Plum diseases: prevention, signs and treatment

The stone plant plum is one of the most common garden crops. Like all other fruit and fruit trees, Plum is prone to attack by pests and a variety of diseases. In order for the cultivation of this crop to bring only pleasure, and the harvest was of high quality and abundant, every gardener must know the diseases of the plum "in the face" and be able to deal with them. This article provides examples of the most common diseases and pests, as well as effective methods to combat them.

Brown spot

When a plum is damaged by brown spot, or gnomeiosis, on its leaves from spring small spots begin to appear, which can be from reddish brown to yellowish ocher, with a purple border. With the development of this disease, black small dots appear on both sides of the leaves - spores of the fungus. Subsequently, the spots increase, become brown and occupy the entire leaf plate, then the leaves curl and fall.

Fruits do not ripen, and more ripe plums become ugly. As a treatment, before blooming, the soil and trees are sprayed with a solution of copper sulfate 1% (100 g per 10 liters of water). Fourteen days after flowering, trees can be treated with Bordeaux liquid 1% (100 g per 10 liters of water) or the Xom fungicide (35 g per 10 liters of water). In case of severe contamination, repeat the treatment 2-3 weeks before harvesting. As a preventive measure, it is necessary to clean and destroy dead leaves in time and dig up the soil around the trunk of a tree - in a place where fungal spores overwinter.

Holey spot (klyasterosporioz)

Klesterosporiosis (perforated spotting) - this disease is similar to the previous one. It differs in the fact that after the formation of red-brown spots of the fabric of the leaf plate inside the spots disappear, forming through holes. Such spots may even appear on the fruit, deforming them.On branches, the disease manifests itself as red spots, which lead to cracks in the bark and the flow of gum. With a strong defeat of plum leaves partially or completely dry out and fall off, the buds die off, the flowers fall off.

The methods of struggle are similar to those used against brown spot - treatment with copper sulfate or Nitrofen before flowering. Immediately after flowering sprayed Bordeaux liquid 1% (100 g per 10 liters of water). Repeated spraying can be carried out in 14-18 days after flowering, and the third - 2 weeks before harvest. In case of severe infection, one more treatment in the autumn after the leaves fall off with a solution of Bordeaux liquid with 3% is acceptable. For prevention, you need time to remove and burn the fallen leaves and dig the soil around the trunk of a tree.

Red spot (polystigmosis)

Polystygosis, or red leaf spot plum, also known as mushroom burn. Leaves on both sides appear yellow or light red spots, which over time thicken, become brighter and more brilliant. Trees affected by polystigmosis weaken, they fall flowers and winter resistance decreases.To combat the disease, trees and the soil around them are sprayed with copper sulphate or Nitrafen (300 g per 10 liters of water) before bud break.

Immediately after flowering trees can be used for processing Bordeaux liquid (100 g per 10 liters of water). If necessary, spraying plums repeat a couple of weeks after flowering. As a preventive measure, it is necessary to collect and burn all fallen leaves in time and dig up the soil around the tree trunk.

Bacterial burn

Bacterial burn is manifested primarily on the flowers of trees - they become dark brown in color and eventually fall off. Young shoots are affected by watery dark spots, turn black as burned, and bend. The leaves also darken, become covered with necrotic spots, curl and look like burnt. Spots affect the whole tree: leaves, trunk, twigs. The disease is able to spread rapidly throughout the garden and in a short period of time hit all the stone trees.

Due to illness, the garden takes the form of "conflagration." Fruits turn black and dry. The bark softens, becomes covered with small amber-yellow drops, then bubbles, cracks and acquires a reddish-brown marbled pattern. On the branches wedge-shaped ulcers, passing on the trunk.

To cure a plum from a bacterial burn, before the kidneys form, spraying the tree with 1% copper sulphate solution (100 g per 10 liters of water) is carried out. The Azofos fungicide (5%) and Streptomycin (50 µg / ml) are also effective , "Gentamicin" (50 µg / ml), "Rifampicin" (50 µg / ml), "Chloramphenicol" (50 µg / ml), "Nalidixic acid" (20 µg / ml), in the amount of 1-2 tablets / ampoules 5 liters of water. There is enough solution for processing 8-10 trees. Treatment of plum from diseases should be carried out in late spring - early summer, during flowering, three times a season, with an interval of 4-6 days.

