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Spring processing of plums in order to combat diseases and pests is an indispensable element in the care of these fruit trees. It is necessary to correctly determine the time and frequency of spraying, carefully select preparations, taking into account some popular advice – and then the trees will be pleased with healthy and beautiful, as well as safe fruits for eating.
Spring processing of plums from pests and diseases: goals and objectives
In the spring, special attention should be paid to sanitary measures in the garden. First of all, this is the preventive treatment of plums, among other trees, from the most common diseases, as well as the destruction of overwintered pests and their larvae. It is in the spring that the foundation is laid for the future harvest, and the competent actions of the gardener will be the key to its health and abundance.
When to Spray a Plum
It is customary to adhere to the following scheme for processing plums from diseases and pests in the spring:
- in March – before the juice begins to actively move in the trunks and branches of trees;
- in April, at the stage of the appearance of flower buds;
- in maewhen the plant has finished blooming.
How many times to spray a plum
It should be borne in mind that plum preparations are used at different intervals:
- some of them (mainly those that are directed against various diseases – Bordeaux liquid, Cartocid, Kuprozan, Homitsin) are enough to apply once in the spring at the specified time;
- processing plums with other drugs – mainly pest-resistant (Inta-Vir, karbofos) – must be repeated after a certain time;
- processing plums with copper sulfate is carried out systematically at all stages of the preventive protection of trees in the spring.
A weak concentration of the drug will not give the desired effect. By treating the plum with a too concentrated solution, on the contrary, it is possible to greatly harm the plant, up to the appearance of a chemical burn.
How to process a plum in the spring: disease prevention
In order for measures to treat plums in the spring from diseases and pests to be effective, it is important to choose the right preparations and spray the trees with them at the designated time.
How to process a plum before flowering
Spraying plums before flowering is recommended:
- copper sulphate (1% solution) to resist gummosis;
- Bordeaux liquid (3% solution) in order to combat moniliosis, marsupial disease;
- Inta-Virom (1 tablet per 10 liters of water) or the drug “30 plus” (according to instructions) from silkworms and aphids;
- karbofos (80 g per 10 l of water) for pest control.
How to spray a plum during flowering
When the flowers bloom, the treatment of plums from a number of dangerous diseases will be effective – moniliosis, clasterosporiasis, marsupial disease. One of the following is perfect for this:
- copper sulphate (100 g dissolved in 10 liters of water);
- Homicin;
- Cartocid;
- Kuprozan.
How to process a plum after flowering
Plum processing after flowering involves spraying:
- Inta-Virom (in the proportion indicated above) against silkworm;
- By decision (2 ml per 10 liters of water) or karbofos (diluted in the same way as for processing plums before flowering) from a number of pests;
- blue vitriol against gummosis (repeated processing).
How to spray a plum in the spring from pests
Now you need to take a closer look at how to deal with pests on the drain in the spring, using examples of the most common of them.
How to process a plum from worms in fruits
“Wormy”, plum fruits spoiled from the inside are a common misfortune caused by a number of pests: apple leafworm, aphid, pachyderm, fruit moth.
How to protect the plum from the codling moth and sawflies in the spring, which are especially successful in this field, is worth a separate discussion, although some general measures against worms in fruits are effective against them as well.
To combat these pests, they advise:
- at the beginning of spring, before flowering, treat the plum with solutions of saltpeter and karbofos;
- if for some reason this period was missed, it is possible to treat the trees immediately after the end of flowering with systemic preparations containing copper and directed against all lepidoptera and their larvae (Khomus or Oksihom with the addition of Inta-Vir);
- a good result can be achieved using formulations that include durspan, zolon, phosphamide or metathion.
How to spray a plum from worms: folk remedies
There are also folk recipes for compositions that can be used to treat plums in the spring from worms without using chemicals:
- Yarrow (2,5 kg of fresh leaves, stems, flowers) should be crushed, pour 10 liters of water and boil for half an hour. In the filtered, cooled broth, dissolve laundry soap (about 20 g). Shake well and spray trees.
- wormwood grass (1 kg) pour water (1l). Insist 1 day. Strain, re-dilute with an equal volume of water and process the plum.
- Similarly prepare and use infusion of tops or stepsons of tomatoes (only initially for 1 kg of vegetable raw materials you need to take 5 liters of water).
- Dry tobacco powder (400 g) it is recommended to pour 10 liters of hot water and soak for a day. Strain the composition, add water, bringing the volume to 10 liters. Mix with laundry soap (50 g). Spray plum from pests.
