Pests and diseases of cherry: a description and ways to fight

Cherry trees often face fungal and viral diseases, and their susceptibility to diseases does not depend on age, variety and climatic features. Many diseases even lead to the death of trees, so they need constant care and prevention of diseases. Early detection of signs of disease and prompt treatment in most cases allows you to save the plant and over time gather a full harvest.

Proper development and strong immunity of cherry trees based on the basic requirements for their care:

• competent mode of watering;
• introduction of mineral and organic dressings;
• regular pruning.

There are factors that can significantly reduce the immunity of the plant, and this dramatically increases the risk of the development of garden crop ailments.

These include:

• climatic parameters of the region;
• systematic violation of the integrity of the branches and the bark of a tree;
• sharp fluctuations in temperature;
• infection from affected trees;
• attack of vectors of fungal infections.

Unfortunately, the cherry tree itself cannot suppress the development of pathogenic microflora, therefore, in any case, the use of medicinal preparations and the destruction of damaged fragments is required.

Let us dwell on the most common diseases of the cherry.

Coccus mycosis is a fungal infection that affects leaves, branches, and plant berries. For a long time on the territory of our country, the trees did not encounter coccomycosis, but, nevertheless, the fungus came to us from the Scandinavian countries.

All sorts of cherries except for felt are subject to ailment, but more often the problem occurs in the southern regions.

The causative agent of infection is a fungus that lives in the fallen leaves of trees and grass debris, the peak of its pathogenic activity occurs in the middle of spring, when the air is sufficiently heated. At this time, spores begin to wake up and spread throughout the bark of the tree, hitting it and simultaneously multiplying. As a rule, the disease is sent from the bottom up. This is due to the fact that the fungus prefers moisture.

Contagious disease - a gust of wind spores can be transferred from one tree to another and take root in a new place.

The first signs of illness can be seen in summer, they appear as red-brown spots on the leaves, as the area of ​​the lesion increases, the shade changes to a slightly darker one. With the naked eye you can see small pale pink spots - this is what pathogenic fungal spores look like.

The diseased plant quickly fades away: leaves fall off, as a result, the tree meets autumn frosts with unprepared and often does not bring long winters.

Monilioz, or monilial burn - a disease in which the affected branches look as if burnt, while the spores of the fungus are easily transferred from one tree to another, so in the absence of timely treatment in the shortest possible time the whole garden can get sick.

The infection feels particularly good in cool weather and retains its pathogenic features even in the most severe frosts, therefore during the winter it only accumulates its strength and, with the advent of heat, begins to attack the hard bark, branches and flowers of the cherry tree.

Signs of the disease are difficult to confuse with any other - buds and young branches wither, rather dense growths appear on the fruits, and gray seals appear on the bark. Large branches crack, and the fruits dry out and quickly fall off.

Scab - this subspecies of the fungus can not destroy the plant itself, but to lime the entire crop - easily. Non-compliance with the preventive measures required by the agrotechnology of horticultural crops leads to the disease.

The causative agent of scab settles in plant debris, it endures the cold season and wakes up with the first spring heat.

Symptoms of damage can be called the appearance of small saturated yellow spots, which gradually darken and are distributed on the leaf plates, and the berries are dried and covered with cracks.

Anthracosis is a problem that affects not the leaves themselves, but the fruits of the cherrytherefore, it is often overlooked until the moment of harvest - it was at that moment that the owners of the plots of land discovered that the overwhelming majority of the fruits had died.

Anthracosis fungus is activated in dry weather, and in rain and wind it spreads to quite serious distances and infects all nearby cherry trees. Very often, gardeners can save no more than 20% of the crop.

The disease begins with the appearance of tiny white dots, which eventually transform into light pink bulges, after which the berries are mummified and fall off.

Holey spotting is one of the most complex fungal infections in cherries, since it affects all plant structures at once. The fungus is most active in the summer, especially during the rainy season, when the humidity is rather high.

First of all, the parasite infects the wood, gradually moving to buds, shoots, as well as leaves, ovaries and berries. The main symptoms can be seen when examining the leaf plate - there are brown, crimson or purple spots rounded, and on the green parts small holes with a pronounced border are formed, venation is expressed. Fruits ulcerate, shrink and fall.

This problem, such as gum therapy, rarely pays special attention, but its danger is that it rarely manifests itself as an independent disease, most often the appearance of tarry secretions is a signal of the presence of other, more serious diseases of the garden culture.

