol, which can be sprayed on an apple tree up to 5 times during the entire growing season, is considered a fairly low-hazard drug that will help the plant without causing harm to humans, animals, or bees.
For scab, you should use Topaz or Hom. They are bred in accordance with the instructions and sprayed on the plant in the spring. The same products should be used when powdery mildew appears.
Treatments will help get rid of rust Bordeaux mixture or other fungicides.
For bacterial burns, the drug Gamair works well; it is quite harmless from an environmental point of view. Many people prefer Fitoflavin; it is a complex of streptothricin antibiotics.
But most botanists agree that bacteria quickly develop immunity to this drug.
It’s worth mentioning activity garden pests, which are highly fertile and active, which can lead to the destruction of foliage in a matter of weeks. When caterpillars appear (green larvae may also appear), the leaves and stems of the apple tree should be sprayed with chlorophos or nitrophen. If the plant is attacked by mites, then karbofos, phosphamide, metaphos or colloidal sulfur can cope with the situation. In this case, it is necessary to spray twice, using different compositions.
Ants are considered the real scourge of any garden, since they are the ones who carry aphids, sending them to “graze” on the plant. It is easy to get rid of these unpleasant insects at home - for this you use Raptor or Kombat brand products, however, in an open space they will not give any effect. If you use gel formulations from the same companies, you can destroy not only ants, but also beneficial bees, and this can lead to a lack of pollination in the garden.
Therefore, gardeners most often use special traps with poison located inside, which look like small washers with small slots. Getting into it, the ant comes into contact with a slow-acting poison, and then upon returning to its anthill, it gradually infects its relatives.
Traditional methods
Unfortunately, traditional methods control of the disease on the foliage of apple crops is low in effectiveness. As a rule, they are not enough to get rid of serious plant diseases.
But some gardeners accept only environmentally friendly preparations, so they spray the foliage and stems of a diseased apple tree with infusions of ash, garlic or chamomile.
As the first spray at the bud formation stage experienced gardeners prepare an infusion of a mixture of onion peels, garlic with shag or tobacco. Three liter jar fill 1/3 with the prepared ingredients and pour boiling water over it, let it brew for about a week and treat the trunk and young shoots.
As soon as young foliage appears on a tree, they often become victims of aphid attack; in this case, a decoction of yarrow or wormwood will help scare away uninvited guests. The same composition should be used to destroy mites, caterpillars, as well as moths, weevils and sawflies. To prepare the infusion, 1 kg of herbs is poured with three liters of water and left for about a day, after which it is boiled over low heat for 20-30 minutes, cooled, diluted in a bucket of water and sprayed on the foliage every week.
By the way, tomato tops help well against aphid larvae; to do this, pour 2 kg of plant residues into a bucket of water and boil for half an hour with constant stirring. Before use, you can add a little green soap and spray the entire apple tree from the roots to the very top of the trunk.
A decoction will help get rid of small caterpillars hot pepper, but you should stock up on this composition in advance, since it will take 10-14 days to prepare it. The infusion concentrate is prepared from 1 kg of dried pods, poured hot water. Before use, you must dilute the mixture to 10 liters and start spraying.
It must be borne in mind that pests quickly develop resistance to any spraying, so it is better to make several formulations and alternate them, only in this case the fight against insects will be as effective as possible.
Such compositions can help against simple pests, however, they should not be used in the fight against fungal and bacterial infections– their strength is clearly not enough, and when treating an apple tree, the lack of potent agents can lead to the death of the plant literally in one season. If the plant has developed, but the flowers have dried out after flowering, then you should pay attention to more serious chemicals to fight the disease.
It is easier to prevent a problem than to treat it. And this fully applies to tree diseases, including all types of apple trees. Wilting of a plant is the most a big problem for gardeners. In order to avoid unwanted exposure to pathogenic microflora, regular preventive spraying should be carried out.
To do this, in early spring, on a warm and windless day, you should treat the trunks and shoots of trees with a solution of nitrafen or copper sulfate. The same treatment should be done immediately at the moment the first buds swell.
