Apple tree rust treatment - tips

We are used to the fact that only metals rust. Unfortunately, plants are also susceptible to "corrosion". What is apple rust?

What is “rust”?

General definition

A disease known as apple rust is caused by the fungus Gumnosporandium tremelloides of the genus Phragmidium. It is especially dangerous if you have an ordinary juniper growing in your garden. It is here that the causative agent of the disease appears, which is then transferred to the tree. In winter, spores accumulate, "canned" and live in needles or juniper branches until spring. So they can persist for several years. With the onset of warmth, the spores develop, passing to the leaves of the apple tree. Thus, infection occurs. The disease is very widespread. Plants of the southwestern, southeastern regions of Ukraine, as well as the Crimea, suffer from it more often.

The first signs of the disease

For the first time, symptoms can be detected in the summer, when the foliage of the plant develops well. Convex rounded spots, orange or brown, appear on the upper plate of the leaf. Rust-colored stripes may be present instead. The spots have black blotches (spermogonia). Places of accumulation of spores - etsidia - are located under them. They look like conical outgrowths. Later, the etsidia open up like a "star", throwing out a mass of the smallest disputes.

At the same time, the lower part of the leaf is affected by yellow spots. With a powerful defeat, the foliage dries up, then falls off. This process is facilitated by high air humidity, windy weather. Then the spores spread faster. The wind can carry them up to 50 kilometers.

All of these symptoms are clearly conveyed by the photo.

Where else does rust develop?

Much less often, the disease affects the branches, trunk, even the fruits of the tree. Young shoots are most vulnerable. They will no longer give healthy growth. The sickest die off. Others are developing. But after 2-3 years, wood cracks in the affected parts. The bark is cracking at the trunk. The fruits are deformed, stop growing, fall off.

Why is apple rust dangerous?

In diseased trees, photosynthesis and metabolism are disturbed. Since spores pull moisture out of the plant, the water balance suffers. This explains the falling off of diseased leaves, fruits, shoots. The plant lacks nutrients. As a result, the quantity of the crop decreases, its quality deteriorates.

Control measures

What should be done to destroy plant rust with its consequences?

• If a juniper grows in your garden along with fruit trees, then you need to get rid of it! Dig this place deep. You can shield the apple tree with other green spaces. They will delay disease-causing spores. However, infection is unlikely to be avoided.
• If the plants are already infected, then immediately remove all diseased parts (leaves, shoots, branches, fruits). For pruning branches, take 5-10 centimeters below the damage. Then spray with one of the chemicals: Bordeaux mixture 1%, Topaz, cuproxat, 0.4% cineb solution, Vectra. Repeat twice more every 10-14 days.

Apple tree rust prevention methods

• Eliminate the practice of planting fruit trees with conifers in the same area. So you save yourself unnecessary problems.
• In the spring, before the buds appear, it is necessary to clean out the old affected areas until healthy wood appears. Then disinfect them with 5% copper sulfate. After - coat with garden putty.
• Treat trees with antimicrobial agents (fungicides).Spray as soon as the leaves bloom. Repeat after two weeks.

Now you can provide proper care for your fruit trees, and prevent such a dangerous phenomenon as apple rust.

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