- onion peel (200 g) soak in water and leave for half a day. Mix 200 g of ground garlic cloves with the same amount of shag and add to the prepared husk. Pour 10 liters of water, boil for 2 hours. Cool and strain. Add water so that the volume of the broth is 10 liters. Stir in 100 g of grated soap into it, then you can process the plum.
Plum processing from codling moth
The common codling moth is a small gray butterfly with a brownish tinge, resembling a domestic moth, but slightly larger. Active departure in the spring begins immediately after the end of the flowering period of plum trees. The female lays eggs at dusk, one per ovary – in this way, one butterfly can spoil up to fifty fruits.
The hatched little caterpillars are initially dirty white, but gradually change color to red. They make their way inside the fetus (a drop of gum can be seen at the point of penetration), damage the bone and eat away the pulp around it, filling the formed passages with the products of their vital activity. As a result, the fruits lose their presentation, rot and fall off en masse.
The timing of the processing of plums from the codling moth in the spring coincides with the beginning of the summer of the first butterflies. During this period, it is recommended to hang baits in the crowns of trees – jars with sweet fermented compote or kvass, opening them in the evening and removing caught insects in the morning.
It is advised to spray the plum from the codling moth at this stage with pyrmetroids (Permethrin, Cypermethrin) and neonicotinoids (Calypso, Aktara, Mospilan). These drugs can be combined so that they enhance the effect of each other. After three weeks, the plum treatment is recommended to be repeated with a new combination of drugs.
In the spring, it is also desirable to periodically fumigate the garden at night or at dusk with the smoke of smoldering straw mixed with the tops of potatoes, tomatoes, or wormwood grass (for a couple of hours at a time).
In autumn, it is required to dig up the trunk circle and remove shoots, during the period of fruit ripening, remove carrion from under the trees, and later – fallen leaves. Preventive measures taken in the spring are the most effective way to prevent the mass destruction of this pest.
Plum protection from sawfly
The yellow plum sawfly is a tiny (up to half a centimeter in size) brown-yellow “fly” with transparent wings. The years of the pest in the spring begin before the flowers open. Each female lays 50–60 eggs in flower buds. The hatched larvae eat the ovaries – each of them is capable of destroying up to 5 fruits during its life cycle.
The black sawfly is a pest that looks like a yellow one, but has a black body and wings. Its larvae (about 30 individuals from 1 female) feed on plum pulp, also damaging the stone. When the damaged fruit falls from the branch, the larva moves to the ground and pupates.
Processing plums in the spring from the sawfly implies an emphasis on biological products (Lepitocide, Entobacterin).
In the event that the lesion is very strong, then it will be necessary to treat the plum in the spring from the plum sawfly with organophosphorus pesticides (karbofos, metaphos, etc.). However, one should not forget that these substances are toxic, although they are effective, therefore, ideally, it is better to do without them.
Useful information on how and how to process plums from pests can be obtained by watching the video
How to treat plum blossom from pests
It should be remembered that during the flowering period, the treatment of plums from pests with chemicals is excluded. To attract beneficial pollinating insects, you can sprinkle the tree crown with honey diluted in water (30 g per 10 l), and in order to improve the general condition of the plant, add a microfertilizer tablet or 1 tbsp to the solution. mineral mixture.
Whitewashing plums in spring
An important sanitary measure of the spring cycle is the whitewashing of the plum tree trunk and its skeletal branches.
Do I need to whiten the plum in the spring
This procedure is mandatory – without it, tree care will not be complete. In the spring, whitewash protects against sunburn, slows down bud break (which is especially valuable during periods of sudden temperature changes), and most importantly, destroys egg laying and insect pests wintering under the bark.
How can you whiten a plum
It is necessary that the composition of the solution for whitewashing includes:
- latex substance (bustilat), which creates an air-tight and invulnerable layer on the surface of the bark;
- white pigment (chalk, kaolin).
2 parts of the binder should be mixed in dry form with 1 part of the pigment, and then diluted with water to the density of an ordinary paint.
You can whitewash the plum with an aqueous solution of slaked lime (10 kg per 2 liters will be needed), with the addition of copper sulfate (300 g) and clay, or casein glue.
How to whiten a plum in the spring
Before the procedure, the near-trunk circles should be cleaned, the soil should be slightly removed from the trunk. It is advised to whitewash the trunk and the lower part of the skeletal branches to the height where the hand reaches – but in general not higher than 2 m. When the solution on the bark of the trees dries out a little, the trunks will again need to be sprinkled with earth.
Conclusion
Processing plums from pests and diseases in the spring is a set of mandatory measures, an important part of which, along with preventive tree care, is spraying with chemical and folk remedies in order to fight for the harvest. The general condition and successful fruiting of trees, as well as the health of people who eat fruits grown in the garden, depend on how competently and correctly these actions are performed.