Having landed cherries on your site, you should not relax. The tree, though it is easy to take root in our latitudes, is very susceptible to various diseases and pests. Every gardener faces them sooner or later, because it is impossible to save her from these misfortunes. Their occurrence is influenced by both predictable factors (weather, agricultural technology) and unpredictable (accidental damage to branches, etc.). Therefore, trees should be constantly inspected for diseases, as well as various preventive measures. This article discusses typical diseases of cherry and the fight against them.
Did you know? Cherry (Prunus subg. Cerasus) belongs to the genus Plum family of Pink. The very name of the tree is associated with the Latin word viscum, which means bird glue, and the German Weichsel, which is called cherry. Therefore, the cherry is often called bird cherry with sticky juice.
Major Leaf Diseases
As with any other fruit tree, various fungal diseases occur on cherries. Some of them strike a separate part of the tree, others settle on the bark, branches, leaves, fruits. How to determine the type of diseases of the cherry and their treatment?
Leaf Rust
The manifestation of this disease can be detected in the month of July, when rust-like spots appear on the upper side of the leaves. The affected area is constantly expanding, and as a result, the leaves fall prematurely. The trees themselves become weaker because of this, they tolerate heat and frost worse. The probability that the cherry will not bear fruit next year increases greatly.
To defeat this disease, you must collect all the affected leaves that have fallen to the ground, and destroy them. Before flowering, the tree should be treated with chlorine dioxide of copper at the rate of 40 g per 5 l of water. The same is recommended after flowering. When the berries are gathered, the affected tree should be treated with Bordeaux liquid 1%.
Did you know? In our latitudes, the tree has been growing since time immemorial and today has a huge number of species. Only one cultivated variety is not less than 150. The most popular are such varieties as Chernokorka, Shokoladnitsa, Shpanka and others. As a rule, trees are resistant to frost, drought, unpretentious. Begin to bear fruit after 3-4 years of life.
Coccomycosis
This is a fungal disease that affects not only the leaves of the crop, but also its fruits. Leaves are characterized by pale or bright red spots on the outside and white-pink pads (fungal spores) on the bottom. Such leaves quickly turn yellow and fall off, and the fruits linger in development and also crumble.
Infection occurs at the beginning of the flowering of the tree, when a mushroom living in fallen leaves throws out spores, which, at high humidity, infect the leaves. Over time, the tree loses its winter hardiness and may even die.
Accordingly, to combat the scourge, it is necessary to remove and burn fallen leaves, as well as dig up the earth under a tree. They also sprinkle the tree: during the period when the green buds separate, then immediately after flowering and after harvesting. The mixture is used the same as in the case of rust on the leaves.
Important! Some experts believe that fighting coccomycosis and moniliasis is meaningless, since they still reappear on the tree. It is safer to get and plant young trees that are resistant to these diseases.
Klesterosporiosis
It is also a fungal disease, but it primarily affects the berries themselves. It is characterized by depressed purple spots, which gradually grow and bulge out. Over time, gum starts to leak out of them. However, if the fruit has been infected late, the spots may not bulge. In these places, the berry dries to the bone.
The fungus can settle on shoots, which are covered first with round and then elongated spots, which soon crack, releasing the gum. The buds affected by him become black and fall off, the flowers simply fall off.
It is difficult to fight the fungus, as it easily tolerates frosts in fallen leaves or wounds on a tree. In the spring, speaking on the surface of the bark, it is spread by insects, wind, and streams of rain. The tree is weakened, less fruiting. Therefore, for the prevention of pruned and burned sick branches, fallen leaves. The tree is sprayed with the above mixtures or with Topsin-M 70% after flowering. Repeat the procedure should be in two weeks.
Scab
The disease appears on the leaves of olive-brown spots or cracks on ripe berries. The fight against the disease begins with the removal of the affected fruit and spraying with any fungicide during the opening of the leaves, then after three weeks, then after harvesting the berries and, if necessary, again after two weeks. As a prophylaxis, a tree trunk is sprayed with nitrafen before the buds bud on it.
