What do you think: can wood rust? No? But you’re wrong: rust is one of the most dangerous pear diseases. Previously little-known and invisible, this disease now feels like the mistress of the situation in the gardens. Its bright red spots sometimes completely cover the leaves.
Unfortunately, there are no rust-resistant pear varieties yet. Some five years ago, this disease did not create big problems. And in industrial gardens it is not there - there are no junipers there. So rust is a “homestead” disease. The fact is that the fungus that causes rust requires two “hosts” for development - a pear and a Cossack juniper. And on each plant a certain stage of fungus is formed. Having developed on juniper, it forms spores, which then infect the pear. On the pear, in turn, another stage appears, which re-infects the juniper. And so on in a vicious circle. But a juniper cannot infect another juniper, and a pear cannot infect another pear.
On infected shoots and skeletal branches of juniper, spores germinate, forming a mycelium. Thickenings form on them, which later transform into swellings, swellings and wounds. The fungus overwinters in the form of mycelium under the bark of juniper. In spring, sporulation organs that look like brown horns appear on the affected areas. After rains, they become orange and gelatinous, similar to trembling mushrooms, and produce yellowish spores.
Wet spring weather accelerates the development of primary infection and the spread of spores, which, drying out, are separated from the outgrowths and are carried by the wind over large distances (up to 40 - 50 km), infecting pears. Once on young leaves, the spores germinate and give rise to a new generation of the disease.
The first signs appear on the leaves at the end of May - beginning of June in the form of small, round, greenish-yellow spots, which gradually begin to enlarge and change color to a bright yellow-orange. In mid-summer, dense large yellow outgrowths in the form of papillae form on the underside of the affected pear leaves, in which spores form. Severely affected leaves fall off prematurely, depriving the tree of nutrition.
By the way, there are other types of rust that can infect apple trees and common quince, but the second plant where the fungus overwinters will be the same juniper, but not Cossack, but ordinary. There is also plum rust, which damages the leaves of other stone fruits. This fungus overwinters on the roots of various types of anemone-herbs, plants of the buttercup family.
In a pear affected by rust, the natural immunity decreases and the general condition worsens. Due to the loss of foliage, the plant weakens and becomes depleted. Therefore, other diseases appear on it, including such difficult-to-eradicate ones as scab, as well as pests. Due to a decrease in winter hardiness, the affected trees cannot withstand frost: cracks and frost holes appear on them, and then in their place - hollows, which can destroy the tree.
Rust on pear leaves reduces the rate of photosynthesis, which weakens the tree and prevents it from developing normally. In addition, the fruits become smaller. Therefore, you should not expect a good harvest from pears affected by rust. And sometimes a pear that has recovered from the disease does not bear fruit at all.
The fight against rust comes down to timely treatment of both pears and junipers growing on the site. It is advisable that neighbors also spray their bushes and trees. The calendar of treatments coincides with the period of treatments for apple and pear scab. You can use fungicides such as foundationazol, bayleton, topsin M. The first treatment is carried out during swelling and bud opening, the second after flowering, the third when an ovary the size of a hazelnut (hazel) is formed. The fourth treatment for diseases is carried out when the ovary reaches the size of a walnut.
In spring and autumn, copper preparations are effective - copper sulfate, copper oxychloride, Bordeaux mixture. In the fall, after harvesting, you can use one of the following fungicides: quick (consumption rate 2 ml per 10 l of water), delan (7 g per 10 l of water), tercel (25 g per 10 l), Bordeaux mixture.
Fungicides must be alternated - the same drug cannot be used twice, otherwise the fungi will begin to develop resistance to it.
After leaf fall, trees should be generously sprayed with urea solution (700 g per 10 liters of water). And collect the fallen leaves and burn them or put them in a compost pit for 2 years.
In early spring (early March), before the buds open, heavily affected shoots and skeletal branches are pruned 5 and 10 cm below the affected area, respectively. Shoots on which signs of the disease are moderately expressed are treated - the affected areas are cleaned to healthy wood and disinfected with a 5% solution of copper sulfate. To make wounds heal better and faster, they are treated with heteroauxin (0.5 g per 10 liters of water) and covered with garden pitch.
