Most varieties of peach trees are susceptible to various fungal diseases and harmful insects. Knowing the main symptoms helps provide timely help to the plant and save the crop. Timely detected ailment can prevent many unpleasant consequences, one of which is the death of the plant.
Peach diseases and their treatment
Speaking about peach tree diseases, as a rule, we are talking about fungal infections. To eliminate the pathogen, that is, the fungus, fungicide-based preparations are used.
Leaf curl
The most dangerous and common fungus affecting a peach tree is tafrina. In the spring, spores of the fungus penetrate into the buds and shoots of the plant. On the leaves you can find bubbles of a pale green hue, and in the absence of treatment, they change their color to crimson and acquire a layer of plaque. The blackening foliage dries up, becomes fragile and falls off.
Curls are mainly affected by young plants whose age has not yet crossed the border of two years. The disease does not pass by and the branches of the tree, they acquire a yellow color, are deformed and dry. Inflorescences cease to grow, preventing the fruits from developing.
At the first symptoms of kinkiness, immediately cut out all diseased shoots and burn them. Then on the affected areas, treat with 1% copper sulfate. In autumn, as a prophylaxis, all fallen leaves are collected and burned, sanitary cutting of twigs is carried out. Before inflorescences are formed, the plant is treated with a fungicidal agent.
Moniliosis
Stone fruit (peach is no exception) have a weak immunity to a disease such as moniliosis. A fungal disease is especially active in the spring during the moment when inflorescences on the branches are just beginning to form. The bees spread the fungus in the process of collecting nectar.
A sick peach tree visually looks lethargic and drooping, as if it were scorched by strong fire. That is why this disease is sometimes called a monilial burn. If moniliosis is detected, all diseased branches are cut off and burned. As in the case of curly, the affected areas are treated with a fungicidal preparation.
In hot summers, a monilial burn can also manifest itself as fruit rot, causing a detrimental effect on the fruit. Rotten peaches are recommended to pluck and burn, in order to prevent the spread of an infectious disease.
Kleasterosporiosis
An ideal environment for the spread of clastosporiosis is a temperature regime of 20 ° C. Therefore, gardeners need to be especially vigilant in the spring and autumn. At a certain temperature and humidity level, the fungus infects the entire plant in just 19-20 hours. After 5-6 days, you can find that the tree fell ill with kleasterosporiosis.
The main symptoms of this fungal disease are maroon spots on the leaves. If untreated, they double in size. The fungus can destroy the fruit, causing the process of decay. Treatment consists of sanitary pruning and treatment with any available fungicidal agent.
Powdery mildew
Marsupial mushroom can also cause another disease called powdery mildew. It is manifested by the defeat of foliage, shoots and fruits. Young trees are especially at risk. Symptoms appear in early summer and continue to develop until the middle of the summer season.
Subsequently, this leads to the fact that even on not ripened peaches a thin layer of plaque appears. Affected fruits stop in development and begin to rot.
To prevent the development of powdery mildew, it is necessary to remove all sick peaches and branches with leaves. Then carry out the treatment with 1% of the drug, which is based on colloidal sulfur.
Cytosporosis
This fungal disease appears only in the absence of proper care. In an abandoned garden, the fungus spreads quite quickly and affects all stone plants.
The risk of a healthy and well-groomed tree is minimal. The development of this fungal disease occurs in the spring and lasts until late autumn, damaging most of the branches.
The development of the fungus occurs in the bark of the tree. Affected tree bark, unlike branches, is much more difficult to remove, but it is extremely necessary to do this. Otherwise, the plant is likely to die by the beginning of the winter season. In order to rid the peach tree of the painful course of cytosporosis, the damaged branches are removed and treated with 3% copper sulfate.
It is important not to overdo it with the recommended proportions of the fungicidal agent used. For example, copper sulfate is a fairly strong chemical substance that can weaken the immunity of a plant.
Pests on peach and the fight against them
Like any other stone plant, peach is sometimes affected by harmful insects. They can not only cause serious harm, but also cause the death of the tree. In the fight against insect pests, as well as with fungal infections, a fungicide-based agent can help.
To destroy insects, insecticides are used that have damaging effects on the insect itself, while providing minimal damage to the tree. Fungicide is used, as a preventive measure, preventing the development of new threats from pests.
Eastern Codling Moth
Eastern codling moth is a kind of butterfly. Its wing span may be more than 2 cm. The main danger of this pest insect is to lay a significant number of eggs on young shoots or many ovaries. By the end of summer, the codling moth switches to the peaches themselves, then migrates for wintering in the bark or fallen leaves.
Next season, the peach tree will be in the moths, which have grown and begin to eat foliage, young inflorescences, as well as bark. To protect the plant from the harmful effects of this insect, you can only collect it manually and timely remove infected areas.
In the fight against codling moth, special traps made of fabric strips and non-drying adhesive solution effectively help. He prevents the insect from climbing onto the bark of a tree. By the same principle, painting the trunk of the plant with lime mortar works.
