How best to spray trees in the fall before winter: on the leaves or after the fall of leaves
Many gardeners spray garden and fruit trees in the fall. The procedure is carried out both to prevent and treat diseases, to get rid of insect pests, and to increase the future harvest.
How to carry out spraying, so that it will bring benefits and the expected result? When is it better to carry out the procedure – after the leaves fall or spray directly on the leaves?
We will answer these questions in this article.
How is it better to spray trees in autumn (before winter) – on the leaves or after the leaves have fallen?
Spraying trees in the fall helps keep plants healthy. After the growing season is over, many plants become diseased or damaged by insects. Spraying before winter solves this problem and returns trees to health and fertility.
Remember, however, that in addition to the tree itself, the soil surrounding it is also sprayed.
In order to solve the problem of tree health and increase the ban on fruiting, it is necessary to take a comprehensive approach to solving the problem. It is not enough to simply take the plants and spray – such work may well prove futile. It is necessary to prepare, which includes several steps.
- Remove old foliage. After the leaves have fallen, it is more proper to begin preparing to spray the tree and conduct the procedure itself. Why is it necessary to remove the leaves?
The fact is that many insects leave larvae and traces of life on the leaves, which can cause further spread of pests.
There are fungal spores on the leaves – the causative agents of dangerous plant and tree diseases. If they are not removed, the virus will affect neighboring plants and kill the tree.
How to spray if the tree has not shed its leaves:
- Direct treatment (spraying) of the tree crown. The choice of products depends on the purpose of spraying. If it is necessary to get rid of pests and destroy diseases, one set is used. If the goal is to feed the tree – another.
In most cases, the autumn treatment of trees is carried out with an antiseptic purpose. The reason is the emergence and development of fungal infections and diseases, the attack on the tree by insects that damage the bark, branches, fruits and leaves. If such processes are not stopped, they will continue in winter, and in spring the tree will suffer even more. Timely treatment and prevention of diseases – the key to plant health and a good harvest.
Experienced gardeners recommend opting for proven remedies. Consider the most popular ones:
- Urea (urea). It destroys various types of fungi, scab, spots, pupae and insect larvae. Urea can be sprayed on trees in September and early October. Later, this product is not useful because the sprayed plant will not have time to recover before the cold weather arrives. Urea contains a large amount of nitrogen, which stimulates the beginning of growth processes in the plant, so it is used with caution in autumn.
- Copper sulfate is a universal remedy used in the fight against scab, rot, spots and powdery mildew. The advantage is that it can be used at any time of the year, as it does not affect the seasonal growth processes.
- inkstone. It is popular with apple orchard owners because in addition to eliminating diseases and destroying pests, it saturates apple trees with iron. In addition to apple trees, it can be used to spray plums, cherries, peaches, and other “pips”.
- Bordeaux liquid. It is with almost all popular types of diseases of orchard trees and destroys most insect pests, their larvae.
How to properly spray?
Since the fall spraying of trees is carried out with chemicals, you should take care of protective equipment and conduct the procedure safely.
For spraying, choose a day without rain or wind. When precipitation passes, spraying is useless, the wind can blow the preparations aside.
It is necessary to prepare protective equipment: respirators, goggles, suit. They prevent the chemical from getting on the skin, mucous membranes, in the nose and mouth. It is not recommended to take off your clothes and protective equipment until the procedure is over. Therefore, you should drink, eat and smoke beforehand, if necessary.
Do not dilute agents in utensils used in the home and for cooking. A separate container and sprayer is required for these purposes. Remnants of the product are spilled into areas that come into contact with animals and people. Manure or humus chemicals should not be poured into the compost pit.
Diluted and concentrated products are not used to make fires, suitable only for intended use.
In the fall, spraying in several stages is allowed to achieve complete elimination of pests and diseases.
In addition to OP sifting, it is acceptable to treat trees with trunk whitewashing. This procedure protects the tree from pests and bacteria from the soil. The thickness of the layer is up to three millimeters, and the solution for mature and old trees is more concentrated than for young ones.
For example, in a solution for young fruit trees, 1 kg of quicklime and clay, 100 grams of manure and copper sulfate per 10 liters of water are added.
For mature trees, the content of copper sulfate and quicklime – twice as much as the other components, applied in the same volume.
