Diseases of apple leaves and how to deal with them

Apple tree, like any other garden culture, is often faced with diseases and insect pests. Quite often they infect leaves (especially small leaves), and if measures are not taken in time, the disease can lead to the death of the entire plant.

Very often gardeners notice that the leaves of their beloved apple tree have dried, turned yellow, orange spots appeared on them, or the flowers did not bloom after winter. Quite often, this garden culture withers and fades in June, and holes appear on the plates. Such wilting disrupts photosynthesis, which is bad for the plant and the tree in most cases dies.

It is easy to fix the problems associated with improper care, but it is much more difficult to get rid of diseases caused by fungi and bacteria, and viral infections are not cured at all. Consider the most common diseases.

• Scab - Often affects the leaves and fruits of apple trees when dark spots appear on them with a light rim around the edges. If time is not taken up with the treatment, 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 - fungal infection, which manifests itself in the form of brown spots on the leaves, this is accompanied by overgrowing of the cortex with mounds with spore-bearing growths. The disease leads to the fall of the fruit or their mummification.

• Leaf Rust - quite often such a problem occurs in gardens where apple trees grow in close proximity to juniper, it is there that the rust pathogen loves to live and under any adverse weather conditions (rain, wind) it is easily transferred to fruit trees, where it makes itself felt rusty convex stains with small dark brown splashes. A total defeat leads to the fact that the leaves fall off in July, respectively, photosynthesis is disturbed, which leads to inhibition of fruit ripening.

• Mealy dew easily distinguishable from other diseases of culture. In this disease, the leaf plates are covered with brown bloom, and then collapse and fall off completely. If the fungus struck the apple tree at the very beginning of the growing season, in most cases it leads to the death of the whole plant.

• Milky luster - a dangerous disease that can cover the entire plant as a whole. The first symptom of it is the appearance of a pearly light gray shade of foliage.

• Monilioz - affects the leaves, covering them with a downed blob of a grayish tint. Such spots quickly spread from foliage to fruit, turning them into an inedible fruit.

• Phyllosticosis - this disease is also called brown spot, it manifests itself in the form of dark yellow or gray spots, their shape can be absolutely any. In this case, the epidermis quickly transformed into a transparent film. Purely visually, it is a bit like a burn with pesticides, however, the disease progresses rapidly and leads to the death of leaf tissue, if 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 with timely treatment you can defeat an unpleasant attack. Foliage with a bacterial burn takes on a charred look, this is accompanied by the appearance of dark spots in the bark and the bending of shoots.

The destruction of the vegetative parts of the tree inevitably leads him to death. Cases of self-healing from this pathology on poor soils are known. Bacteriosis of an apple tree begins with foliage - the plates darken at the edges and gradually the lesion affects the petioles, the stem, and from there it passes to the wood.Very often, the first symptoms do not alarm gardeners, but such a disease can destroy an apple tree of any age.

Separately, focus on viral diseases. They are not treated, and the affected plant should be destroyed and burned as quickly as possible, otherwise the virus will spread to neighboring trees and destroy all fruit crops in the area. The leaves of the apple tree are most often affected by a mosaic disease - its first manifestations are expressed by white-green spots between the leaf veins, while in the heat they are slightly paler (the white bloom should immediately alert the gardeners). As the disease progresses, the leaves become rather fragile and fall off. This early leaf fall deprives the plant of photosynthesis and inhibits the viability of the entire tree.

Among non-infectious pathologies should be highlighted:

• Frosty sunburn - occurs as a lesion of leaf plates, bark and branches of a young apple tree on the background of a strong temperature drop or freezing. It leads to the complete death of the leaves.

• Chlorosis - quite often observed in plants cultivated on poor and depleted soils, while the tree loses nitrogen, sulfur, magnesium and manganese. As a result, the leaf plates turn yellow and become almost white, thus the growth of fruits stops, and their taste properties sharply deteriorate.

To help a plant, it is necessary to determine exactly which substance it lacks:

• If the sheets are pale green, then this indicates about nitrogen deficiencyThe apple tree needs urea or ammonium nitrate.
• If chlorosis is especially pronounced between the veins of the lower leaves, it says about magnesium shortage. In this case, the veins themselves retain a green color, and the leaf tissue between them first turns pale and then turns yellow at all. In this case, foliar spraying with magnesium sulfate is highly effective.
• When interstitial yellowing of the apical leaves, the plant signals about iron deficiencyThis is often the case when the plant is planted on carbonate soils or re-limestone.
• If the veins themselves have turned yellow on the upper leaves, this is sulfuric chlorosis; potassium or magnesium sulphates.