Thinking occurs when the integrity of the tree, trunk, bark and branches is often compromised, and it is also often caused by illiterate pruning of a plant.

Manifestations of pathology are familiar to many - bright resinous lumps are formed on the trunks, while there is a constant release of juice and the formation of new sticky mounds. All this leads to large-scale drying of shoots or even the whole bush.

Treatment and prevention of cherry lesions comes down to basic measures. These include planting disease-resistant crops, zoning of landings, removal of damaged branches, regular phosphate and potash dressings, well-conducted pruning, regular removal of dead branches and bark.

The eradication spraying at the very end of the vegetative period with urea or copper sulfate preparations has proven itself well.

Annual whitewashing, as well as prophylactic or therapeutic treatment with drugs such as Chorus, HOM, Bordeaux liquid, Skor and Plantenol helps in the fight against diseases.

In each case, the treatment of diseases of the cherry must be different.

So, with the defeat of coccomycosis spend special spraying. At the time of bud break, branches are treated with a solution of Bordeaux mixture (400 grams per bucket of water). After the flowers fall, it is better to use copper oxychloride and dilute it in the same proportion. The same procedure is carried out at the end of the harvest.

When scab appears, copper oxychloride has very good efficiency - it is taken at the rate of 80 g per bucket of water and the plant is sprayed, and at the end of the fruiting period the tree is sprayed with Bordeaux liquid - in this case 30 g per 10 liters of water will suffice.

Treatment of anthracosis should begin with the very first signs of pathology, and the measures should be the most radical. To begin with, it is necessary to cut and burn all the diseased branches and areas of the bark, and then spray the plant with Bordeaux liquid 3% - it is diluted in a proportion of 100 ml per bucket of cool water. It is imperative to dig and destroy all the vegetation in the tree wheel and conduct a high-quality digging of the earth.

When gumming, bluestone will be a good help. To treat the plants, 100 g of the substance is stirred in a bucket of water and the bushes are treated with it, in addition, prophylactic whitewashing of the trunk has a high efficiency at the very beginning of spring.

There are no varieties of cherries that are 100% resistant to various diseases. Errors in care, climate and much more can significantly weaken the plant's immunity, therefore, a large role in the fight against diseases of the culture is given to preventive measures.

The first thing that damages the plant and makes them attractive to parasites is damage to the integrity.

To avoid any mechanical damage, you need:

• timely cut and remove all dry, rotted and overgrown shoots;
• after pruning all wounds of trees, it is imperative to process garden pitch;
• annually carry out protective whitewashing of the bole.

Violation of the irrigation regime and the absence of bait weakens the plant, making it an "easy victim" of fungi, viruses and bacteria, so regular feeding is required.

Plants need:

• manure or bird droppings;
• superphosphate solution;
• potassium sulphate or potassium chloride;
• urea or ammonium sulfate.

In order to comprehensively protect cherry trees from damage, it needs preventive fungicidal spraying:

• spring should handle the branches with soapy water;
• in the summer - copper or iron;
• immediately after fruiting - 1% Bordeaux liquid.

In addition, you should follow simple rules aimed at minimizing the risk of manifestation of various disease states of a plant:

• any plant debris (fallen leaves and branches that otplodonivivshie bushes) must be immediately removed and burned;
• the site should be digged annually;
• thickened tree crowns need systematic pruning;
• between plants should maintain a distance.

Fungal diseases of cherry trees cause significant damage to all domestic gardening, they are especially dangerous in our country with its unpredictable weather, when summer is quite often rainy and damp. In such conditions, pathogens of scab and moniliosis are activated, and on dry days, other infections are likely to occur.

That is why biologists constantly work on breeding hybrids resistant to diseases, the result of their work are the following varietal varieties.

The varieties Assol, Zarya Tatarii, Kharitonovskaya, Dessert Morozova, Nord Star and Bulatnikovskaya are resistant to moniliosis and coccomycosis, the latter being considered the most hardy variety.

These cultures, besides good immunity, are distinguished by high yields, excellent taste characteristics of fruits and excellent winter hardiness.

Unfortunately, such popular cultures as “Lyubskaya” and “Apukhtinskaya” in the gardens of our compatriots, with all their high fertility, have low resistance to fungal and bacterial diseases and their breeding is justified only in large state farms with a high level of agricultural technology.

Felt cherries are characterized by a rather strong affection of various infections, however, with proper treatment, by the middle of summer the plant recovers and can give a good harvest (for comparison, all other stone fruit crops can recover only by early autumn).

