Content
Some fruit trees suffer from scab. Diseased pears and apple trees become weak, and this, in turn, negatively affects the yield and quality of the fruit. The disease affects all parts of the plants. Description of pear scab, methods of prevention and treatment will be presented below.
What is scab
The causative agent of the disease is a marsupial mushroom that hibernates in fallen leaves. In the spring, the spores begin to ripen in the fruiting body. This process can last, depending on the weather, for 2 months. Then, when the rains begin, the fruit bodies are freed from the spores, scattering them on all parts of the fruit tree. In warm and humid weather, the scab pathogen germinates quickly.
You can notice a scab on a pear by the following signs:
- flaky skin;
- the presence of stains;
- ulcers and warts on the trunk, leaves, flowers and fruits.
Causes and provoking factors
The scab on the pear does not appear just like that, there are reasons for this:
- Too wet soil. In springtime - after the snow melts, in summer - due to dew fogs and rains.
- Thickening of plantings, due to which scab spores move to a new place.
- Planting varieties with weak immunity.
- Close proximity of cultures affected by the same disease.
The development and symptoms of scab damage
The blow of the scab first falls on the young shoots of the pear:
- the bark is covered with swellings;
- changes color to olive;
- peeling appears.
When the scab is firmly settled on the pear shoots, it activates its harmful activity on the foliage. The lower part of the plate is covered with olive stains with a velvet-like bloom. These are the plantations on which scab spores develop.
The development of spores leads to the death of foliage, the fruit tree weakens, as the water balance is disturbed. The pear will not bear fruit well for 2 years.
In rainy weather, the scab quickly passes to flowers and ovaries: dark specks with spores of the marsupial mushroom are a signal. The ovaries are not able to fill, they fall off.
If the development of the disease occurred after the fruit was set, then the scab settles on them and affects them. Pears are covered with gray-black spots. With severe infection, sore spots can merge together. Fruits with scab do not grow, become ugly and eventually fall off.
How to deal with a scab on a pear
Experienced gardeners inspect fruit trees throughout the growing season. At the slightest sign of scab, they begin to fight it. But illness is usually easier to prevent than to fight. So prevention should come first.
How to get rid of scab on a pear in autumn
Since the spores of the marsupial mushroom survive well over the winter, the treatment of scab on pears should be started in the fall:
- First, you need to shovel the fallen leaves under the trees. If there were problems in the summer, then the collected foliage is better to burn, and not to lay in a compost pit. Otherwise, you can provoke the reproduction of scab spores in the spring.
- After that, the trunks and aisles in the garden are dug up.
- On a sunny day, after all the foliage has flown around, you need to spray all parts of the fruit tree with a urea solution. Dissolve 50 g of mineral fertilizer on a liter container with water.
Scab control on a pear in the summer
During the summer, the crown of the pear tree is thinned out if the crown is thickened.
Bordeaux liquid is used to treat scab. Since the action of the drug is short-term, only 2 weeks, the treatments should be carried out up to 7 times during the growing season.
For the first time, the prevention of fruit trees is planned before the blooming of flower buds. A bucket of water requires 300 g of copper sulfate and 350 g of lime.
The next spraying is performed after 14 days. A solution of Bordeaux liquid is made a little weaker than the first time: for 10 liters of water, they take 100 slaked lime and copper sulfate.
It is not necessary to prepare Bordeaux liquid, one vitriol will do. In this case, scab pears are sprayed after flowering: 5 g of substance per bucket of water.
- 90% copper oxychloride;
- 80% "Polycarbocin";
- "Polykhom";
- colloidal sulfur.
Fruit trees are sprayed with any of these drugs 3 times:
- when the buds stand out;
- at the time of tying the ovaries;
- after 14 days.
For the prevention and treatment of pear scab in the summer, you can use drugs that act systemically:
- "Speed". Treatment with this drug is carried out 2 times after 20 days. The first time, while the buds have not yet blossomed. Add 2 ml of the product to 10 liters of water.
- Strobe. From processing, not only the spores of the marsupial fungus die, but also powdery mildew. Pears should be sprayed with Strobi 3 times with an interval of 14 days. The drug lasts 35 days. This is one of the remedies that can be combined with fungicides.
