Damage to the bark of an apple tree: causes and ways to eliminate them
Damage to the bark of fruit trees can seriously harm its health.Because of this, the plant may die, so you need to carefully monitor the state of the culture in order to timely get rid of the causes that cause cracks and other symptoms. It is important to remember the proper care of the trees so that such problems no longer arise.
Cracks are damages that can bring many problems to the plant. They need to be treated promptly, otherwise the apple tree will cease to please the owner with tasty fruits, or it may even die. To avoid this, you should be aware of the various causes of damage.
Causes of damage and their treatment
In order for the gardener to understand what kind of problem he encountered, it is necessary to carefully examine the cracks and other signs. A tree can become infected with a disease, be attacked by insects or rodents.
Also, the cause of the problem is often the wrong pruning or poor-quality treatment of plant wounds, after which various viruses, fungi or microbes that can harm the culture get under the bark.
Frostbite and burns
Very often the plant is difficult to tolerate severe frosts in the winter. If the gardener does not care for the tree too well, which leads to a decrease in its frost resistance and does not strengthen it before the cold begins, there may be consequences that cause the culture to perish. The first symptom of frostbite is cracks appearing on the bark of the plant. If it cracks not very much, it means that the tree will be able to cure itself. In the spring, when the process of sap flow begins, the wounds will disappear. If the cracked places are quite large, you should carefully clean the exfoliated bark and treat the wounds with the help of a garden warp.
The sun's rays - this is one of the causes of burst bark. Sunburns most often get younger plants, as the old apple has good immunity.
If the tree is burned, the bark begins to flake off and becomes light. In this case, you should get rid of dead skin sites by cleansing and treat the wounds with peroxide solution. You can use the garden pitch.
Mechanical damage
These damage is most common. This may be a peeling of the bark (the wound is open, as there is no bark on the damaged surface, and the wood is bare) or lousy (there is remnant bark in the damaged area, the wound is torn). Such damage can cause construction or snow removal equipment.
It is necessary to clean the area, then process it with a five percent solution of copper sulfate. Further, the surface is covered with a garden pitch or a dressing made of clay.
If the wound is quite deep, more than five centimeters, or there are cracks in it that go deep into the wood, a cement filling should be installed to help cure the apple tree.
Diseases and pests
There are many diseases that can affect weak fruit trees. It is important to see their symptoms in time and start treatment, otherwise the plant may die. And also you need to try to strengthen the immunity of apple trees so that they are not fragile and can fight on their own. It is worth considering the most common diseases.
- An extremely unpleasant and dangerous disease that can destroy a tree - cytosporosis. If small red-brown ulcers appear on the branches of the plant, it means that it is affected. Soon the ulcers begin to grow, so that the branches die off, and the bark falls off. Fungal disease develops quite quickly, so you should take action immediately. Need to get rid of infected branches. Diseased areas on the trunk of a tree are cut with a knife, and wounds are treated with copper sulfate. Then they should be covered with a compress made of clay with a mullein. He sticks tightly to the damaged areas with a bandage.After this procedure, the plant will very quickly recover and continue to delight the gardener with tasty and healthy fruits.
- If the trunk of the apple tree turned black and the bark began to burst, then the plant got sick black cancer. It may appear due to weak plant immunity after a period of fruiting or due to bad weather conditions. The affected parts of the trunk become black, the bark cracks, begins to peel off and fall off. Under it is seen friable wood. If an apple tree is affected by this ailment, it will be better to get rid of it so that the disease does not infect other fruit crops. But if black cancer does not last long, you can try to cure it. In order to save the tree, all infected areas should be cut out, and wounds should be treated with blue vitriol. Then they are superimposed lotion made of clay with mullein. If almost all cracked bark is destroyed, the gardener can use a graft bridge.
- If the tree is infected common cancer growths appear on it that are surrounded by bumps of dark color. The disease spreads extremely slowly, so it is possible to react quickly and save the plant. It is necessary to use the same technique that is used in the treatment of black cancer. If the tree is not cured, it is necessary to get rid of it.
Not only diseases can destroy the plant, but also a variety of pests. Injuries can cause insects and rodents. If the damaged areas are not too large, you can treat them with garden pitch. If mice and hares devoured a lot of bark, in springtime it is worth treating the tree by means of grafting with a bridge. It is necessary to cut from the upper part of the crown 2-3 cuttings.
The wood must be healthy, otherwise the treatment process will not give results. They are inserted behind the bark in such a way that one end of the cutting is higher than the wound, and the other is slightly lower. They should be carefully fastened, processed using garden warrior, then put moist moss on top.
The design is covered with burlap. When cuttings take root, they will be able to promote sap flow and the tree will become healthy and strong.
The bark will move away and crack if it is attacked by bark beetles. Usually they are under the bark of the plant. Insects get there through a variety of cracks and wounds that are on the apple tree, so they affect the weak and damaged trees, which are poorly cared for. The gardener will notice the peeling of the bark or a large number of strokes that parasites have done. In this case, the tree is quite difficult to save, so it is cut down and uprooted, so that insects could not attack other fruit crops planted in the garden.
If there are only a few holes in the wood, and the plant itself seems to be completely healthy, it means that it is necessary to fill the insecticide into these passages with a syringe. Effective means of Antijuk, Calypso and Antishechelin are suitable. Then you need to wait for some time so that the product is well absorbed. After this, the moves are carefully covered with garden pitch. The procedure will save the bark and relieve the gardener from the problems associated with the emergence of the beetle.
Preventive measures
To prevent gardeners from experiencing problems of this type, they should be prevented. It is important to constantly monitor the condition of the trees, so as not to start any disease. If this is not done, diseases can actively develop and destroy the plant. It is necessary to adhere to simple preventive measures.
- To prevent a tree from freezing, you must carefully and safely cover it before the onset of winter. You need to use a variety of cloths for wrapping the stem of the culture. Winding is important to securely fasten. And also for this are often used paws of the fir forest or roofing felt, which will protect the apple from the effects of rodents. In order to prevent plant burns, it is important to whiten the trunk, starting from the soil and ending with the first skeletal branches.
- To prevent the apple tree from getting sick with cytosporosis, it is necessary to treat it with copper oxychloride. Spraying is carried out before the buds swell. Copper sulphate and pot mix before flowering are also used. It is extremely easy to prevent infection with black or normal cancer. A gardener should maintain a good state of culture, using a variety of fertilizers and fertilizing. If the soil does not have the required amount of nutrients, you need to make money in it that can strengthen the immunity of the tree and give it a high resistance to various diseases.
- Experienced gardeners know that cracks appearing on a tree trunk can cause more serious and dangerous diseases, as various fungi and bacteria can enter there. Therefore, do not treat them carelessly. It is better to react in time and get rid of the problem than to solve a few.
- In order not to run problems, It is worth regularly and carefully inspect plants for damage. If the symptoms differ from the above, it is better to check again, because if the treatment is not done correctly, the culture can only be made worse.
How to restore the bark of the tree, see the following video.