Many gardeners claim that infusions of ash, marigold, mullein or horsetail help in the fight against rust.
If you and your neighbors no longer have juniper on your property, this does not mean at all that the disease will not reappear on a pear cured of rust. This disease is very difficult to eradicate, so you need to monitor the tree for at least a couple of years, not forgetting about preventive measures: spraying, pruning, covering frost holes and cracks.
Council "SB"
If junipers are grown as ornamental crops, then early in the spring you need to cut off the affected branches without waiting for the spores to spread.
Help "SB"
When carrying out chemical treatments against scab, there is no need for additional anti-rust sprays.
Harvest - to be
Another gardening season has come to an end. Before we have time to take a proper breath, a new one begins. And everything will be repeated: preparing the soil, sowing seeds, planting seedlings and seedlings, caring for vegetable beds and orchards. Is everything working out? I think that you can find answers to many questions in the books “Harvest Garden: Advice from Practitioners” and “Harvest Garden: Advice from Practitioners.” Check them out. And may the harvests invariably delight you with their generosity.
You can order the books “Harvest Garden: Advice from Practitioners” and “Harvest Garden: Advice from Practitioners” by calling: (8–017) 203–58–09, 203–80–54.
(8–017) 287–19–31.
12656 07/05/2019 5 min.Rust is the most common disease of pear leaves, which ultimately affects the entire tree. The pathology can also affect other garden crops - apple trees, quinces, and so on. By the way, rust spreads very quickly - if you miss the time to treat, you risk not only pears, but also other trees.
It is easy to notice the appearance of rust, because the disease manifests itself in the form of characteristic plaque and spots. For treatment, radical methods are used (removal and burning of all affected material), treatment with chemicals, and folk remedies. Read more about the disease, its causative agent, features of the course and danger below.
Pathogen
Rust is a fungal disease that spreads through spores. The pathogen mainly affects leaves, less often shoots, pear fruits, branches may swell (this is how the active processes of fungal reproduction manifest themselves). This is an infectious disease that can quickly spread to neighboring trees, including fruits. Read how to treat scab on an apple tree.
The main tree that carries rust is juniper. It is also the first to be affected during rust epidemics.
In the spring months, fungal spores are carried by rain or wind, as a result of which all trees located within a radius of 50 km from the carrier of the disease are affected. How to properly treat sooty fungus is described.
It is very difficult to completely cope with rust; the ideal option for pears is rather correct agricultural technology as a preventative measure - fruit trees should be planted away from juniper, and the likelihood of infection in this case will decrease significantly. The problem is that this is not always possible - juniper may grow in your neighbors, and you will not force them to refuse to plant this crop.
You can learn more about pear diseases from this.
Treatment
The key to successful treatment is timely detection of the problem. Rust symptoms usually appear on pear leaves at the end of April. Small red-orange spots with yellow edges form on the top of the leaves - this is rust. If nothing is done, they will begin to actively grow, darken, and become covered with gray stains (like mold). Over time, rusty growths shaped like cone-shaped needles will appear on the back of the sheets. The longer you wait, the higher the chances of widespread serious damage to the garden and the lower the chance of saving the trees. Affected foliage begins to dry out and fall off. You can find out how to deal with leaf roller on a pear.
Fungal spores live in the cone-like growths, which subsequently infect the juniper again, and all fruit trees too.
A tree without leaves becomes weak and its immunity declines. If measures are not taken in a timely manner, the crop will begin to bear fruit poorly and may even die.
The worsening disease affects the fruits, branches and shoots of the pear.
The affected shoots stop growing, become noticeably thicker, become covered, sometimes yellow, and dry out. With minor lesions, the bark of the trunk and branches may crack.
Radical method: how to treat
The most drastic method of treatment is to remove and burn the affected material (leaves, branches). It can be used independently and in combination with other techniques.