For the treatment of pear scab, mineral fertilizers are often used. They are not only sprayed with, but also fed to fruit trees at the root. You can take any mineral fertilizer from the list:
- 10% solution of ammonium nitrate or ammonium;
- 3-10% solution of potassium chloride or potassium sulfate;
- potassium nitrate or potassium salt.
Scab preparations on a pear
And now we need to find out what other means can be used to fight the marsupial mushroom on a pear. Experienced gardeners first use folk remedies, if they do not solve the problem, they move on to more radical measures - chemicals.
Folk remedies
In recent years, gardeners have given up chemistry in their summer cottages in order to get useful, environmentally friendly products. Indeed, many components of chemical preparations are eaten into finished products, even if all processing is carried out strictly according to the instructions.
What folk remedies can be used to treat pears from scab:
- Dry mustard. A 10 liter bucket of warm water requires 80 g of powder. Dissolve the mustard in a little water, grind well to remove lumps. Then pour the mixture into a 10 L bucket. Pears are sprayed with this composition 3 times: during the budding period, after fruit setting, when the flowers fall off, and at the time of pears pouring.
- Horsetail. Cut off the green grass, put in a bucket (1/3) and cover with water. After insisting for 3 days, pears can be sprayed against the scab. Work is planned for early spring, when the leaves are just blooming.
- Salt. A solution of this substance is used to treat fruit trees in early spring, while the buds have not yet blossomed. A 10 liter bucket will require 1 kg of salt.
- Potassium permanganate. For 10 liters of water, 5 g of the drug is required. Pears are treated with it several times over the summer. First spraying when foliage is in full bloom. The second time is when the flowers fall and the ovaries begin to form. The third treatment is left at the time of fruit ripening.
Chemicals
There are a number of remedies that can be used to get rid of scab - preparations of a wide range of actions:
- "Poliram DF" - granules non-toxic to plants and insects.
- Tridex is a complex granular product that allows you to get rid of scab on pears and other fruit trees. The fungicide is not harmful to insects. The content of manganese and zinc allows not only to process pears from scab, but also to feed fruit trees at the same time.
- "Merpan" is not addictive to the fungus. In addition, the drug can be used with other systemic agents.
- Horus is a broad spectrum active agent. Spraying can be carried out in any weather, even in rain, if the temperature is not lower than +10 degrees. It is safe so that the bees can safely continue their job of pollinating the pears.
Treatments with these fungicides are alternated, carried out several times during the growing season. Dissolve the funds in accordance with the instructions.
Preventive measures to combat scab on a pear
It is not necessary to use chemicals to prevent pears from being infected by the marsupial fungus. You need to follow some recommendations:
- Choose the right site for planting pear trees. Pear likes a sunny and well-blown place. If several seedlings are planted, then a distance of at least 2.5 m is left between them.
- Timely carry out sanitary and formative pruning of pears to avoid scab disease.
- Collecting fruits correctly will help keep them from getting infected. Slightly underripe pears are removed from the trees. Those fruits that lie under the trees are not recommended to be collected and sent for storage. They are suitable for processing: cooking jam, compote, dried fruits.
- In the fall, you need to carry out a general cleaning of the garden. Collect and burn all leaves. In this case, the fungi will not have a place for wintering.
- If on the site the scab has hit 1 pear or apple tree, it is necessary to carry out preventive treatment of all fruit trees and shrubs that have low immunity to this disease.
Disease resistant varieties
Breeders engaged in breeding new varieties of pears are trying to obtain plants with good immunity to many fungal diseases, including scab.
Therefore, before buying seedlings, you need to give preference to varieties that are resistant to scab, for example:
- Bere Hardy;
- Etude;
- Trembita;
- Bere Ardanpon;
- The harvester;
- Bere Bosc.
Conclusion
Knowing the description of the pear scab, gardeners can easily cope with the problem that has arisen. You just need to remember about preventive measures. In the event of a disease on fruit trees, the fight must be started without delay, otherwise you can be left without a pear harvest.