What are sick cherry fruit and bark
Cherry is a disease not only in the leaf area. The fruits and bark of the tree also suffer from various misfortunes, which can both reduce yields and completely destroy the tree. Therefore, it is important to identify the disease in time and choose the right treatment for it.
Anthracnose
Fungal disease, manifested by dull spots on the berries, which are then transformed into dull tubercles with a pink bloom. When the disease completely hits the fetus, it is mummified. During the wet summer, the disease can hit up to 80% of the crop.
Fight this fungus with a solution of 20 g of "Poliram" in a bucket of water (10 l). They sprayed the tree immediately before flowering, then immediately after and then another two weeks later.
Gommoz
It is also called gumming - flow and solidification in the form of transparent drops from the trunk and gum branches. It is characteristic of frozen or overly fertilized trees. If you do not fight the disease, it will lead to the death of the tree.
In order to fight intensify efforts to process the cherry in the spring from pests and diseases. All the wounds on the tree are quickly treated with garden pitch or 1% solution of blue vitriol, and then covered with petralatum. If the branch is strongly affected, it is better to cut it.
Monilioz
Before deciding how to deal with moniliasis, it is necessary to understand the nature of the disease and the scale of its destruction. Because of a monilial burn, both individual branches of the cherry tree and the entire tree can dry out. In this case, the affected areas look as if they were hit by fire. This usually happens after it blooms. Then, gray growths form on the bark, the fruits rot and fall, the branches crack, releasing gum.
To fight, the affected branches are cut, capturing some healthy areas, and burned. The same is carried out with fruits, fallen leaves. Wood is treated with a fungicide: "Kuprozan", "Kaptan", "Olekuprit" or others. Moreover, they will have to process wood more than once. Therefore, to prevent monilioz cherries and not worry about how to treat it, it is better to take preventive measures in advance.
Important! Characteristic signs of disease do not always appear immediately. Usually they are noticed when the disease is already actively progressing. Therefore, you must be alerted by the untimely fall of the foliage, its yellowing, wilting, and other changes on the leaves, fruits, bark. Carefully inspect the tree, find the cause of the lesions and select an effective remedy.
How to deal with pests cherries
In addition to diseases, cherries await various pests. Various insects can harm not only the leaves, but also the fruits of the tree, negating the entire crop. Next, consider what are the pests of cherries and what should be the fight against them.
Cherry aphid
The pest most often affects tree seedlings in early spring. Small larvae appear on the shoots and leaves of the tree, forming extensive colonies. The female settlers have wings and, flying across the garden, spread the aphids to other plants.
You can fight with aphids by spraying the trees with "Olekupkrit" or "Nitrafen" as soon as the larvae appear. It is important that the air temperature is not lower than 5 ºC. A little later, the tree is treated with "Phosphamide", "Metaphos" or "Karbofos", but before flowering. If necessary, in the summer you can repeat the treatment with insecticides.
Cherry slimy sawfly
This insect has a black shiny color and likes to settle on fruit bushes and trees. The name was due to the fact that the greenish larva in the form of a comma is covered with black mucus. It winters in the nest at a depth of 5-15 cm, depending on the heat of the climate. In the spring, it pupates and comes to the surface in the form of adult insects. They lay eggs in the upper part of the leaves of trees and shrubs, which the larvae then eat, and in early September, go down and bury themselves in the ground.
Accordingly, it is possible to fight with them autumn loosening of the soil. If the invasion is massive, the soil is sprayed with 10% Trichlormetaphos, 10% Karbofos, and 3.8% Chlorophos. If chemicals are caught in granules, 15-20 g of the substance should be dissolved in a bucket of water.
Hawthorn
The big butterfly, which has a white color and longish wings, loves not only cherries, but also other fruit crops. In the afternoon she flies around flowers and water. Its caterpillar is 45 mm long, soft gray hair on the sides and belly with yellow and black stripes on the back. Insect pupa 2 cm in length, gray with black spots.
Caterpillars make nests in dry, fallen leaves. In the spring they climb it and devour the buds after flowering. Then they pupate on branches or fences, and in June, the first adult individuals fly out, laying eggs on the front side of the leaves. Caterpillars eat exactly this part of the foliage.
