Why does sweet cherry "get sick"?

To obtain a rich harvest, it is not enough to provide cherries with watering, feeding, loosening, pruning. It is also necessary to protect the tree from diseases. The spread of the disease can lead to the complete death of cherries. Let's take a look at some types of ailments and try to find out how to prevent them or how to fight them.

Monili cherry diseasesoz or monilial burn... The causative agent of the disease is a fungus. With this disease, the leaves, branches, and the trunk become brown and dry. A gray fluff (fungal spores) appears on berries and inflorescences and they begin to rot quickly. From the outside it looks like the wood is burnt. Most often, this disease manifests itself in the fall, when there is a lot of rain and low temperatures.

Control measures: All affected parts are removed and sprayed with 1% Bordeaux mixture.

For prevention: They are treated with the same solution in spring, before bud break, and in summer after flowering. Varieties resistant to moniliosis: Sylvia; Van-Compact; Tenderness; Novell; Shokoladnitsa, etc.

Clasterosporium disease or perforated spottingb. The causative agent of the disease is also a fungus. Red-burgundy spots appear on the leaves, with a dark border. After a while, a hole forms at the spot. After a couple of weeks, the leaves begin to dry out. Red-brown spots appear on the fruits, gradually they, like the leaves, dry out.

Control measures: All affected branches are cut. Places of cuts are treated with copper sulfate, and then with a solution of sorrel. Soluble wipe several times (3-4), one after another with a break of 10-15 minutes. Then they are covered with garden var.

For prevention: It is treated with a solution of 1% copper sulfate or nitrafen.
Clasterosporium resistant varieties: Ogonyok; Companion; Amateur; Lyubskaya and others.

Diseases of sweet cherry Coccomycosis. The causative agent is a fungus. Affects mainly leaves, but can affect stems and fruits.

Small reddish-brown spots appear on the leaves, and a pinkish bloom appears on the back. The specks gradually increase until they merge with each other. In this case, the entire leaf is affected. It turns yellow, curls and falls off after a while. If you do not take action, then the plant is deprived of all the leaves. As a result, the fruits ripen very slowly, and most often there is no harvest at all.

Control measures: Tear off all the leaves. The tree is treated with copper-containing fungicides (copper sulfate, Bordeaux mixture).

For prevention: They dig up the ground around the tree, burn all dry leaves and grass. Treat plants with copper fungicides when buds swell, after flowering and harvesting.
Coccomycosis resistant varieties: Turgenevka; North Star; Chocolate girl; Turgenevka and others.

Chlorosis... Cherry disease, in which there is a uniform yellowing of the leaves, then their drying and falling off. The leaves turn yellow because they do not receive nutrients: iron, nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, manganese.

The reason may be the presence of rot on the roots of the plant, necrosis, frostbite of the foliage. Or if the tree grows in calcareous soils. As a result of the disease, the berries become small, and the next year the fruits may not be laid at all.

Control measures: An integrated approach is needed in order to improve the performance of the root system.
The introduction of fertilizers into the soil containing trace elements that are not enough. Watering the plant with soft water. Improve the oxygen regime in the root area.

For prevention: Loosen the soil, prevent stagnation of water, do not plant cherries in flooded areas, cut the tree annually.
Chlorosis resistant varieties: Kolkhoz woman; Cornish Victoria; Russian yielding, etc.

Gum therapy or gommosis... In the cracks of the bark, a gum-tree resin appears. The release of gum is a sure sign that something is wrong with the plant.

Any severe damage to the bark, overdose of fertilizers, increased acidity of the soil, waterlogging of the soil, low temperature, and the like. As a result of excretion, the growth of young shoots stops, the shoots dry out, and sometimes even the whole tree.

Control measures: Wounds in the bark are cleaned with a garden knife, disinfected and covered with garden var.

For prevention: Do not plant trees on acidic soils. Avoid damage to the bark. Protect the trunks from sunburn - whitewash. Protect from frost - cover with burlap, spruce branches, etc. Monitor soil moisture.

Scab. Brown spots appear on green leaves, and they roll up. Green fruits do not ripen, cracks appear on mature ones.

Control measures: Remove affected leaves. Treat with 1% Bordeaux liquid copper oxychloride.

For prevention: Remove dried leaves in time, prune the crown, feed with fertilizers containing potassium and phosphorus.

These are of course not all diseases that this tree can be exposed to. But any disease is easier to prevent than to cure.

Therefore:

Remove dry leaves, cut branches in time.
Loose the soil.
Control soil moisture and acidity.
Carry out preventive spraying.
Increase the immunity of plants by spraying them with special preparations: Zircon; Amulet; Immunocytophyte and others.
Feed the plant on time.
Protect from sun and frost.