I noticed that in the literature for gardeners very little attention is paid to the fight against tinder mushrooms.
Meanwhile, tinder fungi are found everywhere in our area; they settle not only on trunks, but also on branches, and even on roots, and on living trees. They cause plant rotting and, over time, their death. Therefore, I believe that summer residents and gardeners should clearly recognize all varieties of such tree-destroying fungi, know their biological characteristics and measures to combat them in the fruit and berry garden.
You need to know that the infection fruit trees spores of tinder fungi occur, as a rule, in the warm season. As a rule, they settle in places where the bark is damaged by sunburn, in areas of frost damage or damaged by insects. When spores germinate, they form a mycelium that penetrates the wood and can develop there for several years. First, the mycelium oppresses the tree, weakens it, slows down development, and then it causes cavities to appear in the trunk and partial or complete death of branches and roots. At the same time, annual or perennial mushroom bodies appear in places where wood is damaged. Ripening already in August, these bodies form many spores that are carried by the wind to neighboring trees. The nature of damage to trees by the fungus depends on the type of tinder fungus, of which the following are the best known today.
False tinder
It settles on pear and plum trunks and causes white heart rot. Mushroom bodies are most often perennial, hoof-shaped, with concentric grooves and cracks on the surface. The color of the mushroom body can be black-gray and matte with grayish edges, and inner part– brown.
Real tinder
The tinder fungus settles on almost all deciduous trees, including apple and pear trees, and mainly on weakened and dead plants, as well as on their stumps. When attacked, it causes core, light yellow or white rot, and the wood in the affected areas becomes brittle, stratifying along the growth rings. Like the previous one, this tinder fungus is perennial, hoof-shaped and has similar grooves on the surface. The color of the mushroom is pale gray with blunt light yellow edges.
Flat tinder
It settles mainly on stumps, but can also appear on growing apple, pear, plum and other trees. Infection with the fungus most often occurs through wounds at the base of the tree and on its roots, and it then spreads up the core of the trunk, causing it yellowish-white rot, drying out and brittleness. The fungal bodies of the tinder fungus are perennial, flat, and the upper side is wavy, grooved, sometimes covered with a brown coating with a rusty-brown color along the edges.
Yellow tinder fungus
Most often, the tinder fungus settles on cherries and, somewhat less frequently, on pears and cherries. The fungus causes brown heart-shaped rot that spreads throughout the entire tree in a fairly short time. The mushroom bodies are initially watery and fleshy, and then harden and become brittle. The surface of the mushroom bodies is wavy, light yellow or orange.
Plum polypore
It most often settles on the trunks and branches of plums, cherries and cherries, but it can also appear on apple and pear trees. The fungus causes mainly heart-shaped rot of trunks and branches, and in cherries it also causes sapwood, and the trunks and branches quickly dry out and break. The mushroom bodies are mostly hoof-shaped, their surface is first velvety, then smooth, grayish-black. The mushroom tissue is hard, woody and reddish at the edges.
Scaly tinder
It mainly settles on pear trees, causing white heart rot. Mushroom bodies are annual, semicircular, flat on top. The body color is initially light yellow or ocher, and then brown with large scales. Mushrooms are attached to the trunks using a short lateral stalk. If a summer resident or gardener knows the varieties and characteristics of tinder fungi, then he can independently decide on measures to protect fruit trees in the garden from them. Of course, first of all, to prevent the appearance of pest fungi, general agronomic measures should be taken to improve the growth and development of trees: apply fertilizers in a timely and correct manner, fertilize, water, and prune trees. But to more reliably protect the garden from tinder fungi, special measures should be taken:
- promptly remove and burn all damaged and drying branches, as well as exfoliated bark, as they attract tinder fungi in the first place;
- cover wounds on trees with garden varnish and fill hollows; to do this, they are sealed with small crushed stone or broken bricks and filled with a mixture of cement and sand in a ratio of 1:3;
- coat the trunks with clay and casein glue (200 g per bucket of water with the addition of karbofos to the mixture - 90 g per bucket) to protect against flat and other tinder fungi.
If these measures failed to prevent the appearance of tinder fungi, then it is necessary to cut off and burn their mushroom bodies; This operation is carried out no later than August, when the release of fungal spores is expected. In this case, all places where the fungus is cut must be disinfected with 4% copper sulfate (300 g per bucket), and the wounds on the wood after the cuts must be covered with garden varnish. In my garden, I have fought tinder fungi in this way more than once, and I can responsibly say that the measures discussed above make it possible to successfully defeat tinder fungi and save trees from death, without resorting to their elimination and burning.