Like all fruit trees, the cherry in our garden becomes the object of close attention from insect pests. These uninvited guests attack the plants and hit almost all of its parts - young branches, flowers, bark, fruits and even wood.

Cherry weevil is small bugs 5 mm in size with a golden color. From the very onset of heat, they wake up and begin to feed on the juices of young leaves and flowers. Weevils do not even disdain with the emerging berries, moreover, it is in the fruits that they eat away the hollows and lay their eggs in large numbers.

The larvae cause no less harm to the horticultural crop, they simply gnaw the middle of the seed, as a result, the affected fruits fall, and the larvae from them move to the soil, where they calmly overwinter and wait for the next growing season.

In the spring, while the buds on the plants have not yet blossomed, the beetles should be shaken off the branches manually, having previously laid a film or other coating on the ground - this is necessary in order to collect and burn all the caught pests. However, this method can only be used to protect low-growing cherries. And if insects attacked a 4-7 meter plant, then the measures should be different. In this case, insecticides are used - they are applied before flowering, as well as after harvesting. During the period of the formation and ripening of fruits, the use of chemical preparations is fraught with a deterioration in the chemical composition of the berries.

In the period when the cherry forms the fruit, the treatment can be protected by an extract of fragrant chamomile. For its preparation, take 100 g of raw materials, a little soap and dissolve it all in a bucket of water.

Saws are the larvae, which by their appearance immediately resemble caterpillars and slugs. They are small - their size rarely exceeds 6 cm, they are black in color. The sawfrey devours leaf fragments, gnaws holes in them. As a result, the leaves curl, become covered in spots, resembling burns in appearance, which causes a premature release of leaves.

For the culture, the rest of the insect’s relatives, yellow and plum, are also unsafe, they all cause damage to the plant, and with the onset of frosts they are able to move to the ground and winter there quietly.

With a small amount of damage, insects are brushed by hand or simply washed off with a strong stream of water by placing a special film under the cherry tree. If such measures are not enough, you can use chemical plant protection chemicals.

To combat aphids, several rules should be followed:

• reduce the number of ants in the area, because they carry the aphids through garden crops;
• correctly carry out pruning;
• avoid over-applying nitrogen-containing feedings;
• timely clean shtamby from the old bark and hold its annual whitewash.

In the fight against aphids high efficiency shows an infusion of dry mustard powder, as well as ash-soap solution.

Simple-looking flies can often cause great damage to the plant. The cherry fly can destroy the entire crop, as these insects lay their larvae in the fruit, which feed on the soft parts of the berries. In addition to them, representatives of the gold-tails and cherry moths harm the fruits - their caterpillars eat all the leaves and unblown buds.That is why the fight against them should begin as soon as possible, since at the beginning of the activity of the caterpillars the ovary is not yet formed and you can safely use insecticides. When buying, preference should be given to those that have a long-term effect in order to protect the plant until frost.

Unfortunately, even the strongest drugs are not able to provide the maximum effect in the fight against insect parasites, if there is no competent prevention. Therefore, you should constantly remove and burn all the fallen leaves, as well as the unripe and mummified fruits.

In winter, rodents can cause considerable damage to cherries. To protect against them, you need to wind the plant with a fine-meshed net and place special traps. But in the summer, ordinary birds can significantly reduce the harvest. To scare them away, many people hang computer discs, shiny foil or even the most common New Year's “rain” in the trees.

Most often, infection with various infections occurs in the spring, even before the beginning of the summer season, therefore during this period it is necessary to carefully examine all parts of the plant for pests and damaged areas - insects should be shaken off, and all damaged branches should be immediately removed.

It should be noted that most fungal infections of cherries are practically not treated by folk remedies, so it is very important to identify the disease at the earliest stages, when the use of chemicals is still allowed.

If the cherries dry and wither, then the reasons may be:

• defeat garden bark beetle;
• development of fungal infection - moniliosis;
• excessive penetration of the root collar, which causes its heating.

If the plant dries up or turns yellow, then there may be more reasons:

• lack of nitrogen-containing substances in the soil or boron deficiency;
• coccomycosis or moniliasis;
• the appearance of anthills around the cherry;
• illiterate system of watering plants.

If the cherry does not bear fruit, then the reasons may be the most common - the absence of pollinators, excessively acidified soil or the wrong choice of varieties. However, most often this problem occurs when fungal diseases or root cancer - in the latter case, the plant is almost impossible to cure.

How to cure a cherry from disease, see the next video.