If for some reason it is not possible to protect the plant before the leaves bloom, you can try spraying the apple tree with Bordeaux mixture or urea at the time of flowering. This measure will not only protect the tree from scab, but will also destroy all the larvae of mites, caterpillars and sawflies.
After completing the harvest in the autumn, while the leaves have not yet fallen, the garden area should be sprayed with urea. It will destroy all insects that are preparing for winter in the ground and tree bark.
It is very important to get rid of fallen leaves and other plant debris - this is where many pests and pathogens of fungal infections overwinter. At the same time, they should not be dug into the ground, but burned. It is necessary to monitor the crown of the tree and prevent it from thickening, since the plant must be constantly ventilated.
For information on diseases of apple leaves and methods of control, see the following video.
Apple tree is one of the most popular fruit trees, which can be found in almost any garden in our country. This is due to unpretentiousness and quite high yield culture. In addition, the apples themselves can be used to make many wonderful dishes and are easy to preserve for the winter.
Most often, the apple tree does not require special effort from the gardener and grows well “on its own”, but some may experience small yellowish or black spots appearing on the fruits and leaves. Most likely, it will be a disease called rust.
Description and signs of the disease
Rust is an infection of a tree with fungal spores, which begins with leaves and, in the absence of proper care can move onto tree branches and fruits. If you do not start fighting fungal spores in the early stages, then the apple tree, which is covered with rust, will begin to wither and may simply die. Light spores of a fungus called Gymnosporangium tremelloides are carried by wind over distances ranging from a few centimeters to tens of kilometers and are most dangerous to young shoots. Some of them die under the influence of the disease, some become non-bearing, and the rest produce a harvest of diseased fruits. In addition, spore carriers can be birds or insects flying from a diseased plant to a healthy one.
Determining whether an apple tree has rust is quite simple: you just need visual inspection. First, small round spots of a yellow-brown hue appear on the top of the young greenery. Over time, they grow in diameter and in number until they begin to turn into small growths. Gradually, not only the leaves, but also the branches of the trees become covered with growths, and the first fruits are already growing with spots. Affected apples may be dry on the outside but completely rotten on the inside.
Of course, if you notice the first signs of the disease in time and begin to fight the fungus, the risk of getting a diseased crop is minimal. To do this, it is enough to regularly pay attention to the young shoots of the tree and not miss the moment the first spots appear.
However, rust is not the only reason for the appearance of round spots on apple tree leaves. Sometimes such a change in green color indicates a lack of certain substances. If spots appear on the sheet, but their color does not resemble rusty metal, then you need to carefully examine their shade. This will help you understand exactly what you should fertilize your apple tree with. The spots can be of different colors.
- Yellow spots. Such marks on the leaves of the tree, along with a change in the color of young shoots to dark brown, indicate a lack of nitrogen in the soil.
- Bluish tint and a sharp cessation of growth of young shoots signals a lack of phosphorus. If you do not add a special additive to the soil, flowering and fruit ripening may not occur.
- Brown spots on drying apple tree foliage - this is a lack of potassium. Large leaves will begin to fall off, but new ones will not appear. Thus, the tree can fly around without waiting for autumn.
- Reddish tint lesions is an indicator of magnesium deficiency. Such a tree will bear fruit, but the apples will be very small and tasteless. If the spots are located only along the contour of the leaf, then instead of magnesium the plant needs copper.
- Not exactly spots, more like dark yellowish coating, appearing along the edges of apple leaves indicates a manganese deficiency.
The sooner the cause of the change in the color of the leaves and the appearance of lesions on them is identified, the more effective the treatment will be. Red spots are much more dangerous for wood than a deficiency of any of the elements and minerals.
If timely and correctly distinguished fungal disease from the usual lack of nutrients If it doesn’t work out, it’s better to combine fertilizing the apple tree with treating it against rust.