Anatoly Veselov, gardener
Polypore is popular not only because it is a material for making tinder, which is used to make fire in the field, and not at all because of a number of healing properties. The fungus takes an active part in the process of decomposition of the wood of dead trees, which poses a huge danger to a living tree.
The larger and younger tree, the longer it will live.
The external growth on an apple or plum tree is the tip of the iceberg, just the fruiting part of the tinder fungus. The main part of it root system, called mycelium, is located inside the trunk.
When tinder appears, the death of the tree is only a matter of time
Causes of tree damage
The bark of a tree is a kind of skin that protects the tree from infection and insects entering its trunk. Lesions on the bark are open door for infection and tinder fungus spores, among others. A plant can receive such damage for a number of reasons:
- weather impact,
- branches broken by the wind,
- sunburn,
- cracking from extreme cold.
Natural biological processes, in turn, can weaken trees. Dead branches or holes in the bark made by birds, insects or animals can easily open up infection. Humans also cause significant damage to the flora. Throwing knives and axes at trees leaves deep, long-lasting wounds on trunks and branches. Trees that are weakened and damaged by drought and old age are also targets for the tinder fungus.
Damaged tree bark is the main cause of infection
Signs of tree damage
- the tinder is real,
- grey-yellow,
- hedgehog,
- scaly,
- umbrella,
- volatile,
- false,
- smoky,
- colorful,
- varnished.
Polypores, despite the fact that the tree fights the disease, cause rotting of the wood, the spread of rot along the trunk, branches and leaves. This leads to tissue death, drying out and weakening of the cherry, pear, plum or apple tree. Obvious symptoms of tree tinder damage are darkening and peeling of the bark, dark color wood on the cut and a specific shine on the leaves. The foliage becomes brittle and dry, which leads to even greater weakening of the tree.
If tinder fungi appear in different parts tree, at the root, in the center and at the top, this indicates that the tree is completely affected and, moreover, the mechanism of its destruction by the tinder fungus has been launched. It becomes a source dangerous infection for the entire garden. This situation is quite dangerous, but not critical. There are many ways to combat this problem and emerge victorious.
How to deal with tinder fungus?
When, having become familiar with the problem of fungi on trees, you hear a gardener say: “I am successfully fighting tinder fungus,” then you should be seriously interested in his experience. Initially, you need to understand that tinder fungi spread throughout the territory with the help of spores that emerge from the external fruiting bodies. Therefore, if the owner of the garden is thinking about how to deal with tinder fungus, then he must first find out how to get rid of the spread of fungal spores. Experienced gardeners advise cutting mushrooms from trunks at the end of summer. At this time, the spores have already formed, but there is still time before they dissipate.
If the mushroom has settled on a branch, then this is an encouraging sign. Perhaps the infection did not have time to reach the trunk and affect the entire tree. In this case, it is better to cut the branch near the trunk. Based on the condition of the cut, you can determine how far the infection has penetrated. If the wood is bright, moist and hard, then the danger has passed. In the case when the wood has darkened and become soft, we can certainly say that the tree is completely affected. The detection of a growth on the trunk indicates that the fruit plant is infected from root to crown.
If all the plants in the garden are healthy or reliably treated, this is not at all a reason to completely calm down.
Can grow around the garden a large number of trees, some of which may be affected by tinder fungi. A few tens of meters to the garden is not a distance for light spores. Thus, the fight against tinder fungus must also be carried out outside one’s territory. Therefore, in order to get rid of the source of infection, it is necessary to completely prevent infection of neighboring trees.
The cut at the place where the tinder fungus was must be carefully processed
The apple trees are blooming - what a miracle. There really is no better color than when the apple trees are in bloom, and it’s a shame to cry if the garden is literally empty during the summer. Disease-damaged fruits rot under the tree canopies. In years with epiphytotic damage to trees, up to 90% of the crop is lost.
Apple trees, like other garden crops, are affected by 3 types of diseases: fungal, bacterial and viral. In addition, every year an increasing number of trees in gardens suffer from violations of agricultural practices in the use of fertilizers, water and temperature regime, use of means of protection against diseases and pests. You need to know the enemy by sight, only then will the struggle for the harvest be crowned with victory without harming the health of the family and animals. A common enemy for garden plantings is violation of agricultural management practices.
Sebastian StabingerGeneral agrotechnical measures for caring for garden crops
The garden must be kept fallow or tinned. Systematically destroy weeds in which diseases and pests accumulate.
Every year during the growing season and in the fall, it is necessary to clean the tree trunk areas from fallen leaves, fruits and other debris. Sick fruits are destroyed. The foliage of healthy trees is usually placed in compost pits or used for mulching.
