Ornamental conifers planted to decorate plots often suffer from various diseases. The most dangerous of them are rust, cytosporosis and phomosis. In addition, there are diseases that are not associated with infection, and the main one is the spring burn. Let's figure out what are the signs of these diseases - and what a gardener should do.
Disease and treatment of conifers
Rust
This disease most often affects different types of pine and Cossack juniper. Rust appears in the form of oblong swellings on the needles and branches of plants. The swellings ooze yellowish mucus - this is the discharge of a fungus that is a causative agent of rust.
Rust is also dangerous because it can infect currants and pears.
You need to treat as follows:
- preparations containing copper (solution of copper sulfate, Bordeaux liquid, "Oxyhom", etc.);
- preparations containing sulfur - only at air temperatures above 22 degrees.
Fusarium, cytosporosis, phomosis
Thuja suffers from all these diseases in the first place. Fungal diseases, manifested in the form of spots on the shoots and bark, drying out of needles and small twigs.
Treatment is carried out with the same specific antifungal drugs containing copper, sulfur and other substances toxic to fungi as rust. Processing is carried out, starting in spring, every 10-15 days until the plant recovers.
Bronze
With this phenomenon, the needles acquire a characteristic reddish-purple tint. Bronze is not considered a disease, but indicates an unfavorable condition of the tree.
It is treated:
- during drought - watering;
- in winter - with the help of shading plants from excess ultraviolet radiation.
In a favorable environment, bronze disappears by itself. It mainly affects plants that do not receive proper care, so get rid of this phenomenon it is possible by simply performing all agrotechnical measures when growing conifers and shrubs.
Burns and protection from them
This disease is not contagious. It is associated with the onset of sunny weather with an abundance of ultraviolet radiation, especially if the snow has not completely melted and reflects the sun's rays. A spring burn is a real scourge for a juniper, sometimes it leads to the death of the entire bush.
A spring burn is especially dangerous in a situation where the bright sun and dry wind draw moisture from the needles, but the roots that are still in the unheated soil cannot give water to the plant. Especially often, seedlings transplanted into open ground in the fall suffer from this: the root system is disturbed, it cannot absorb moisture - but in late autumn and winter, moisture loss is minimal, and the tree lives. As soon as the spring and the bright sun come, the seedling begins to turn yellow, sheds the needles and eventually dies.
That is why, to avoid burns, young bushes are sprayed with warm water and covered with awnings or non-woven agromaterial. Also, for planting conifers, you should choose a place where the direct rays of the sun fall on them less often - only in the morning and in the evening. Finally, so that the light does not reflect from the snow, in the spring the area under the trees is mulched with peat, humus or just earth, thus shading the seedlings.
Read also: All do not care! How to deal with blackening and curling of pear leaves?
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