Preventive measures to prevent bacterial burn include:

• uprooting wild fruit trees within a radius of 150 meters from the garden. These plants are potential carriers of pathogenic bacteria;
• regular treatment with insecticides;
• constant inspection of trees, leaves, branches for symptoms of the disease, upon detection of which the branches are immediately removed and burned.

Witch broom plum

Witch brooms are separate parts of the crowns of trees with abnormal development of shoots. The tree infects the fungus, the pathogen, rooting in the crown of the tree and leading to mutations and pathology of further growth. In the place where the fungus “settled down”, a multitude of thin sterile shoots begins to grow en masse. Due to their abundant branching, the affected tree crown resembles a bun or a ball of hair. The leaves on the affected branches are small, pale or reddish, dry quickly and fall off. By the end of summer, the leaf is covered with a grayish bloom - these are spores of the fungus, the causative agent.

When a witch's broom is found, the affected shoots are immediately cut and destroyed. In order to protect the plum from the disease of the witch's broom in the spring, before the formation of buds, trees are sprayed with 3% Bordeaux liquid (300 g per 10 liters of water). After flowering, they are also re-sprayed with Bordeaux liquid, but with a lower concentration of 1%. Also effective fungicides "Kuprozan" and "Captan".

Gommoz (gum treatment)

Cameras, or hommoses, is a common non-infectious disease of stone horticultural crops. Plum can become infected with gum as a result of unfavorable wintering or as a result of damage by other diseases, such as monoclematosis and other diseases. The trees that grow on acidic, overmoistened and highly fertilized soil suffer most from gommoz. Symptoms of the disease: discharge on the trunks of gum, which hardens and resembles floating wax.

The infected parts of the tree, which produce gum, must be cleaned and treated with a solution of copper sulfate 1% and rub several times with fresh sorrel leaves with an interval of 15-20 minutes each. Then the "wounds" smeared with garden pitch. It is also recommended to carefully plow the bark in places where the gum flows. As a preventive measure for gum excretion, it is necessary to follow agrotechnical rules and recommendations when growing plums: to increase the winter hardiness of the tree and resistance to fungal diseases, to feed correctly and monitor the soil moisture.

Plum dwarfism

Dwarfism is caused by a viral plum disease that lives and multiplies in the cells of living organisms. The virus spreads with the sap of infected plants, which are spread by insect parasites - aphid, tick, etc. When a dwarf disease, plum leaves grow small, fragile, narrow and uneven. On the top of the shoots are formed sockets of these affected leaves. The kidneys are also deformed or do not grow at all.

Sick trees grow poorly and die. Unfortunately, plum viral diseases are hardly cured, if a damaged tree is found in the garden, it must be uprooted and burned. There are only preventive measures to reduce the risk of contracting dwarfism. When planting, you need to use only healthy, proven seedlings, process plants against sucking insects in a timely manner and carry out preventive agrotechnical measures.

Plum pockets (marsupial disease)

The marsupial disease, or plum pockets, manifests itself in an increase in the fleshy part of the fruit, which at the same time becomes bag-shaped. High humidity of air and soil around trees can contribute to the disease. Sick fruits are stretched to a length of 5-6 cm and do not form a bone. In the initial stage of the disease, the plums turn green,then turn yellow and turn brown, while they are tasteless and inedible.

A white wax coating consisting of a layer of fungus appears on the fruit. Then the plums fall off. With a massive defeat, yield losses are more than half. To fight plum pockets, it is necessary in the early spring, before the appearance of buds, to spray a Bordeaux liquid 3% (300 g per 10 liters of water). Suitable fungicide "Horus" (2 g per 10 liters of water), which need to process the tree before flowering and immediately after it. Sick fruits of plums should be immediately collected and burned before the appearance of waxy deposits. Strongly affected branches are cut and burned.