Apple trees become infected with rust from common juniper. Therefore, juniper plantings should not be located close to the garden.
In autumn, after the leaves have fallen, it is necessary to systematically inspect the trunk and skeletal branches. Carry out sanitary pruning, freeing the crown from diseased, dry branches growing inward. Clear the trunk and skeletal branches of old loose bark.
It is imperative to seal hollows and cracks with special compounds with the addition of medicinal drugs. Large saw cuts should be painted over with paint or other protective compounds.
Pruning is carried out from February to March, when the plants are at rest (no sap flow).
Several times a year (not only in spring and autumn), whiten the trunk and skeletal branches with a freshly prepared solution of freshly slaked lime mixed with clay, copper sulfate, glue, fungicidal and bactericidal preparations.
In the fall, before digging, apply phosphorus-potassium fertilizers and disinfect the soil using copper sulfate, ammonium nitrate, and biological products. If the garden is grassed (cannot be dug), then drill 5-10 wells along the edge of the crown, add a mixture of fertilizers, cover with turf and water.
During the growing season in the spring, feed apple trees with nitroammophos at the rate of 50-100 g per crown. Fertilize with microfertilizers annually.
During the summer (especially dry) watering is necessary at least 2 times. After watering, mulch the soil or treat it superficially with a hoe.
Fighting fungal diseases
Apple tree damage is caused by pathogenic fungi. The mycelium and its spores overwinter in fallen leaves, diseased fruits, cracks and hollows. Overwintered spores, parts of mycelium in warm weather spring weather begin to actively reproduce, capturing healthy areas of the vegetative and generative organs of plants. The most common and harmful fungal diseases are fruit rot, powdery mildew, black and other types of cancer, scab, rust, and brown spot cytosporosis.
Symptoms of the disease
Each type of fungus has its own features and properties that can be combined according to the manifestation of external symptoms. Fungal infection manifests itself in the form of individual oily translucent or rounded red, yellowish dry spots, grayish-white plaques, various velvety to the touch, round formations on the leaves. They turn yellow, curl, and stop growing. Separate round spots appear on the fruits and grow. The fruit tissue begins to rot or becomes woody and becomes covered with cracks. The fruits mummify on the branches and fall off. The most favorable conditions for the spread of fungal diseases are warm, humid weather.
At home, you always want to grow an environmentally healthy crop, so some gardeners believe that it is best not to use any preparations at all. But this approach is fundamentally wrong, since in a few years there will be nothing left of the garden except dried out or completely diseased plants. Protective measures in the garden are mandatory. Nowadays they use biological products for garden treatment that are made on a natural basis - beneficial microflora that destroy pathogenic fungi. These drugs are absolutely harmless and can be used literally the day before harvesting.
Apple tree affected by scab. © Jan Homann Protection technology using biological products
In the fall, on the bare crown of the apple tree and in the spring, before waking up from winter rest, we carry out blue spraying with a 2-3% solution of copper sulfate.
In the spring, before the buds open, we disinfect the soil with a 7% urea solution or a 10% ammonium nitrate solution. We carefully spray the soil around the tree trunks and after 2-3 days we dig up to 10-15 cm.
During the pink bud phase and subsequently every 7-10 days, we treat the apple trees according to the recommendations with one of the biological products “Fitosporin-M”, “Gamair”, “Integral”, “Mikosan”, “Gaupsin”, “Agat-25”, “Planriz” . They can be used to treat the garden right up to harvesting, and the use of the drug “Planriz” helps to extend the shelf life of the products. In order not to cause negative microflora to become addictive to the drugs, the biological product is constantly replaced when processing plants.
Remember! Biological drugs do not relieve the disease one-time treatment. Systematic processing of trees is required. The greatest effect is achieved in 2-3 years.
Chemical measures to protect apple trees from fungal diseases
Sometimes gardens are so affected by diseases that the use of biological products does not have an effective effect on the affected trees. In this case, chemical protective measures are used.
When using chemicals, be sure to follow health precautions (gown, gloves, goggles, hat). After work, wash your face and hands with soap or take a shower.
Technological activities
We begin protective measures in the fall. After removing weeds, fallen leaves and fruits, we use blue spraying of apple trees with a 3% solution of copper sulfate.
In the spring, before the buds open, you can repeat blue spraying to treat the crown or use a 1% DNOC solution.