• Rosette or small-leaf - with this pathology, the leaves of the trees acquire an unusual claw-like or lanceolate form, large rosettes of dozens of such modified leaves form on the tips of the shoots. The reason is most often connected with zinc fasting which inevitably leads to the weakening of the tree and reduce its productivity.
• About phosphorus deficiency signals the folding of the leaf plates with the edges downwards, and if they curl into the boat and shrink at the same time, it is necessary to feed the culture with potassium.
• Leaf chopping often bind deficient in nitrogen and zinc.

Treatment of plant diseases should begin immediately after detection of the problem. Many illnesses develop slowly and with timely response, the chances of saving the plant are quite large, and in some cases even manage to harvest.

Most often, for treating apples, special preparations are required, which can be purchased at any specialty store.

With the development of fungal diseases, copper-containing preparations, for example, copper sulfate, differ in their universal effect. It is advisable to add to it a solution of green soap - this will ensure greater adhesion of the drug to the leaf plates. He proved to be effective in cytosporosis and apple cancer.

Quite a little dangerous drug that will help the plant and at the same time will not cause harm to humans, animals, and also bees, is considered Fundazol, which can be sprinkled with an apple tree up to 5 times during the whole vegetation period.

With scab, Topaz or Hom should be used. They are bred in accordance with the instructions and sprayed the plant in the spring. The same means should be used when powdery mildew appears.

To get rid of rust will help treatment Bordeaux liquid or other fungicides.

With a bacterial burn, the drug Gamair works well, it is quite harmless in terms of environmental friendliness. Many prefer Fitoflavin, it is a complex of streptothricin antibiotics.

Separately, it is worthwhile to dwell on the activity of garden pests, which are distinguished by high fecundity and activity, 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 nitrophene. 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 formulations.

The ants are considered to be the real disaster of any garden, since it is they who carry the aphids, sending them to “graze” on the plant. It is easy to get rid of these unpleasant insects at home - they use Raptor or Combat brand products for this, however, they will have no effect in open space. If you use the gel formulations of these companies, you can destroy not only ants, but also useful bees, and this is fraught with the 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 slowly acting poison, and then upon returning to its anthill, gradually infects its relatives.

Unfortunately, folk methods of dealing with the disease of foliage of apple crops have low efficiency. As a rule, they are not enough to get rid of serious plant diseases.

But some gardeners recognize only environmentally friendly drugs, so they spray the foliage and stalks of an infected apple with infusions of ash, garlic or chamomile.

As a first spraying at the stage of formation of buds, experienced gardeners prepare an infusion of a mixture of onion, garlic husk, shag or tobacco. The three-liter jar is filled with 1/3 prepared ingredients and filled with boiling water, allowed to infuse for about a week and the stem and young shoots are treated.

As soon as young foliage appears on the tree, they often become victims of aphid attacks, in which case a decoction of yarrow or bitter wormwood will help scare away uninvited guests. The same composition should be used for the destruction of mites, caterpillars, as well as moth, weevils and sawflies. For the preparation of the infusion, 1 kg of grass is poured with three liters of water and infused for about a day, then boiled over low heat for 20-30 minutes, cooled, diluted in a bucket of water and sprayed with leaves each week.

By the way, against the larvae of aphids, the tops of tomatoes help well; for this, 2 kg of plant residues are poured with a bucket of water and boiled 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.

To get rid of small caterpillars will help the broth of hot peppers, while stocking up such a composition should be in advance, since its preparation will take 10-14 days. Concentrate infusion is prepared from 1 kg of dried pods, filled with hot water. Before use, dilute the mixture to 10 liters and start spraying.

Such compounds can help against simple pests, however, do not use them in the case of the fight against fungal and bacterial infections - their strength is clearly not enough, and in the treatment of apple trees the absence of potent drugs can lead to the death of the plant in just one season. If the plant has developed, but the flowers dried up after flowering, then you should pay attention to more serious chemical drugs to combat the disease.

The problem is easier to prevent than to cure. And this fully applies to tree diseases, including all types of apple trees. Withering plants - the biggest problem for gardeners. In order to avoid undesirable acquaintance with pathogenic microflora, regular preventive spraying should be carried out.

For this, in early spring, on a warm and windless day, tree trunks and shoots should be treated with a solution of nitrafen or copper sulphate. The same treatment should be done immediately at the time of swelling of the first kidneys.

After the harvest is completed in autumn, when the leaves have not yet fallen, the garden should be sprayed with urea. It will destroy all insects that are preparing for wintering in the ground and bark of trees.

It is very important to get rid of fallen leaves and other plant debris - it is in them that many pests and pathogens of fungal infections hibernate. At the same time they need not dig in the ground, and burn. It is necessary to monitor the crown of the tree, to prevent its thickening, because the plant must be constantly ventilated.

See the next video about diseases of the leaves of the apple tree and how to fight them.