Processing apple trees from scab in spring, summer and autumn

Scab on an apple tree is a fungal disease that is often found on many fruit trees. Millions of insects: ants, beetles, butterflies carry microscopic spores of the fungus on their bodies, leaving them on all parts of the tree, on leaves, fruits, and bark. For the time being, spores are in relative peace until they wait for favorable conditions for their development. These conditions come after heavy rains. Moisture, falling on the spores of the fungus, gives them food for rapid and detrimental (for trees) spread. It is necessary to fight scab in spring, summer, autumn, otherwise the leaves of the apple tree will dry up, the fruits will lose their presentation, and the branches and trunks will be constantly corroded by scab (see photo).

Scab on an apple tree

Main features

In early spring, the main carriers of scab spores wake up – insects. Winds and rains also carry the spores of the fungus, which quickly spread to all plants in the garden. Significant changes occur on apple and pear trees:

1. The first stage of the manifestation of scab on an apple tree: a plaque appears on the leaves of the tree at the sites of infection, its color is olive, the texture is velvety.
2. The second stage of scab development: spots on leaves affected by scab darken, become light brown.
3. The third stage of the tree disease: young shoots of the apple tree turn black, dry and droop, the leaves fall prematurely, cracks appear on the branches of adult plants, many dark brown spots form on the fruits, the apples crack and fall.

Scab on an apple tree reduces productivity, fruits lose their marketable appearance, apple trees weaken, their viability decreases, they die in winter, not having the strength to withstand frost. To help apple trees overcome the disease and survive in the fight against it, gardeners annually process fruit trees in various ways. In spring, summer, autumn, sometimes in winter (weather permitting), they go out to a ruthless fight against scab. We will talk about some of the ways and methods of this fight, with which you can protect the trees in your garden.

Please watch the videos posted in the relevant sections of our article. They will help you put all these activities into practice.

Methods of struggle

There are many ways to protect fruit trees from scab damage, it is necessary to apply comprehensive measures: prevention, chemicals, folk remedies. You need to start with preventive measures, even if your apple trees are perfectly healthy:

• timely cleaning of the garden from fallen leaves and fruits;
• removal of scab-infected branches, leaves and apples;
• utilization of plant residues (burning);
• regular loosening and digging of the soil around the trunks of the apple tree;
• it is necessary to eliminate the shortcomings in top dressing, apply fertilizers in the right amount and at a certain time;
• constantly monitor the flow of moisture: in case of heavy rains, make drainage drainage, and in dry periods, watering is needed – 2 times a week, 20 liters of water per tree;
• 1-2 times per season, it is necessary to spray the apple trees with a fungicide solution (Bordeaux liquid, sulfur color, and others).

Let’s take a closer look at what measures to take in the spring, summer and fall to prevent or eliminate the symptoms of scab.

Spring prevention

In the spring, when the trees open their first buds, young shoots and leaves are very vulnerable to many fungal diseases. Ordinary spring work related to the prevention of apple scab disease:

Apple tree processing in spring

• apply organic fertilizers along the trunk circle with a diameter of 0,6 – 1,0 meters: manure, compost, peat and ash that have rotted over the winter, observing the application rates for fruit trees: manure – 2-3 buckets, compost – 2 buckets, peat – 1 bucket , ash – 0,5 buckets;
• dig the soil, removing last year’s foliage and fallen branches;
• water the apple tree with water (10-15 liters);
• treat wet soil additionally with solutions of urea (urea), potassium chloride or ammonium nitrate (see video);
• apply lime whitewash on the trunks to a height of up to 1 m;
• spray all branches and trunk with a solution of Bordeaux mixture.

Try to complete all these activities before the first buds open on the apple tree.

Fight in the summer

In the summer, in June-July, it is time for the second stage of the fight against scab. Autumn prevention and all the measures taken against scab may not be as effective as you expected. May rains wash off the preparations with which the trees were treated at the beginning of spring from the leaves. Scab spores that did not die during the initial spraying rapidly capture and devour new areas on the leaves and twigs of apple trees. Gardeners are forced to carry out secondary summer cultivation of the garden, not to give the crop to the voracious fungus.

Apple processing in summer

These works must be completed before the apple trees begin to set fruit, that is, immediately after flowering.