Instead of copper sulfate and DNOC, you can, for preventive purposes, spray the crown, as well as the trunk and soil of the trunk circles with a solution of mineral fertilizers. We carefully treat the crown with a 5% urea solution, and the soil with a 7% concentration solution. You can use a 10% solution of ammonium nitrate or a 15% solution of ammonium sulfate to treat the trunk and skeletal branches. After a few days, the treated soil must be dug up to a depth of 10-15 cm.
During the green cone phase of leaf buds, before and after flowering, we treat the crown with 1% Bordeaux mixture. Bordeaux mixture effectively protects trees from scab, moniliosis, powdery mildew and other fungal diseases. It is not a poisonous drug, so it is possible to treat trees with its solution after flowering.
Starting from the pink bud phase, apple trees are treated every 2-3 weeks according to the instructions with the preparations “Horus”, “Flint”, “Skor”, “Strobi”, “Raek”. During flowering, spraying is stopped. The last treatment is carried out a month before harvesting or during the fruit set phase.
To reduce the load from the number of treatments, you can switch to treating trees with tank mixtures in the protection system, having first checked the compatibility of the preparations.
Viral diseases and protection technology
Viruses are tiny particles of a protein substance, invisible in an ordinary microscope, but quite harmful to living plants. They are spread by pests when working on open plant tissues (grafting), water, and wind.
External symptoms of the disease
At the beginning of the introduction of the virus, its destructive work is not visible and the plant continues to function as healthy. The manifestation of the disease in terms of external symptoms is in many ways similar to a fungal infection. Spots appear on the leaves and the fruits become deformed. Over time, the differences become more pronounced. Individual spots on the leaves merge into a mosaic pattern of green and yellow colors and shades. Dechlorinated areas of leaf blades become necrotic, and affected leaves fall off. There is flattening, flattening of the shoots, and softening of the wood. The branches become unusually soft, gutta-percha, and easily break under the load of the harvest. Individual flowers and inflorescences are greatly deformed and take on ugly shapes. During spring development, bunches of dwarf shoots with leaves or only leaves of an unusual shape and unusual color are formed at the ends of young shoots. Bunches of fattening shoots (witch's rings) form on old branches. The fruits crack, form crust-like spots and growths, and lose taste qualities, and also fall.
The external manifestations of viral diseases determined their names. The most common viral diseases of the apple tree: mosaic, star cracking of fruits, panicle (witch's broom), rosette, proliferation or growth of vegetative and generative organs (ugliness), chlorotic ring spot, wood pitting.
Technological methods of protection against viral diseases
There are no drugs that destroy the virus as a source of infection yet. Therefore, the main control measures are agricultural technology.
Agrotechnical measures are the same as those used to combat fungal diseases. Be especially careful when carrying out the following work.
Perform pruning only when the plants are deeply dormant (February).
When pruning, all diseased parts of the plant and the tree as a whole must be destroyed. Under no circumstances should waste be used for composting.
With the obvious manifestation of the most common diseases of rosette and panicle in apple trees, it is necessary to reduce the dose when using simple forms of phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers. Switch to fertilizer complex forms, in which the elements are in optimal proportions for the cultivated crops.
Introduce microelements, including zinc sulfate, into the fertilizing, especially when rosette is obvious.
Use phytohormones Epin or Zircon for spraying, which increase plant immunity to viruses. The drugs are effective as preventative measures. They do not stop the developing disease.
Note! The main defense against viral diseases is the destruction of sucking pests, which are the main carriers of viruses.
Bacterial diseases will be discussed in a separate article.
- Part 1. Fungal and viral diseases apple trees
You will need
- - knife, axe, hacksaw or chainsaw;
- - solution of copper sulfate;
- - garden var;
- - mullein and clay;
- - nigrol, rosin, ash and wax;
- - hard brush;
Instructions
Remove the mushroom. If it is already woody, take a large knife, hacksaw, hatchet or even. You will have to destroy healthy wood, but the tinder fungus must be removed completely, to a clean place.
Use a knife or scraper to clean the wound down to healthy wood so that you get a relatively smooth and even surface.
Disinfect the wound. To do this, take a 5% solution of copper sulfate or creosote and treat the hollow. Then seal the area thoroughly. You can do this oil paint or garden varnish. Or you can take nigrol, rosin, ash and wax in a ratio of 10:6:3:1, mix and cover the wound.
There is another (old) option for wound treatment. Mix putty from fresh mullein and clay, taking the components in equal parts. Mix everything well. For 5 liters of this mixture (half a bucket), add 0.5 liters of a ready-made solution of copper sulfate (3 percent). Apply the prepared mixture to the damaged area.