You can fight them by removing the leaves from under the tree for the winter, removing the nests, laying the eggs. In late April or early May, when the pests come out of their winter nests, they spray. When deciding how to spray cherry in spring, pay attention to the special preparations Actellic, Corsair, Ambush in a concentration of 0.1%.
Cherry fly
A small shiny dark brown insect with yellow longitudinal stripes on the back on average 4 mm in length. It has transparent wings with four dark stripes across the wing. Her eyes are green, the back of the head and thighs are yellow, the rest of the body is black. In winter, it wraps itself in a cocoon of a dirty yellow color and barrel-shaped in the upper soil layer (up to 13 cm).
In the spring after departure, the fly feeds on cherry aphid secretions, and when the fruit ripens - its juice. Eggs are laid in the still not ripe fruits, piercing them. The larvae develop for about 20 days, feeding on the pulp of the berries around the bones. When the time comes, they crawl out of them and fall to the ground, burrowing and twisting into cocoons for the winter. Eaten fruits rot and crumble.
To get rid of the flies, they try to plant early varieties of cherries and cherries, during the entire warm period of the year they loosen the soil around the trunk, spray them with insecticides at least twice a season. The second spraying should be done no later than two weeks before the harvest. Sprayed not only the crown of the tree, but the soil around it. In early spring and late autumn, they dig up the earth around a tree trunk to a depth of at least 20 cm.
Cherry weevil
Beetle 9 mm in length, golden-green color, crimson hue. In winter it digs into the soil, and in the spring it comes to the surface and feeds on young foliage and flowers. When the fruit ripens, the female sneaks inside to the bone, gnaws it and lays eggs there. The caterpillar feeds on the bone flesh, and after the fruits fall, it descends to the ground, digs into it and pupates. During the winter, it turns into a beetle, which in the spring and comes to the surface.
Accordingly, you can fight it by digging or plowing the soil around shrubs and trees. In the spring, during the period when the leaves bloom, traps are placed on the trees, which are constantly cleaned of beetles, shaken them off on a plastic wrap, spread out below the tree. 11 days after the end of flowering, it is necessary to process the tree or shrub with a 0.3% solution of Karbofos.
Preventive measures, how to protect cherries from diseases and pests
Preventive methods begin with trimming cherries, treating wounds with copper sulfate solution and garden pitch, whitewashing of skeletal branches and lime trunks. This should be started when the juice in the cherry has not yet begun to actively arrive.
Next stage - spraying pristvolny circles with a solution of 700 g of urea in a bucket of water. It will not only destroy the pests and fungi that overwinter in the soil and bark, but also saturate the tree with nitrogen, which is necessary for the formation of lush foliage. It is important to do this before the kidneys swell, otherwise they may burn. If you do not have time to do it in time, use the preparations "Agravertin", "Akarin", "Fitavarm", "Nitrafen". It is also worth using "Ecoberin" or "Zircon", which will help increase the resistance of the tree to weather conditions and diseases.
After dropping the foliage in the fall, the tree should be cut off, treating the cut sites with copper sulphate and garden pitch. All cut branches and collected leaves must be burned. As soon as the first frosts pass, it is worth treating the soil around the cherry and the tree itself with a solution of urea (5%).
As for the prevention of diseases, at the very beginning of the appearance of buds a tree or shrub is treated with a 1% solution of Bordeaux mixture or a solution of 35 g of copper oxychloride suspension in 10 liters of water. The second treatment with these substances is immediately after flowering. If you do not have time to catch this moment and the leaves have already appeared, so as not to burn them, it is better to use drugs such as Kaptan, Ftalan, Kuprozan. It is also necessary to carry out two more treatments with these solutions - three weeks before the berries are removed and immediately after it.
The second insect treatment is carried out before the buds swell. It is often combined with prophylactic spraying of diseases by adding 60 g of "Benzophosphate" or 80 g of "Malathof" to a bucket of water in a solution.. Then the same treatment is carried out three weeks before the harvest and immediately after.
As you can see, the popular and beloved cherry by all is prone to many diseases and pests. But if time to carry out preventive measures, the crop can be saved.
