2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Scab is a fungal disease that often affects apple trees in the garden. Only the most modern immune varieties are genetically resistant to it. The scab is harmful to apple trees, and, although trees die from it extremely rarely, it has a direct effect on the quality of the harvest: the harvested fruits become less, and the fruits themselves become noticeably smaller, taking on an unsightly appearance
About the disease
This disease initially manifests itself as light spots on young shoots and leaves. Then the spots become covered with a velvety bloom of olive-brown color, grow and merge, becoming black. It affects scab and ovaries with pedicels. Severely affected leaves, partially dry, fall off. In the affected areas, the tissue of the fruit hardens and becomes woody, cracks appear on them, into which rot penetrates.
The causative agent of the infection hibernates on the soil surface on fallen leaves and fruits, and with the onset of spring begins to generously endow apple trees with its spores.
Most often, scab is found in thickened gardens that have difficulty with airing, as well as in damp areas. Healthy plants are less susceptible to infection.
It should be noted that large doses of mineral fertilizers, as well as excessively abundant watering, can contribute to the occurrence of such a nuisance.
How to fight
Choosing the right apple planting sites and proper care can reduce the risk of scab infestation to some extent. The apple planting site should be in a sunny corner, and the trees should be planted at a decent distance from each other. You should not plant apple trees near walls and deaf fences - this is fraught with stagnation of air. If apple trees grow in areas with excessively moist soil, then they are drained by digging around the perimeter. To provide the crowns of apple trees with good lighting and ventilation, they are pruned to prevent thickening of the branches.
Able to protect from scab and healthy zoned planting material intended for a specific area. Among apple tree varieties resistant to scab, the following can be distinguished: Pobeda, Ligol, Pepin saffron, Auxis, Orlovim, Jonored, Memory of a warrior, Bessemyanka Michurina, Suvorovets, Spartan, Belorusskoe raspberry, Zhelannoe, Krasa Sverdlovsk, etc. However, when choosing a variety for It is also important to take into account the fact that a scab-resistant variety taken in another region, due to local and climatic conditions, may not show its properties in relation to infection in the region where it is planned to be planted. Scab strains in different areas can also differ markedly.
In the fight against scab, it is initially recommended to minimize the activity of the causative agent that causes the disease. Damaged fruits should be promptly removed and buried in the ground, and fallen affected leaves should be burned or raked up and composted, sprinkled with earth. The trunks of apple trees in the fall must be cleaned to healthy wood, and then whitewashed, after digging up the trunk circles beforehand - digging will help move the mushrooms into the soil, and in the depths of the soil they are practically no danger.
It is recommended to spray apple trees with a mustard solution: mustard powder (about 80 g) is diluted with a small amount of warm water, and then poured into a ten-liter bucket filled with water. The mass is thoroughly mixed and sprayed with the resulting solution both the trunk circles and the apple trees themselves. During the season, you need to carry out several such treatments (this measure is especially effective in May, as well as at the beginning of summer), ideally immediately after the rains. Apple trees can be sprayed with a fresh solution, first during the budding period, then when buds begin to form, at the end of flowering and at the very beginning of the formation of fragrant fruits.
As soon as the buds begin to bloom in the spring, you can spray the apple trees with an infusion of horsetail: for this, pour one third of a bucket of horsetail with ten liters of water and insist for three days.
Potassium permanganate can also provide good help - only 5 g of this agent is diluted in ten liters of water. Apple trees, together with the near-stem circles, with this composition are sprayed three times in one season. Do not be alarmed if, after this procedure, traces of a brownish solution form on the apples - they are absolutely harmless.
For preventive purposes, apple trees are also sprayed with a 0.5 - 3% solution of mineral fertilizers, such as potassium salt, potassium nitrate, potassium chloride, ammonium sulfate, potassium sulfate or ammonium nitrate.
In the event that it is impossible to cope with the scab without the use of chemicals, they switch to their use. The most commonly used drugs are Bordeaux mixture, Gamair, Horus, Raek, Strobi, Skor, Fitolavin, Abiga-Peak, etc.
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