BACTERIAL CANCER OF TREES - HOW TO TREAT?

For the third year in a row, we have been observing abnormal weather changes that have hit plant immunity hard. As a result, bacterial diseases actively spread on weakened fruit trees. Is it possible to help green pets in such a situation? Listen to the recommendations of the candidate of agricultural sciences Yulia KONDRATENOK.

Yulia Georgievna, for starters, how do you assess the results of the outgoing season? — This year was very difficult for gardens: abnormally cold May, rainy June, sharp July temperature drops during the day from +5 to +25 degrees, then heat up to +35 degrees, against the backdrop of lack of precipitation, a sharp cooling in September with night frosts - all this is a shock both for people and animals, and for plants. But the latter, unlike animals, get out of such stress more slowly.

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And since weather anomalies have been repeated for the past few years in a row, plants do not have time to recover. Therefore, we are seeing a worsening situation with diseases in gardens. This year, more than ever, bacterial cancer is raging on fruit trees, and not only on the pear, which is especially sensitive to this in the mouth, but also on the apple tree, as well as on stone fruits (cherries, plums, cherries).

Bacterial pear cancer: leaf edge affected

Bacterial pear cancer: affected flowers

What is the nature of the disease?

- The main causative agent of all bacterioses is the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae. She lives on the surface of the plant, but as long as the tree is healthy, the bacterium cannot harm it. But as soon as the plant

immunity falls, the protective barrier decreases, the bacterium penetrates inside, causing the death of young shoots, leaves, flowers with its toxins (they become brown or black). Dark depressed spots, necrosis, and then ulcers form on the bark.

Bacterial cancer. Treatment of black cancer of fruit trees.

Reference by topic: Treating a pear bacterial burn - my tips and remedies

And how should the gardener act in this situation?

- Help the plants. Right now, it is necessary to properly prepare for wintering and then support them in the new season, timely eliminating possible problems, and sometimes acting ahead of the curve.

In October, water-charging irrigation was important (for each square meter of the crown projection, about 5 buckets of water), and at the end of leaf fall, eradication treatment. As for the latter, the classic version is a solution of urea (700-800 g per 10 liters of water). But if you notice signs of bacteriosis on the tree (dying off of the tips of the shoots and their characteristic bend in the shape of a shepherd's crook, browning of the apple tree or blackening of the pear leaves), only copper can cope with the problem. And not the usual Bordeaux liquid or blue vitriol - alas, the bacterium has already developed resistance to them. And preparations based on copper oxychloride or hydroxide of copper - Abiga-Peak, Koside.

Surely many gardeners - amateurs will now be outraged, they say, copper is a heavy metal

We need to choose the lesser of two evils. And it is important to eradicate the infection now in order to use less drugs next year.

Do not put off sanitary pruning for spring: it is not too late to remove all diseased, broken, dead branches. Clean necrosis or ulcers on the trunk with a sharp knife to healthy wood and disinfect with Azo-phos, a solution of copper sulfate or Bordeaux liquid (30 g per 1 liter of water). Then, be sure to paint over the wounds, including after pruning, with garden paint with the addition of fungicides (Azophos, Tridex, Tersel - 4-5 g per 1 kg of putty). Sick branches, plant debris immediately burn.

And one more thing: for the winter, all trees must be whitewashed!

How to start a new season in the spring for the prevention of bacterial cancer?

- Again, from copper preparations - Kosida, Abiga-Pika, Medex-sa. They will also contain the spread of fungal infection. Plan the first treatment during the period of swelling and bud break. And then monitor the condition of the plant: if it does not lack nutrition and moisture, there are no affected fallen leaves in the garden, cut branches do not roll, protective treatments are carried out, then the tree may well cope with the bacteria itself. But if the weather in the spring again does not correspond to the climatic norm, the plants will inevitably be stressed. In this case, as with the first signs of bacterial cancer, preventive spraying with copper preparations or Ditan NeoTek contact fungicide is mandatory. At + 18 + 25 degrees, the biological product Fitolavin is effective.

FIGHTING BACTERIAL CANCER IN FRUIT TREES - ADVICE AND FEEDBACK FROM SDA

PEAR, BACTERIAL CANCER AND ANTIBIOTIC

At the beginning of summer, leaves began to turn black on my four-year-old pear, as if they had been scorched by fire. The same fate befell the ends of the branches themselves. A neighbor determined it was cancer and advised antibiotic treatment. True, he did not remember in what ratio the medicine should be diluted. I decided to trust my intuition. I found a package of Cefotaxime in the first-aid kit: the contents of two vials of the drug (1 g of powder each) were diluted in 3 liters of water. With the resulting solution, I carefully processed the entire tree from the sprayer, after cutting off the affected branches, capturing 10-15 cm of healthy wood. In addition, she injected the composition directly into the branches through fresh sections through a syringe, which she then smeared with garden pitch. The procedure was repeated 2 more times with an interval of a week. There were no more black leaves on the tree.

According to the description, the pear does indeed have a bacterial cancer (and possibly a bacterial burn, which is now quite widespread). But the use of antibiotics in fruit growing in Russia and Belarus is prohibited! For the prevention and protection against bacterial cancer and burns, experts recommend using copper preparations (Abiga-Peak, Kuproksat), as well as the Fitolavin biological product.

The uncontrolled use of antibiotics in agriculture has already led to disturbances in ecosystems, because antibiotics do not care who they kill - both good and bad microorganisms suffer. Antibiotics accumulate in fruits, berries, animal meat, and then end up on our table. Abroad, their use is allowed only on young (non-fruiting) trees and under strict supervision.