Coccomycosis

Plum coccomycosis - This is an extremely dangerous fungal disease of fruit and fruit trees. Mostly affects the leaves, sometimes young shoots and fruits. In summer, usually in July, purple-violet or red-brown small spots may appear on the surface of the leaf plate, which grow and merge together. On the back of the sheet appears a white-pinkish bloom - spores of the fungus. The leaves turn yellow, turn brown in color and fall off.

Fruits do not develop and wither. The disease progresses in conditions of high humidity and leads to a decrease in the frost resistance of the tree. As a preventive measure, it is imperative to collect and burn the fallen leaves, where the causative agents of coccomycosis winter. In the fall, the soil in the wheel circle must be dug up. After harvesting the plums, the tree should be sprayed with Bordeaux liquid 1% or chlorine dioxide (30-40 g per 10 liters of water).

Milky luster

The milky luster is a fungal disease in which the branches die off and the tree dies completely. With the defeat of the disease, the leaves have a whitish, silver, pearl outflow, become fragile, dry out and die. The bark darkens, fruit bodies of fungus appear on it, which parasitizes in the tree. Mushrooms are gray-purple, brown or orange leathery plates, up to 3 cm wide, tightly attached to the bark.

This disease appears mainly in trees affected in winter and having wounds in the bark. An effective remedy for this disease, unfortunately, does not exist. For the prevention of the milky luster, it is very important to increase the winter hardiness of the plum, to lime the trunk and skeletal branches in the fall, to feed the trees after a frosty winter. Open wounds and places of cuts on the bark and branches need to be smeared in a timely manner.In case of detection of milky luster trees need to uproot and burn.

Monilial burn (gray rot)

Gray rot, or monilioz, on the plum affects shoots and branches that become brown, wither and look like burnt. The causative agent of gray mold is a fungus, wintering on the affected fruits and branches. Moniliasis spreads during the flowering of trees by spores that are spread by wind and pests. The disease is actively spreading in conditions of high humidity. As the disease progresses, small gray growths, randomly located, appear on the fruits of the plum and tree bark. First of all, the gray rot affects fruits that are damaged (from insects).

The affected branches are covered with cracks, from which the gum flows. Sick branches gradually die over time. To combat the disease, before blooming, trees and soil are sprayed with a solution of Nitrafen, iron or copper sulphate, and Bordeaux 1% liquid (100 g per 10 liters of water) or Zineb, Kaptan, Ftalan fungicides, Kuprozan. Re-spray the tree immediately after flowering with the same preparations. For prophylaxis, it is necessary to observe elementary agrotechnical rules: timely remove and burn the affected fruits and branches.

It is also important to deal in time with parasitic insects afflicting the tree: caterpillars, moths, weevils, etc. When harvesting, you need to be careful not to damage the fruit. In late autumn, it is necessary to make stumps and skeletal branches of trees.

Fruit rot

Fruit rot mainly spreads in wet, rainy summer in conditions of high humidity. The first symptoms of the disease appear in summer, in mid-July, when the fruits are poured. Fruit rot affects plum fruits that have mechanical damage (from pecking by birds, from insect parasites). At first, a brown spot appears on the fetus, which rapidly grows in conditions of high humidity.

Concentric circles appear on the surface of the plum - grayish-brown pads with spores. These disputes are easily carried by the wind throughout the garden and infect the rest of the fruit. To combat fruit rot, trees are sprayed with a 1% solution of Bordeaux liquids before flowering.As a preventive measure, all affected fruit should be instilled or composted. Also need to deal with pests that damage the fruit, which increases the risk of fruit rot.

Rust

Fungal disease, especially active in July, which mainly affects the leaves of the tree. On the outside of the leaf plate between the veins appear brown, "rusty" spots, round and swollen. By the end of the summer dark pads are formed on the spots. Infected leaves weaken, die and fall prematurely, the frost resistance of the tree decreases. Before flowering, the plum should be sprayed with a solution of copper oxychloride (40 g per 5 l of water), 3 liters of solution per tree. After harvesting, you need to spray plum Bordeaux liquid 1%. For prevention, you need time to destroy the fallen leaves, which overwinter fungus.