Main events during this period:

• to make a secondary feeding of the apple tree with complex fertilizers, you can not use organic matter, use chemicals whose solutions can be combined with spraying from scab;
• remove all fallen leaves and fruits of the apple tree infected with scab, dispose of or burn;
• dig the ground around the tree trunk, treat with potassium chloride, urea or ammonium nitrate, adding iron sulfate to the solution;
• spray the apple tree with the scab remedies indicated in the table or other suitable ones;
• after 2 weeks, repeat the spray treatment.

This completes the summer scab fight. Chemicals should not be used for a month and during fruiting.

In the video you can see how to spray tall trees. Try to get the solution on the back side of the leaves, on all branches and trunk. You may need a lot of solution, in the summer the foliage on the apple trees has already blossomed, the surface of the treated areas has increased significantly, so calculate in advance how much money you need to buy.

Autumn treatment

In the spring, we carried out the prevention of scab on the apple tree, in the summer we sprayed the apple trees twice in order to stop the development of the fungus and protect the trees from further scab damage. In the fall, it is necessary to consolidate the result so that the apple trees get stronger, freed from the harmful effects of the disease and can winter well. The main activities are the same as in spring and summer: top dressing, spraying with fungicides (see video), removal of infected leaves and branches.

In addition, it is necessary to eliminate other reasons for the development of scab on an apple tree:

1. Pruning and thinning trees. Scab develops rapidly if the apple tree receives little sunlight, that is, the crown is very dense. It is necessary to cut off those branches that grow inside the crown, directed towards the trunk of the apple tree. Large and thick branches are recommended to be cut gradually (1-2 pieces per season) so as not to injure the plant too much. Young shoots not infected with scab are cut off by 1/3, diseased shoots are removed completely.
2. Treatment from wintering pests. Some species of insects remain to winter in the soil, especially dangerous are those that choose near-trunk areas as their wintering grounds. In the spring, they are the first to infect the tree with scab. Spraying with pesticides will help to destroy such pests. The soil around the apple tree (circle diameter of at least 2 m) must also be cleared of eggs and pests wintering in the ground. To do this, the trunk circle is shed with the same solutions of chemicals.

By following all the recommended measures, from spring to the onset of the wintering period, you will protect your apple trees from this terrible fungus. To finally get rid of scab, it is necessary to carry out the entire complex of scab control for 2-3 seasons.

Processing in autumn

Folk remedies

For gardeners who do not accept the use of chemicals in the garden, we recommend some folk methods for dealing with scab.

1. Saline. For a 10-liter bucket of water, 1 kg of salt is used. Spraying is done in early spring, when the apple trees are still at rest, that is, before the buds swell.
2. Horsetail tincture. 1 kg of fresh horsetail grass is poured with 5 liters of boiling water, insisted for 3 days, then 1 liter of this infusion is diluted with 10 liters of water. Spray apple trees when the first leaves appear.
3. mustard solution. Dilute 100 g of dry mustard in a bucket of hot water, stir thoroughly until the powder particles are completely dissolved. Scab apple trees can be sprayed with this solution at any time, regardless of the growing season of the tree. For the whole season do 4 sprayings.
4. Potassium permanganate solution. The solution should be high concentration, dark purple. It is used for the treatment and prevention of scab on apple trees, pears and other fruit trees. Treat diseased and healthy plants 3 times with an interval of 20 days.
5. Whey bacteria. Prepare fresh serum, filter through gauze so as not to clog the sprayer tube, pour into a spray container and treat the diseased tree, all its parts: leaves, fruits, branches. Experienced gardeners guarantee that the scab on the apple tree will be destroyed the first time.

Friendship with a neighbor

Summer cottages of our gardeners are often closely located to each other, because of the small territories they are separated only by low fences. Your entire fight against scab can become ineffective if your neighbor’s infested apple trees are not handled properly. Soon the spores of the fungus will move from neighboring trees to your already cured apple trees.

For such a struggle, it is necessary, simply necessary, to make friends with your neighbors, to combine your strengths and means in order to eradicate this contagious disease from your gardens. Only when this condition is met will you completely get rid of the scab, and the yield of apple trees will not suffer.

Conclusion

Scab on an apple tree is a dangerous disease, but the constant care of gardeners about their green pets helps in the fight against the fungus. They will not allow the plant to die, showing their love in tireless help to a diseased sprout, even the smallest or already matured.