The apple tree, which we are used to seeing in orchards, can rightfully be considered an old-timer among the huge variety of fruit trees. Scientists are breeding more and more apple varieties that are becoming more frost-resistant, adapted to various regions and almost not susceptible to diseases.

Nevertheless, upon closer examination of this issue, one can find that the apple tree, with all its resistance, can be susceptible to attacks by pests and diseases of various kinds. Pathologies have their own number of distinctive symptoms, according to which they can be differentiated for taking timely control measures. This article will talk about some of them.

A gardener, especially a beginner in tree growing, who suddenly noticed strange brown spots on an apple tree, may not pay enough attention to this. Having a small amount of knowledge in plant growing, he does not expect that instead of spots, blackness will soon appear on the trunk, the bark will begin to crack. The disease spreads very quickly and will soon affect the branches, and then the entire crown of the tree. The apple tree will die the largest in 4 years.

If cracking of the bark is found on the trunk of an apple tree, you should be alert and immediately begin to fight it so that there is no decrease in yield or death of the fruit tree. The danger also lies in the fact that the disease can spread to other garden trees. In a short time, most of the garden can be affected. How to save the apple tree in this case?

Apple tree

About diseases of the apple tree bark

You can understand why the bark of the apple tree on the trunk is cracking if you look in more detail. If wetting is noticed along with cracks in the bark, then the common reason for this is the cutting of trees in the wrong way and not very good disinfection afterwards. Various microbes, fungi or viruses multiply on the cut into which moisture has entered.

When a tree trunk cracks and begins to turn black, it signals a disease that is considered quite scary for the culture and is called black cancer. The bark, in the end, may burst and peel off, and black wood will stick out from under it. The disease spreads to the branches, and from them to the crown of the plant. The bark of an apple tree peels off what to do From the onset of the disease until the death of the tree, no more than 4 years pass. It is possible to help the apple tree only when the disease is noticed at the very beginning, if later, then it will be impossible to do anything.

Bark cracks along with delamination can occur for several reasons. When there are large temperature fluctuations between night and day, the apple bark loses its usual elasticity. This causes cracks to appear along the length of the barrel.

Frost is another option. At moments when the temperature outside is very low, the bark can crack along and fall off, this is dangerous, the apple tree may not survive. The same effect is exerted by sunburns and fungal diseases.

Bark cracks

If the bark cracks on the apple tree, at the same time the fruit may dry out, due to the small amount of nutrients that simply do not reach the apples. This may be due to incorrect cutting of the tree. The second reason is often the past too harsh winter in varieties whose winter hardiness is not too high.

When an apple tree becomes an adult, the possibility of the formation of a lichen on it, as a rule, of yellow color, increases. Its appearance most often occurs when the temperature is low and at the same time high humidity. This lichen must be removed when it appears, so as not to contribute to the formation of a fungus on the apple tree, leading, in turn, to rotting of the bark.

If it rains abundantly at the end of the summer period, young apple trees intensively build up wood, this can cause cracking of the bark. This is not dangerous for the apple tree, but nevertheless, the cracks are certainly washed with iron sulfate and the trunk is whitewashed, while adding copper sulfate.

When spring comes, you can see cracks in the bark of the apple tree. This is due to seasonal temperature instability. When the day is clear and there is a lot of sun, there is a strong heating of the bark of the apple tree, a burn is obtained.

Cracking can also occur in fruit trees, the soil under which is very wet, as well as when planted too deep.

Damage to the bark by someone or something

Why does the bark crack on fruit trees and how to treat

Mice and hares penetrate into the apple orchard, which can eat young shoots and bark.

To protect against them, preventive measures are applied, such as:

  • Cleaning the garden, as animals are afraid of too open areas;
  • The garden is being dug up, destroying mouse passages and holes;
  • Scare-off methods, which include electronic devices with ultrasound, bottles on trunks, foil on branches;
  • Trees fencing.

What to do

Why the apple tree does not grow (what to do)

Why does the bark crack on apple trees what to do? The reasons why the bark on an apple tree cracks and peels off can be varied. It is quite possible that the tree will cope with the health problem on its own and continue to bring a normal apple harvest.

If the damage is severe, the tree usually dies. How to heal the trunk of an apple tree if the bark is damaged? In this case, it is necessary to carry out measures to save the plant. First of all, those places that have been damaged are cleaned with a tool that has undergone mandatory disinfection. It is important not to touch the areas of the cortex that remain healthy.

After that, the infected areas are treated with manganese solution or hydrogen peroxide. When dry, you can cover it with garden pitch and wrap it tightly with black polyethylene. You can also use burlap or something similar for this purpose. The main thing is that the infection can no longer get into the wound.

Trees need to be treated with hydrogen peroxide

Damaged areas heal after such manipulations, and they can be restored, since the cuts will then overgrow. What has been cleaned off with a tool must be removed from the site without fail.

Important! When all the necessary steps to treat the apple tree are completed, the entire garden must be treated with Bordeaux liquid. This will further help protect against disease.

Often problems with the bark, and specifically its cracking and flaking, occur in apple trees that are of considerable age.

The bark on an apple tree peels off, how to treat? In this case, such a tree is not transplanted, since there is a high probability of its early death for this reason. Trees affected by the disease feel very bad in new places.

Important information! If the bark is cracked on a separate branch, then it is better to cut it off completely. Thus, the focus of infection is eliminated.