The components are mixed until a thick sour cream, applying to the bottom of the haulm with a bush sponge.
Useful feedback from experienced gardeners
Treatment of garden trees before winter:
Conclusion
Spraying trees in the fall will help fight pests, fungal and infectious diseases. Spraying should be carried out after the fall of leaves and capture not only the crown and trunk, but also the trunk with the soil.
Insecticides are used for treatment – urea, copper and iron sulfate, Bordeaux liquid.
Gardeners need to take care of protection means – gloves, respirators, goggles, so that chemicals do not get on the skin and mucous membranes.
Treatment is recommended in several stages, so that by spring the tree is stronger and continues to grow and bear fruit without diseases and pests.
- Author: Olga Kuznetsova
As a diligent student at school, I listened carefully to the advice of teachers. They could not decide where I best develop my abilities – in physics or the humanities.
How to prepare your garden for winter? The 8 Most Important Things
Successful wintering of plants is the key to their ornamental value and a good harvest in the next season. What the coming winter will be, I’m afraid, no one knows, not even the weather forecasts. So it is always better to reassure yourself and do the whole list of necessary works to prepare the garden for winter. Then, standing at the window with a cup of morning coffee, you can surely admire the drifts, blizzards and silhouettes of plants… And at the same time rejoice not only that our feet are warm, but also that the plants are comfortable to sleep in. So…
How to prepare your garden for winter? The 8 most important things to do
Fall Fertilizing.
Don’t neglect this rule, many substances contribute to a successful winter and ensure high blooms next season. In the case of fruits, this means that they provide a harvest.
First of all, this is phosphorus and potassium. As a reminder, we have eliminated nitrogen from fertilization since mid-summer (except for non-wintering annuals). Nitrogen helps growth, and anything that grew too late will freeze over the winter and cause other problems. Therefore, in the fall do not apply nitrogen, or its minimum amount, but – phosphorus and potassium. What exactly?
You can use superphosphate, double superphosphate, potassium sulfate and apply the dose recommended on the package. You can do a more modern way and apply complex mineral fertilizers, designed specifically for the fall. They are based on phosphorus, potassium, maybe a little nitrogen (this is not terrible) and trace elements, which are also very necessary for our plants that winter in the open ground.
As for the timing of applying these fertilizers. They can be started as early as the end of summer and carried out before the first real frosts. Many people make the mistake of thinking that the first frost will stop the development of the plant. No, this is just a signal for the tops, which are fully prepared for winter. And the roots, on the contrary, are better in the soil with a temperature of +8 … +10 degrees (the soil cools down for a long time) and additionally nourishes the plant.
Fertilizing can be started in late summer and carried out before the first real frosts
2. Try to harden the roots
Everyone knows that the soil is a source of heat for plants during frosty weather. Good if you have snowy winters, snow is the best cover for roots. It prevents frost from penetrating the plant roots and retains the heat coming from the ground.
But if you have frost without snow, it is very dangerous. In addition, trees damaged by frost do not die immediately, they may even wake up in the spring and even flower, but then die. If in the spring you notice that the sapling develops slowly and sluggishly, it is most likely the roots are frozen.
You can, of course, try to save the plant with stimulants of root formation (“Zircon”, “Kornevin”, “Heteroauxin”). But earlier it was practiced to carry out the procedure of hardening the roots in the autumn. To do this, around October, the soil is poked out of a wooden cuttings, exposing the thick roots leading to the trunk. They are kept open until the first frosts, and then well covered with dry earth and mulch.
What does this procedure mean and what is “hardening” for plants? As the temperature drops, physical and chemical transformations occur in the plant, substances are released that prevent the cells with liquid from freezing. As you know, when water freezes, it expands, and the cells of the plant burst – the plant dies.
Therefore, by raking the ground and artificially lowering the temperature in the root zone, we provoke the plant to turn off those very frost protectors or cryoprotectors. Try not to overdo it, not to open the roots too deeply.
3. Create a water regime
This is one of the most important conditions for good overwintering. The main thing is to choose the right moment. It is done after planting, but before the ground starts to freeze.
Here you will probably encounter a certain difficulty: it seems that you need to water as late as possible, but you need time to let the water from the water pipe. So don’t yawn.