Causes of defeat
In most cases, the fungus enters the plant from the beginning of spring to its end. The carrier of this disease is usually coniferous trees and shrubs, and especially juniper. A few decades ago, only gardens were at risk southern regions countries, since only in them these two types of plants could grow side by side. With development landscape design There are more and more households with decorative areas, on which a juniper bush is planted. This led to the spread of fungal spores, which are increasingly attacking apple trees every year.
The disease develops most quickly in conditions of high temperature and humidity. With frequent rains and early summer, fungal spores feel most comfortable on apple tree leaves. Since they are easily transferred even by the person himself on his clothes, skin and hair, after contact with a separate infected apple tree, the gardener can with my own hands infect other trees. In dense apple thickets, the infection spreads at an alarming rate and without proper treatment can lead to the death of all apple trees. Spores, falling on a leaf, germinate into it and feed on the juices of the apple tree. They disrupt the process of photosynthesis and the nutrition of the plant itself, so in a very short period of time (about 30–40 days), active inhibition of the growth of fruits and shoots begins, the tree begins to crack and die.
How and with what to treat?
If signs of infection of an apple tree with a fungus are detected, it is necessary to begin to fight them as soon as possible. Treatment consists of several stages and includes not only simple spraying, but also other necessary measures.
- Remove the cause of the disease. If there is juniper growing on or near your property, it is best to get rid of it. In almost 100% of cases, this is the root cause of the appearance of the fungus. After the plant has been uprooted and destroyed, the freed area of land must be carefully dug up. If a juniper grows at your neighbor's dacha and it is impossible to get rid of it, it is worth planting the part of the garden closest to it with tall plants that can protect fruit-bearing trees from the fungus. They will block access to the apple tree and spores will not be able to get onto it.
- Remove affected areas. Those leaves, branches and fruits of the apple tree that are already affected by the fungus are almost impossible to cure. In addition, even if various sprayings and treatments are done, diseased shoots can infect healthy parts of the tree or neighboring apple trees. To prevent this from happening, diseased branches will have to be cut off or sawed off. The cutting site should be no higher than 10 cm from the last source of disease. This will preserve healthy fruits and reduce the risk of missing incipient rust spots.
It is best to burn the cut parts so as not to create a new threat. If there is no possibility of destruction by fire, then they should be taken away from the site and buried in the ground.
- Treat with special means. After pruning, you can begin treating with fungicidal (antifungal) drugs. There are several types of such solutions.
- Fungicides. Such remedies are considered the most powerful in the fight against fungal infections of apple trees. Treatment with their help can give a positive result even if the tree begins to dry out and die. Some of the most popular fungicides that can be purchased at any flower or pet store are Topaz, Polyram and Strobi.
- Preparations with copper. Such preparations can be used if the weather is not too hot, which is associated with the risk of burns from young shoots of apple trees. One of the most popular copper-containing products is ordinary Bordeaux mixture. You can also purchase a product called “Blue Bordeaux” or “Kuproksat”.
- Preparations with sulfur. Sulfur is also a popular way to control rust on fruit-bearing plants. It protects apple trees especially effectively when directly spraying diseased branches. Unfortunately, sulfur cannot be used during the flowering period, since the sprayed plants will not be pollinated. One of the most inexpensive and popular drugs is colloidal sulfur. You can also order online or purchase in large stores. shopping centers"Cumulus", which is highly soluble in water and can be mixed with various fertilizers.
- Biological products. Treating sick trees with such preparations not only gets rid of fungal spores, but, unlike chemicals, is harmless to people, animals, insects and the plants themselves. Processed apples can be safely eaten even by children. The most effective means, according to customer reviews, are “Planriz” and “Fitosporin-M”. It is necessary to dilute the drug in a bucket of water in the amount indicated in the instructions on the package. Most often, spraying is carried out three times with intervals of several days. It is necessary to spray the entire tree, starting from the very top leaves and ending with the soil near the apple tree roots.
It is not advisable to eat the fruits of the sprayed apple tree for several weeks after the end of treatment. Even after this time, it is worth rinsing the fruits thoroughly under running water before eating or cooking them.