If the bark of the apple tree leaves, what to do will tell you the degree of the disease, which plays an important role.

In old apple trees, you can try to get rid of the disease as follows:

  • For not very large infected areas, a metal brush is used. She is disinfected and after that she is cleaned off the bark, which has fallen behind and exfoliated. Together with this, a certain amount of pests will be removed;
  • Then everything that has been cleaned is whitened with a thick solution of lime.Also, whitewashing is applied to other trees in the garden for preventive purposes. You can add mullein to the solution.

Of course, pests are involved in spoiling the bark of an apple tree. Their actions can not only harm the garden, but completely destroy a large number of trees. These are bark beetles, they live under the apple bark.

The attack usually occurs on trees that are already weakened, have cracks in the bark, and are burnt by the sun. The difficulty in dealing with these pests is that they are not easy to obtain. When an apple tree is dotted with insect moves, and the bark on it begins to lag behind almost the entire surface, it will be extremely difficult to save it, and most often impossible. Then it is simply cut down and the stump is necessarily uprooted, all together are taken out of the territory.

How to save an apple tree with a damaged trunk? When there are very few traces of the vital activity of pests, and the tree is healthy in appearance, drugs are used that destroy harmful insects. This is done with a syringe. Several times, such a means as, for example, "Antizhuk" is poured into the discovered moves. After the preparation has been absorbed, a garden var is applied.

Antizhuk

Sapwood beetles can also attack an apple tree, which in spring can gnaw round holes in the bark of a tree, the larvae of this pest make transverse moves. In this case, the tree begins to hurt a lot, this is expressed not only in the cracking of the bark. There is a violation of the movement of juices, branches may undergo drying.

To combat them, you need good care of the garden so that the apple tree grows and develops better. After flowering has passed, spraying with kemifos is applied, and the branches are moistened in an insecticide. A similar treatment is carried out again after 2-3 weeks.

On the branches of apple trees in the summer, the eggs of the woodworm butterfly can lay. They are dangerous in that they can gnaw the tops of small shoots, and subsequently live under the bark of a plant for about 2 years and feed on a tree. The result of their activity is a fairly rapid drying of the shoots. They gnaw through passages under the bark, as a result, sap flow is disrupted. The plant is sick and may die completely.

Ants on apple tree

The spread of such pests, called stem pests, occurs mainly in orchards where old apple trees and their skeletal branches are not carefully cared for. A prerequisite is the removal of the old bark, and it must be peeled off on the litter. In the future, the old bark is burned. It is also necessary to coat the trunks with manure and clay and whitewash with lime with the addition of copper sulfate.

The appearance of ants in the garden is also highly undesirable, even in the forest, where they are orderlies, in planting young trees, they harm, among fruit trees they are all the more dangerous.

It is a bad sign that a grower notices ants in his trees. These insects are capable of not only damaging the foliage, but also the bark; it is completely possible to remain without a crop.

Note! You should not think that if the apple tree is old, then you should not worry about ridding it of the attack of the ant army. The zealous gardener does not allow pests to his trees, fearing a general infection.

If ants appear, it means that soon there will be aphids. It has the ability to secrete a substance that tastes quite sweet, which ants love. Therefore, you need to deal with both pests.

Methods of struggle consist in treatment with chemicals, as well as with the help of special traps in the shape of a washer with cut holes. Plus, gardeners use kerosene with carbolic acid, this smell will scare away pests.

In order to prevent insects from climbing a tree, use a composition for spraying the trunk, consisting of soda and flax oil.

In small apple trees, cracks can also form and cause infectious diseases.

To prevent this from happening, you must:

  • Cut the cracks to a healthy layer;
  • Pour then copper or iron sulfate;
  • Whitewash the trunk;
  • Clean up the area by removing debris;
  • Dig up the soil near the trunk before winter.

When seedlings grow in very wet soil, their bark can crack. Also, when they have an active growth of shoots, the bark bursts for this reason. To help the plant, they take a sharpened knife and cut the bark along the trunk. The bark of the apple tree that has dispersed in these places will soon overgrow without losses for the plant.

Sometimes the bark can crack and come off at the very base of the tree. This can happen due to the fact that many gardeners add soil to the trunk before the winter frosts. However, without this, the tree may freeze. They help the tree by spreading the delamination spots with garden pitch, and also use snow hilling in winter.

A healthy apple tree can produce a good harvest

When a hollow is seen in the apple tree, it is necessary to start filling it. Gloves must be worn, insects, leaves, etc. are removed from the hole in the hollow. Everything taken out is folded into a bucket or basin, always made of iron. After that, all this is poured with boiling water to destroy pests.

Experienced gardening tips

Why apricot does not bear fruit: what to do

Some gardeners advise covering up all kinds of wounds and cracks on the trunk with a mullein and clay. After that, whitewash the trunk. The hollows are sealed with the same solution and the barrel is wrapped with a bandage, over which cellophane is wound to protect it from rain.

There is a way to get rid of these things in this way. With a large crack in the apple tree or the presence of a hollow, the sagging bark is cleaned off, and the place itself is cemented. It looks like a kind of seal for a tree. You can also use commercially available garden paste.

Fighting cracked bark on an apple tree is not too difficult a task that even a novice gardener can do. It is enough not to postpone the treatment of trees and take the necessary preventive measures. With proper care of fruit trees and protecting them from diseases and pests, the risk of cracks in the bark of apple trees will be minimized, and they will not need to be rescued.