You can treat all nearby areas with the product that you prepared to putty the wound - the trunk and branches (just dilute it with water first, excessive thickness will no longer be needed). The fact is that you may not immediately notice the spread of the tinder fungus throughout the entire tree, and such preventive measures will prevent its germination.
However, simply applying the product to the bark is not enough. It is necessary to pre-prepare the surface. To do this, take a hard brush (if the tree is old and the bark is thick, you can use a metal brush or even a piece of chain-link mesh) and clean off the old bark from the trunk and branches (without fanaticism, just the top, as if dead, layer). After this you can continue processing.
Do not forget to rake after completing all work. from old bark and fragments of the tinder fungus and burn at the stake. This must be done in order to destroy the cocoons and eggs of various pests, as well as the hyphae (cells) of the fungus.
note
There are several varieties of tinder fungi. Depending on the type, they can be white, brown or brown, as well as striped, streaky, hard, fluffy, dry, slimy, etc. The measures to combat all are the same.
Experienced gardeners say that if the tinder fungus was large, then it will only be possible to get rid of it temporarily. The fact is that the hyphae of the tinder fungus have the ability to penetrate deeply into the wood, which makes saving the apple tree almost impossible. It will gradually fade away, first reducing productivity, then becoming gnarled, covered with growths and hollows. Therefore, even if the operation to remove the fungus was successful, you should think about replacing the tree.
In the future, take care of the safety of fruit trees - protect them from mechanical damage, clean off rotten bark, seal hollows and cracks.
Sources:
- apple tree treatment
We saw everything. But has everyone ever wondered why rot appears? It turns out that rot is caused by wood decaying fungi, of which there are many. Most of them belong to the national team group of tinder fungi. Who is to blame and what to do? All the secrets of mushrooms are revealed by candidate of agricultural sciences Aleksey ANTSIFEROV.
Tree infection wood-destroying, or xylotrophic, fungi occurs through - broken or cut branches, wounds, dry sides, mechanical damage, frost holes, etc. Fungal spores scattered in the air land on bare wood and germinate. The mycelium of the fungus penetrates the trunk and begins its destructive effect.
Some types of xylotrophs already settle on mechanically processed wood (logs, posts, boards) - sleeper mushroom, fence or pillar mushroom, multicolored tinder fungus, true house mushroom, filmy house mushroom.
Root rot
In addition to stem rots, there are also root and butt-root rots. They are also caused by xylotrophic fungi, but they spread not only by spores, but also by contact between affected and healthy roots. Due to the distribution characteristics, the development of root rot in plantations usually has a clump character.
The oak, flat and Schweinitz polypores also lead to butt-root rot of trees.
The presence of rot in a tree trunk can be indicated by certain signs known to experts (dry sides, swelling in the lower part of the trunk, mushroom fruiting bodies, decreased linear growth, etc.). But sometimes these signs are there, but there is no rot. It also happens the other way around - there is rot in the trunk, but it does not appear outwardly. And it’s even more unclear how to assess the size and extent of hidden rot?
It would seem that you can find out about this either by sawing the tree into pieces (which is radical), or by inviting a clairvoyant (which is doubtful). An error in both cases is fraught - either the abandoned tree will fall, or a non-dangerous specimen will be removed. However, there are devices that allow you to “look” inside a tree without causing virtually any harm to it.
Device resistograph drills into wood with a thin drill, and sensors record its density (resistance to drilling). Using a computer program, a picture of the internal state of the tree is revealed. There is another device - arbot. This is a tomograph, the operating principle of which is based on measuring the speed of sound pulses passing through wood. The decision to remove or leave a tree standing is made not only on the basis of the data obtained as a result of instrumental diagnostics, but also taking into account the biological characteristics of the species, the inclination of the trunk, the architectonics of the crown, the characteristics of the site, the nature of nearby objects and other factors.
Depending on the degree of development of the rot, treatment or removal of the tree is possible if it is considered unsafe.
Healthy trees resist wood-destroying fungi more successfully than weakened ones, are less likely to be affected by them, and slow down the rate of rot development. Therefore, it is necessary to promptly treat wounds and dry sides, fill hollows, remove tobacco branches, trim dry and damaged branches, and seal the resulting cuts and cuts with garden varnish, sealant or special paint. To reduce the number of fungal spores scattered in the air, it is necessary to promptly remove emergency, dead and fallen trees, stumps, logging residues, and fruiting bodies of xylotrophic fungi from non-emergency trees on the site and adjacent territory.
The density of tree plantings and the associated interweaving of root systems creates favorable conditions for the spread of root and butt-root rots. It was noted that in mixed plantings, wood-destroying fungi develop to a lesser extent than in purebred ones.