Aphid on peach
Aphids not only significantly reduce the immunity of peach, but also contribute to the emergence of a disease such as soot fungus. To learn about the aphid attack is not difficult, you just need to look under a couple of leaves of a peach tree - the insect accumulates in the thick of the leaves. Curly foliage and crooked shoots indicate that aphids have long lived on the plant.
Before fruiting, the insect pest can be disposed of by any insecticidal agent. However, if young fruits have already appeared on the tree, it is permissible to fight aphids with only one method - the insect does not tolerate harsh alkaline odors. Therefore, tinctures made from garlic cloves, laundry soap, and onion husks are sprayed onto the leaves.
Fruit striped moth
Outwardly, fruit moth can resemble a small butterfly. However, her ability to destroy shoots in a short period of time makes her one of the most dangerous pests. Despite its small size, fruit striped moth can do tremendous harm. Its caterpillars can bite into a kidney or a young shoot, thereby causing their death.
An effective method of getting rid of fruit moths on peaches is to treat the tree with insecticides. The most famous are called: “Metaphor” and “Chlorophos”. Having noticed the area affected by the striped moth, it must be immediately removed and burned. Then a fresh cut is necessarily processed using a garden var.
Ticks
A tick that harms a peach tree does not belong to the insect family, as it is a representative of arthropods. Therefore, insecticides that can kill insect pests in this case will not work. It is impossible to learn about the appearance of ticks on a plant, because their tiny size does not allow a person to detect a problem. However, changes in the plant can be noted immediately.
The buds of a tree affected by ticks are deformed and begin to grow laterally, and not up. You can also notice their significant increase in size. Arthropods are able to form yellow spots on the foliage, which provoke their subsidence.
If untreated, ticks make a cobweb-nest in which they live and breed. An effective drug in the fight against arthropod ticks is colloidal sulfur. Processing is carried out even before the peach tree begins to bloom.
Weevils
Bugs of bluish and greenish shades are pests called weevils. They feed on the leaves of all fruit trees, thereby causing irreparable damage to the buds, inflorescences and fruits of the peach tree. If the reproduction of insects, which often occurs on leaves, is not prevented in time, then by the middle of summer, most of them will be damaged.
You can fight insects exclusively by hand. It will take a lot of time before you can collect all the weevils. As prevention, special means are used, such as Inta-Vir and Decis.
Prevention of Peach Disease and Pest Damage
There are a number of recommendations that will help any gardener, both novice and experienced, in the maintenance of a peach tree. To prevent possible plant diseases, as well as the appearance of pests on it, you need to use simple measures for the prevention:
- In early autumn, when the leaves fall from the crown of trees, collect it and then burn it. Also, dried weeds, removed extra shoots and dry branches will go to the fire. After burning, collect the remaining ash, it will be an excellent fertilizer for a peach tree.
- During late autumn, dig deeply near the trunk of a peach tree. This will provide an opportunity to get to the pests that live in the land during the winter. If they come to the surface, they will die from frost, this will provide greater security for the peach tree in spring.
- Treat the tree trunk with lime whitewash. This can be done either in late autumn or very early spring.
- Before winter, perform an eradicating treatment for the peach tree crown. To do this, use a 3% solution of copper sulfate.
- In early spring, set a special trap on a peach tree. It is called a hunting belt, which will help in catching garden parasites. The belt can be made of many materials at hand - for example, paper, cardboard, polyethylene film, any old bag or rubber.
- In spring, treat the crown of the peach tree with fungicide and inspecticide solutions, in order to prevent fungal diseases.
- Use toxic chemicals to control harmful insects only after thorough preparation.
- A good solution is to use a prepared mixture of such drugs as Decis and Horus, but be sure to adhere to the dosage indicated in the instructions. Preparations will provide peach tree with reliable protection against garden pests, and against fungal disease at the same time. Perform one treatment before flowering and two after flowering has passed. At the same time, maintain an interval of at least 10-15 days.
How to help peach recover from illness
During various diseases, the peach's immunity decreases, due to ailments in the tree, strength is lost, resulting in an increased risk of not surviving in the winter. To recover, the tree needs to be provided with proper nutrition, choose fertilizers with a good combination of minerals - there is a wide range of insecticides, fungicides, acaricides.
To protect a peach tree from cold weather, it is necessary to carry out proper thermal insulation. After the illness, it is important to take care of the proper recovery of the plant. To improve the immune properties of peach and plant development, you can use drugs that contain phytoactive properties, stimulate development and growth, as well as various immunomodulators.
If we exclude the high susceptibility of peach trees to various fungal diseases and possible damage to the fruit by pests, with proper cultivation there will be no complications. With a careful approach to disease prevention and a quick reaction of the gardener to the first signs of diseases and pests that have arisen, the peach tree will grow and bear fruit well.