Flattened Apple Tree Branches

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

The flattening of the branches noticeably weakens the affected apple trees and often leads to their death. Measures to combat this viral disease are mostly of a preventive nature, since it is practically impossible to completely get rid of such a scourge. It is much easier to prevent the occurrence of this ailment than to deal with it later in all conceivable and inconceivable ways

A few words about the disease

In trees affected by flattening, flattening of young shoots and trunks is observed, becoming almost completely flat. It happens that tumors are also formed on them, and along the flattened trunks, distinct small depressions can be seen. In some areas of the cortex, tissues die off and necrotic specks form.

The first symptoms of this scourge appear on trees only a few years after the virus gets there. Infected apple trees are often damaged as a result of winter frosts, as they are completely unprepared for them.

The most prone to flattening are apple varieties such as Sin-Tillish, Ingrid Marie, Wagner and Grafenstein. Not all varieties of apple trees are affected by this ailment to the same extent. For example, on apple trees of the Ingrid Mari variety, flattening can persist in a latent form for a long time, and sometimes its symptoms may not appear at all.

Flattening is caused by a virus spread by harmful insects such as aphids and nasty herbivorous mites. Also, its spread can occur with the juice of infected apple trees, during pruning of healthy crops along with infected ones, and during grafting on strong healthy vegetation of affected cuttings. And about the possibility of transferring the virus with seeds, no information is currently available.

How to fight

The planting material used must be healthy, and quarantine measures must also be observed. In order to prevent the further spread of flattening, it is important to regularly process the vegetation against numerous sucking insects, which are carriers of a huge number of all kinds of viral diseases. A good effect can be achieved when using "Karbofos" (for every ten liters of water it will need 30 g). After a month, it is recommended to repeat the treatment with this tool.

It is important to examine the apple tree at least twice a year for flattening. This is done in the fall (about a month before the start of the leaf fall) and in the spring or early summer. All trees with signs of ailment are immediately discarded. It is imperative that shoots from infected trees not be used for grafting.

Periodically, you should also feed the apple trees, first after flowering, then - as soon as the ovaries crumble, and finally - at the end of August or at the very beginning of September. And in the spring-summer period, apple trees should be provided with moderate watering and feeding with nitrogen-containing fertilizers. Top dressing with ash will also be very useful. They are introduced into the soil at the rate of one and a half to two kilograms of ash for each square meter of the projection of the crown. Iodine dressings are also acceptable (for ten liters of iodine water, it is enough to take 10 ml). A solution of the notorious potassium permanganate (dark pink) will be a good health-improving feeding - once a month it is watered with it in order to stimulate the full growth of the root system and disinfection. And as an additive to irrigation, they use azofoska - for ten liters of water, only one tablespoon of this product is required. For each tree aged from eight to ten years, twenty to thirty liters of such a composition are consumed.

All apple trees with symptoms of flattening found on them should be uprooted and burned, since it is almost impossible to get rid of viral ailments.

Currently, the question of combating viral ailments by heating infected cultures has been raised, but it has not yet been fully investigated.