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Bordeaux liquid for apple trees in spring is an effective way to protect against diseases and essential feeding. Depending on the season and purpose of spraying, solutions of various concentrations are used for treatment.
Bordeaux mixture can be purchased at garden supply stores and home improvement departments.
Bordeaux liquid for apple trees in spring and autumn is used as a fungicide that has a strong inhibitory effect on parasitic organisms. A solution of copper sulfate in slaked lime has been successfully used by gardeners to protect cultural plantings for more than 150 years.
Why treat apple trees with Bordeaux mixture
Fungal and bacterial infections often cause reduced yields and even death of garden plants. Bordeaux liquid allows you to eliminate fungal infections of fruit trees, vegetable crops, flower ornamental plants.
Processing of pome trees, which include apple trees, is carried out in order to prevent and get rid of fungal and bacterial diseases: scab, fruit rot, black cancer, spotting, phyllosticosis, etc.
In addition, the lime-vitriol mixture repels certain types of insects. But the components included in the solution are not toxic to bees, which is very important for maintaining the garden’s biocenosis. The drug belongs to the category of universal, as it is used for spraying all varieties of plants in the garden.
In addition, the main component of the solution, copper is a trace element that is essential in the formation of the plant. Its deficiency in the soil causes apple seedlings to lag behind in growth and development, and also causes chlorosis diseases and low yields.
When to spray apple trees with Bordeaux liquid
It is advisable to treat apple trees with Bordeaux liquid twice a year: in spring and autumn. It is easier to organize and carry out preventive work in the spring, since the leaves on the branches have not yet opened, which means that the greens will not suffer from exposure to a burning substance.
Timely spraying of apple trees with Bordeaux mixture in spring is a guarantee that fungal spores and insect larvae that survived the winter will die. Fungicide-treated crop plantings will delight gardeners with healthy buds, buds, and later fruits.
In autumn, spraying apple trees with Bordeaux liquid is necessary for disinfection in preparation for wintering. Processing is recommended after intensive leaf fall, when the trees are bare. You should first cut the branches and repair the damage to the bark with garden pitch. Fungal spores formed after prolonged rains and the remaining insects die with intensive spraying.
How to dilute Bordeaux mixture for processing apple trees
In order for the Bordeaux liquid to have the desired effect, it is necessary to strictly follow the recipe for its dilution. To prepare the solution, you will need packages with copper sulfate and quicklime.
1% Bordeaux mixture
1% fungicidal mixture has a lower concentration of the active substance. The solution is prepared as follows:
- In a plastic bowl, 1 g of vitriol is dissolved in 100 liter of hot water.
- In a non-metallic container, 150 g of lime is diluted in 10 liters of cold water and filtered through gauze.
- After complete dissolution of copper sulfate crystals in water and cooling of the solution, it is poured into lime milk in a thin stream, constantly stirring with a stick.
A solution of copper sulphate is poured into milk of lime in a thin stream, continuously stirring
3% Bordeaux mixture
For a more saturated 3% solution, the components are taken in large quantities. The sequence for preparing the mixture is the same:
- 300 g of copper sulfate is dissolved in 1 liter of water.
- 400 g of lime will dissolve in 9,5 liters of water. Lime milk is filtered.
- The dissolved vitriol is slowly poured into the diluted lime, without ceasing to stir.
- Heavily contaminated soil, for example, moldy, is treated with a 5% solution of a fungicidal mixture.
In the process of preparing the Bordeaux mixture, it is important to follow the rules:
- It is necessary to pour copper sulfate into lime. Otherwise, the quality of the working solution is reduced.
- It is recommended to check the pH level of the resulting liquid using the litmus paper supplied with the vitriol bag. The test strip should turn blue upon contact with the substance. If the paper turns red, lime should be added to the solution to prevent plant burns during processing.
- The finished liquid can be stored for no more than a day, so the time of its use is limited.
How to treat apple trees with Bordeaux mixture
In early spring, before foliage appears, gardeners should use a 3% mixture of vitriol and lime when processing overwintered plants. The procedure for cleaning the site from pathogenic organisms and parasites can be carried out 1-2 times.
It is recommended to spray apple trees with 1% Bordeaux liquid in late spring, during the growing season of plants. In some cases, for example, if the spring was rainy or the apple trees are heavily infected, it is permissible to use a 1% solution of the drug in the summer.
It is definitely forbidden to process pome tree species (apple, pear, quince) during the flowering period. The last spraying should be scheduled no later than 15 days before harvest.
Spring processing of apple trees with Bordeaux liquid is carried out before the leaves appear.
In late autumn, a 3% Bordeaux mixture is used to process apple trees. Spraying fruit trees after the leaves have fallen is called uprooting. This is a very effective procedure aimed at large-scale improvement of gardening. Vitriol does not have a negative effect on the lignified parts of plants.
When processing apple trees, it is important to follow the following recommendations:
- before starting work, it is necessary to wear goggles, closed clothing, a respirator and gloves;
- it is better to spray in dry, calm weather, having read the weather forecast in advance;
- treatment of plants before rain is useless, since precipitation washes away the active substances contained in the solution;
- it is advisable to spray the trees in the morning or evening hours so that there are no sunburns;
- treatment should begin with abundant spraying of the top of the apple tree, as the drug flows down the trunk, freely penetrating into the smallest cracks.
The amount of solution is calculated based on the fact that one tree (depending on its size) requires from 2 to 5 liters of copper sulfate solution.
Soil cultivation
Simultaneously with the fungicide spraying of fruit trees, the soil is cultivated. Comprehensive work carried out contributes to:
- reliable protection of horticultural crops from fungal and bacterial diseases;
- increase the frost resistance of young seedlings;
- enrichment of humus with copper;
- stabilization of acid-base balance.
The most effective time for treating a garden plot with Bordeaux liquid, according to professional gardeners, is the first half of spring. In addition to cleansing the soil from spores and pathogenic bacteria, when spraying with the composition, the soil environment is enriched. Peat and sandy soils are especially in need of copper sulfate, in which there is a deficiency of the element.
In the autumn, vitriol is used mainly for the prevention of diseases that affect the roots of apple trees. Soil cultivation is carried out after harvesting, falling leaves, clearing the garden plot, breaking up clods. The prepared land is watered with a 1% solution of Bordeaux liquid at the rate of 10 liters per square meter of area. For soils affected by fungal spores and mold, more concentrated solutions (3% and even 5%) can be applied.
When carrying out work on treating the site with copper sulfate, it should be taken into account that an excess of the element also harms the humus layer of the soil, as well as its deficiency. An excess of copper causes plants to receive less of another important element for fruit plants – iron. In this regard, it is advisable to carry out intensive cultivation of the land with copper sulphate no more than once every 3-5 years.
Conclusion
Bordeaux liquid for apple trees in spring and autumn is used in agricultural technology in order to create healthy conditions on the site. Gardeners should take into account that only the dilution of a solution of copper sulphate and quicklime carried out in accordance with the instructions, as well as targeted use, guarantees the effective action of the drug.