The importance of proper watering is to fill the soil to a great depth with plenty of water. In doing so, plants do not suffer from drought in the winter, especially when the winter is frosty and dry. The water is able to draw heat from the bowels of the earth to the surface, and the roots are comfortable to overwinter.
How much to water? There is no individual recommendation and can not be. On sandy soils, I pour 100-120 liters of water on a 5-6-year-old tree. If the soils are loamy, this amount of water may be too much and do more harm than good.
4. Mulching tree trunks
Probably only the lazy don’t know the benefits of mulch. A proper, thick layer of mulch (at least 8 cm) can save plants in winter: Moisture evaporates less, after watering enriched with water, moisture is better retained in the root zone. Only now it is worth to understand that mulch should be covered with soil not only near the trunk, but also in a large area around the tree to protect the entire root zone.
All plants are used: leaves, clippings of several summer plants, pine needles and even dry weeds from the neighboring plot (it is better than burning). If income allows, you can use peat, bark and other materials. By the way, it is worth setting something aside from the trunk of the tree and leaving a small gap of 1-2 cm, because when the snow thaws and melts, the mulch will inevitably get wet. Tree trunk contact with a thick layer of wet mulch is harmful.
I use all plant debris for mulching. © Horticultural know-how
5. Do fall fertilization.
The essence of it is that in late fall the garden can be treated with very strong solutions, but at positive temperatures disease spores and pest eggs. The question is quite controversial, as I wrote in an article about spraying the garden in the fall – is it necessary or not?
But you can still try it, especially if your garden has been hit hard by diseases and pests this season.
6. Protecting trunks and branches
I want to say that if you think that Tünchen saves the garden from the same pests and diseases, I do not believe in it. The only thing it is useful for is frost protection.
In late winter and early spring, the bright sun heats the bark of the plants severely, and overnight frosts cool them sharply and severely. These strong temperature changes cause the bark to tear from the frost. Note, however, that this occurs in late winter into early spring. Therefore, at this time, it is better to give up planting, as the usual limestone-based pots do not survive until spring.
It is better to use more modern, more resistant garden paints or better yet, agrofiber garden bandages. As a tip of the hat, I can recommend lightweight tights or nets of onions and potatoes. Excellent protection not only before overheating in the sun, but also before rodents, rabbits. These materials already at the end of autumn wrap boles and branches (so more convenient).
7. Special attention to conifers
In addition to watering, coniferous trees should be wrapped with rope, so that a large amount of snow does not deform and break the branches. The same snow is recommended to be shaken off carefully with your hands (brush.).
With young seedlings, it is worth applying umbrellas on the southern side, which they protect from the spring sun. After all, with a frozen root system that does not supply the plant with moisture, the sun can dry out the needles. The umbrella itself consists of two poles, to which are attached light fabrics, sacking linen, agrofiber, etc.
Fertilizer for conifers I have not recommended and will not advise. At most 1 – from the fall thoroughly fill with compost.
In addition to watering with water relief, conifers should wrap branches
8. Building a shelter.
If you are growing more heat-loving plants than are customary in your area, or if there are doubts about whether small seedlings can survive the winter, provide them with a comfortable overwintering shelter.
The principle here is simple. It is not enough to wrap the seedling with agrofiber or, as some do, thermal insulation from the hardware store. Such a covering saves only from a frosty, desirable wind, but is useless from severe frosts. The temperature under such a shelter is exactly the same as outside. Unfortunately, plants do not give off heat… we remember that the source of heat for our plants in winter can only be the earth. It is always warmer than the air on frosty days.
Therefore, we need to cover in a way that captures as much heat as possible from the area around the trunk. Simplified, this is as follows. A bottomless inverted bucket or a cut plastic bottle of 6-10 liters is placed on the seedling and a mountain of leaves and plant debris is poured on it. It is a good idea to cover the top with polyethylene film, so that it is like a roof, so that the leaves do not get too wet (heat keeps dry better).
If the plant is large, and the bucket is too cramped, you need to make a frame of slats or metal-plastic pipes, wrap it with agrovolok, and then cover it with leaves. The main thing is to leave an air gap between the seedling and the insulating material.
It would not be a bad idea to occasionally provide its opening in case of thawing weather. Of course, such insulation is suitable for deciduous crops. For evergreens, which at least in winter need some light, you will have to do more.
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