Black fungus

Black fungus, or black, leads to the formation of black plaque on the leaves and shoots of plum. If the sheet is rubbed - the patina is erased. It blocks the access of light and oxygen to the plant cells, impairing its adaptation to changing weather conditions. The causative agent of the disease lives off insect pests that infect the fruit tree. Therefore, to prevent the disease in the first place you need to fight parasites. Also it is impossible to allow excessive soil moisture, and too thickened plum crown should be thinned. For the treatment of black fungus, it is necessary to spray the tree with a copper-soap solution (150 g of grated soap + 5 g of copper sulphate per 10 liters of water). Also carry out spraying with a solution of copper oxychloride (30-40 g per 10 liters of water) or Bordeaux 1% liquid (100 g per 10 liters of water).

Cytosporosis

Cytosporosis, or infectious drying, is a very dangerous plum disease that affects individual branches and sometimes leads to complete drying of the trees. Infection usually occurs in gardens with poor levels of agricultural technology, through patches of dead bark. The infection appears in the damaged areas of the bark, develops in the wood and causes the death of living tissue. Under the dead bark, small shiny, black bumps appear - spore-bearing fungus.

Infection of plums occurs during the period of rest of the tree: in the spring before the growing season and in the autumn after the foliage falls.In the fight against the disease, a solution of 3% Bordeaux liquid is used, which is treated with young and pruned trees at the very beginning of the growing season. For prophylactic purposes, every year, in the fall and spring, a potentially dangerous period is also carried out by spraying with a solution of 3-4% Bordeaux liquid. In the fall, be sure to whitewash booms and skeletal branches, as well as burn dead branches.

Sharqa (smallpox) plum

Sharqa (smallpox) plums are chaotic spots in the form of rings and curved lines on young leaves of a tree. The causative agent of the disease - the virus - the smallest particle of living protein. Spots appear in spring, with the development of sharqa leaves become "marble", light green and dark green areas of the ornament are clearly visible. The pulp of the infected fruit becomes thick, brown-red and unpleasant to the taste.

On the ground spots in the fruits appear dents, plums are deformed, ripen 3-4 weeks earlier than expected, showered or mummified in the crown. Viral diseases can not be treated with drugs, plums with symptoms of sharkey must be uprooted and destroyed. As a preventive measure, you must first use a healthy, proven planting material, promptly process a parasitic plum, observe quarantine measures.

Prevention and protection from pests plums

It’s time to determine what the plums are sick of, and taking measures for treatment and prevention is not all that is needed to get a good, stable crop. Most of the diseases that affect plums are caused by the parasitic activity of insect pests. Therefore, it is very important to be able to recognize and effectively deal with parasites on the sink.

Most often, plum trees are attacked by such insects:

• fruit mite - leads to redness and death of the leaves, slows down the process of laying flower buds;
• slimy sawfly - skeletons leaves;
• yellow plum sawfly - its caterpillars eat out the fruit bone and eat the flesh, and the young larvae damage the ovary;
• plum aphid - feeds on young shoots, which leads to a weakening of growth and twisting of the leaves, which turn yellow and fall off;
• peppered-skinned - the caterpillars of this butterfly gnaw leaves, buds, flowers. With their mass invasion, only the veins remain from the leaves.

The insecticides Novaktion, Fufanon, Karate, Cyanoks, Zolon, Karbofos, Metafos, Fosfamid, Nexion, Chlorofos, etc. help to fight these pests. Processing should be carried out before flowering and after it, as well as during the hatching period of parasite larvae (July - early August). With such a pest, as the eastern moth, which eats away the young shoots and leads to the drying of the branches, can be fought with the help of ordinary table salt.

Trees are treated immediately after flowering with a solution (500-700 g of salt per 10 liters of water). On one adult tree use 7 liters of solution, on the young - 2 liters. Repeat the treatment after harvest. If a tree strikes a fruit sapstone or a subcortical moth that eats away in the wood and bark and causes the trees to die, insecticides are powerless. In this case, in early spring, the affected shoots and branches are cut and burned.