Names of apple diseases and how to combat them

When planting apple trees in your garden, everyone wants to not only enjoy the beauty of the tree with its luxurious crown and the cozy, cool shade it creates, but also enjoy the taste of natural, home-grown apples.

Unfortunately, a good apple harvest won't be possible if the tree is attacked by diseases, which must be addressed at the first sign. Apple tree diseases and their treatment will become easier if you look at photos and learn what the disease is. Apple trees can be attacked by fungal and bacterial diseases, each with its own distinctive symptoms. Let's look at the most common ones. characteristic apple tree diseases and methods for combating them, as well as photos of the disease itself. After all, to defeat the enemy, you need to know it!

What diseases can attack apple trees?

Diseases in this group develop due to the development of various types of fungi on the plant. These are the most common diseases encountered on apple trees.

Brown spot

A disease that appears towards the end of summer. It's easy to recognize visually: dark brown or burgundy spots with fuzzy, border-like edges appear on the tree's leaves. The fungus that causes this disease overwinters in fallen leaves, and by late summer, when humidity rises, it migrates to the foliage.

Milky shine

Another disease that manifests itself visually on apple tree leaves. The tree's leaves become covered in a milky, slightly shimmering color. It is the fungus that causes this shimmering effect. This disease is dangerous because it makes harvesting impossible: the fruit either fails to form at all or does not remain on the tree for long.

Powdery mildew

One of the most common fungal diseases affecting apple trees in the garden, it manifests as a grayish coating on the leaves, twigs, and flowers of the plant. Fungal spores can penetrate the plant, preventing it from developing fully. If the tree is affected by this disease, the newly formed fruits shrivel and dry out, or fail to form at all, leaving the tree bare all season.

Powdery mildew can be combated this way: buy colloidal liquid sulfur and use a two percent solution are sprayed The buds are treated, and the ovaries are treated with a one percent solution. The treatment should be repeated after a couple of weeks, using Bordeaux mixture or copper sulfate. Furthermore, the fungus that causes powdery mildew is killed by temperatures of -27 degrees Celsius or below.

Common crayfish

This disease appears on the tree's bark, in pruning cuts, in frost cracks, or at rodent bites. A damaged tree can become infected if the outside temperature fluctuates between 2 and 30 degrees Celsius, such as in spring, summer, and early fall. Due to the disease, the plant is deprived of adequate nutrition, its bark and branches begin to dry out and eventually die, and the trunk becomes covered in growths.

To cure the tree, cut off all affected areas and treat the cuts with copper sulfate to prevent the canker sore from attacking the tormented tree again. Apply garden pitch or oil paint over the copper sulfate. To prevent rabbits from damaging the bark during the winter, wrap it in corn husks.

Cytosporosis

Like apple canker, this disease affects the bark and trunk of the apple tree. However, the two diseases are visually distinct: Cytosporosis appears as rusty-brown spots. The affected areas of the bark resemble a sponge. The disease can be cured by whitewashing the trunk and branches with lime and copper sulfate. Whitewashing can also be used as a preventative measure.

Black crayfish

It affects the bark and resembles Cytosporosis in appearance. However, with Black Canker, the affected bark begins to peel, leaving the tree trunk exposed to external factors. Black spots first appear on the trunk, then pits. Apples begin to turn black and rot.

Scab

Apple rot is the most common disease affecting apple trees. Although it doesn't kill the plant, it causes incalculable damage to the harvest. The disease first appears on the underside of the leaves as brown spots with a greenish tint. The spots then appear on the fruit, eventually developing a hard, black crust. The fungus lurks in fallen leaves during the winter, and is activated in humid and moderately warm summers.

Therefore, it is necessary to remove excess branches and fallen apples, and in the fall, burn them along with the fallen leaves. In the fall, the tree's bark should be sprayed with copper sulfate, and in the spring, before the buds begin to open, with Bordeaux mixture. In the fall, the tree can also be treated with a solution of saltpeter and urea. Correct apple tree planting patterns in the fall.

Moniliosis

It appears on almost ripe fruits as brown spots that become increasingly larger over time. The flesh becomes soft, crumbly, and dark-colored, not to mention the fact that affected fruits have a very distinctive flavor. Some fruits quickly fall off, while others harden. The fungus multiplies during storage and overwinters in fallen fruits. Therefore, the main preventative measure in this case is to collect and recycle all fallen fruits in the fall.

Root cancer

This is the most dangerous disease for apple trees, inevitably leading to the death of the entire plant. Unfortunately, root canker can only be detected when the tree stops growing or develops poorly. In such cases, the plants must be dug up. When digging up the plants, you can examine the roots: in the case of root canker, growths will be visible on them, where bacteria accumulate. Bacteria can attack the tree only if the roots are damaged, as the pathogens themselves live in the soil. Most often, the bacteria are introduced into the soil along with the planting material.

Knowing apple tree diseases and how to combat them, and studying photos of what they look like, you can save your garden and ensure that the tree grows healthy and produces a bountiful harvest in the future.

Preventive measures

Whatever the symptoms of the disease, as soon as they begin to manifest themselves externally, it is necessary to immediately begin treatment and prevention. For various diseases, drugs such as:

• Nitrofen is effective against powdery mildew and scab. The tree should be treated three times, including preventatively: before flowering, after flowering, and 18 days after the last treatment.
• "Sulfarid" helps to cope with any disease, especially effective in the case of powdery mildew.
• "Hom" will be useful and will help cure the tree of cytosporosis.
• “Abiga-Pik” and “Alirin-B” - are used if the tree is attacked by scab.

If you take timely care to treat your apple trees in the spring, you can avoid many diseases in the future. While you don't need to buy every apple disease treatment, it's a good idea to keep some on hand. It's most cost-effective to buy products that are suitable not only for treating apple tree diseases but also for preventative purposes.