Contents
To get a generous and high-quality harvest of apples, you need to be prepared to fight pests and insects. And if you do not spray apple trees in a timely manner, then all your efforts during the year (care, watering, soil fertilization, pruning) will be useless. The article will give answers on how to properly spray an apple tree, which drugs to use are most effective.
When should you spray?
Many gardeners spray their gardens. But in order to achieve the desired result, you need to know when and how to carry it out. After all, a mistake will cost you the harvest. Care should begin in early spring and continue in summer, when pests are most active. When autumn comes and the harvest is over, it is also advisable to carry out spraying for prevention.
Gardeners, based on many years of observations and experience, have compiled a special calendar. With it, you can find out what processing should be carried out in a certain season of the year and in each month separately.
Spring
As soon as the snow melts and the ambient temperature rises above 5 degrees, the first stage can be carried out. Usually favorable conditions for processing appear in the second half of March, when buds begin to form. At this stage, special attention should be paid to the bark of the tree – all kinds of pests can winter in it. First, use a special brush to remove the old bark and only then treat the bark with a freshly prepared urea solution. Please note that the drug loses all its beneficial properties already on the second day and, using an expired solution, you can burn the tree, but the insects in the bark will not suffer. Know that in March the goal is to get rid of wintering, still inactive pests. And already in April, spraying is used so that parasites (deer beetle, fungi) do not damage the buds. At the end of spring, when the apple tree blooms, spraying will save it from all kinds of diseases and harmful insects.
Summer
In summer, the main task is to feed the plant. Liquid fertilizers are mainly used, as they are easily absorbed by the foliage. And only in isolated cases spraying is used to control pests, more often insects are fought with the help of special methods, such as planting repellents, trapping belts.
Autumn
The main task of processing trees in the fall is to prevent all kinds of diseases. Often amateur gardeners complain that apples do not have time to ripen, as they begin to rot before their eyes. This disease is very common. Most diseases appear only during the fruiting period. However, it must be remembered that spraying during the ripening period of fruits in order to combat diseases is strictly prohibited. They return to this procedure as soon as the fruits are harvested. You will see and evaluate the results of spraying only next year.
Processing in the winter is not carried out, since the vital processes of the tree slow down, and all kinds of pests and parasites, if any, go into hibernation and are inactive.
Preparations
Let’s get acquainted with the most common and effective drugs that are used for feeding and pest control.
Urea
One of the most widely used drugs. When using urea, remember that it is not used in its pure form, but must be diluted according to the instructions. Depending on the season, urea can be used for various purposes. In the spring, it should be used for prevention against overwintered pests that sleep in the bark of an apple tree and its trunk circles (it helps well in the fight against aphid eggs). If you want to get rid of harmful insects in the bark with urea, make the solution more concentrated. If you get rid of pests of the apple tree by spraying, try not to get the solution on the foliage and buds of the tree.
Also, this drug can be used for top dressing in the summer. Urea is rich in nitrogen, the lack of which significantly affects the yield. When foliar feeding, be careful with the amount of urea, large dosages can cause burns on the foliage.
If you have any doubts about the concentration of the prepared solution, do not rush to process the entire tree at once. Treat only a couple of branches to begin with and wait a few days to evaluate the result.
Copper sulfate
This drug is used to prevent the following diseases: moniliosis, anthracnose, scab. Successfully used in the fight against harmful insects. To prevent fungal diseases, the apple tree should be treated with a solution based on it in early spring, before the buds open. Substance consumption: 0,1 kg of vitriol per 10 liters of water.
inkstone
Unlike copper sulphate, it is used not only to fight diseases and various pests, but also as a top dressing – it saturates the plant with iron. It is an important mineral for growth and abundant fruiting. If the soil in your summer cottage is depleted and lacks this element, then ferrous sulfate treatment is most welcome. Spraying leads to stimulation of growth and promotes the formation of chlorophyll. For the greatest effect, treat both the plant itself and its trunk circle at the same time.
Colloidal sulfur
Sulfur is effective against powdery mildew, scab and spider mites. Colloidal sulfur does not dissolve in water, but it mixes well, forming a suspension. The consumption of the substance is 100 g of sulfur per 10 liters of water. Experienced gardeners recommend soaking sulfur in water before use to make it easier to dilute it in the future. Sulfur is practically not poisonous to humans, but under the influence of sunlight it forms vapors that have a detrimental effect on pests and their larvae.
Technology
To process the garden, most gardeners now use pumps of various systems, from manual to electric, with compressors. Of course, the method using a bucket and a broom has not gone away, but its effectiveness is rather low.
Prepare
Use a pump nozzle that allows you to precisely spray the liquid. The smaller the drops, the better. With this treatment, you, first of all, economically consume the solution, and secondly, the entire surface will be treated evenly.
Before the procedure, be sure to check the operation of the pump, the length of the hose, whether it is enough to reach the highest branches. Install a ladder if necessary. If the length of the hose is short and you have not taken care of it in advance, then spraying the tree in parts will not achieve the desired effect.
Inspect the tree trunk and branches for moss and lichens. If they are found, carefully remove them with a brush. Now you can start preparing the solution. Remember, it should be homogeneous, without lumps. In the process of preparation, the active substance is mixed with water, trying to achieve a homogeneous mixture so that there is no separation. If it is poorly stirred, the plant will be treated unevenly – one side of it will receive only water, and the other, on the contrary, a concentrated preparation. Such spraying will cause the death of the apple tree. In the process, do not forget to shake the prepared solution from time to time.
Processing process
Spray the prepared spray solution evenly on the trunk, apple tree branches and leaves. Try to keep the distance between the tree and the pump tip at least 75-80 cm. Spray so that the solution also reaches the back of the foliage. After completion of spraying, immediately thoroughly rinse the entire apparatus under running cold water.
If you want spraying to be effective, do not spray selectively. It is advisable that your entire garden be treated at once. In the event that you are fighting insects on one tree, do not be lazy and treat the near-stem circles of plants in the neighborhood to prevent the spread of parasites.
Safety regulations
For the procedure, special tools and materials should be prepared. You will need: a piston pump or a special compressor, a respiratory mask (or a multi-layer gauze bandage that you can make yourself), rubber gloves, eye protection. It is also advisable to wear clothing that covers the body as much as possible so that the sprayed substances do not come into contact with your skin.
When spraying, be extremely careful, as the drugs used can adversely affect human health. After completing the procedure, wash your hands and face thoroughly with soap. Take the most common, since soap with aromatic additives contains a little “chemistry” in its composition. It is not worth the risk, because an interaction reaction can occur between the particles of chemistry from the soap and the remnants of the active substance. Rinse your mouth with plain water. Remember that spraying is best done in calm, calm weather and no longer than 6 hours in a row.
Knowing how and when to spray, you can easily do it yourself. Now the fight against pests and various diseases will become more effective, and your garden, thanks to proper care, will grow healthy and delight you with generous harvests of apples.
Video “Spring spraying of apple trees”
This video will show you when and how to spray apple trees in the spring.