Chemicals for spraying: how to get rid of them
Juniper is sprayed with special preparations in early spring - use triforin (saprol) in a timely manner, and many problems can be avoided. Preventive treatments are repeated every week or 10 days. Systemic fungicides are also actively used in the treatment of rust. The first treatment is carried out after the buds swell in the spring, the second in the fall, when all the leaves have fallen. The product is urea solution 5%. Fungicides should be used regularly - a total of 4-5 times per season.
The first antifungal treatment is always carried out before the buds swell.
In early spring, preventive treatments using copper bleach or Bordeaux mixture 1% are effective against rust and are effective. It is advisable to do them when stable positive air temperatures have established, and the weather is dry and quite cool. Do the second at the beginning of pear flowering, the third immediately after its completion, and the fourth 10 days later.
The following drugs help in the fight against rust:
- Cuproxat(or copper sulfate) - from 4 times a year at the rate of 50 ml of solution per bucket of water.
- Polisher– another effective rust remover. Apply treatments at least 4 times a year, namely at the beginning of the swelling of the buds, during the formation of buds, after the end of flowering, and on the forming small fruits. Do the last spraying no earlier than a couple of months before harvesting.
- Colloidal sulfur– 5 times per season, namely before the leaves appear, before flowering, after flowering, during fruit formation, after leaf fall. Dosage – 40 g of substance per bucket of water.
- Byleton(or triadimefon) is a curative fungicide, can be used 5-6 times per season at the rate of 10 g per bucket of water. The first treatment is done when signs of the disease are detected, subsequent treatments are done at intervals of 2 to 4 weeks.
- Score– a universal fungicide, effective in the fight against scab, rust and other pear diseases. Treatments are needed three times a year - before foliage growth, before flowering and after it. Use 20 ml of Skor per bucket of water, the effect of the drug lasts up to 3 weeks.
At the beginning of March, inspect the pears, cut off all affected shoots, and cut off the branches, taking 5-10 cm of healthy tissue.
Folk remedies: what to spray with
Before use, pruning tools must be thoroughly wiped with alcohol, the cut areas must first be treated with copper sulfate, and then covered with varnish. In the fall, when the leaves fall off, spray the pear with a urea solution - the optimal concentration is 700 g per bucket of water. Loosen the soil around the tree, water it and dig it thoroughly.
Apply fertilizers with phosphorus and potassium in a timely manner, and remove fallen leaves. But the use of nitrogen during rust treatment should be avoided. If possible, remove the juniper or protect the pear from it.
Other folk remedies for rust are an infusion of wood ash or slurry. Their effectiveness is low, but for prevention it is an ideal option.
Prevention, protection of pear varieties from disease - rust
The most important means of preventing pears from rust is to plant them away from coniferous plantings. If this is not possible, the pear is separated from them using a special screen or hedge. The second point is to carry out pruning of crops in a timely manner. Fallen leaves should be raked and burned, and then the soil around the trunk should be mulched. Preventive spraying is carried out using Bordeaux mixture 1% or a preparation with copper. The minimum number of treatments is 3 per season. Do the first before the leaves appear, the second after flowering, the third. Another 2 weeks later. If the pear is regularly affected, additional anti-rust treatments will not harm. If you notice the first signs of the disease on the juniper that grows next to the pears, be sure to treat it too, removing all the affected branches. If possible, protect the pear from proximity to coniferous plants. If you do everything right, you can avoid infection, and it is easier to prevent any disease than to treat it later.
Dealing with rust is difficult, and even after the tree is completely cured, spores can become active again.
Video
This video will tell you how to prevent and cure rust on a pear.
conclusions
- Rust is a fungal disease that affects the leaves of pear trees of different varieties, less commonly, but can also affect fruits, shoots, and trunk bark. Read why pears rot on trees.
- It is necessary to treat rust (sprinkle, spray, sprinkle) otherwise it will destroy the plantings over time. In addition, from the pear it can spread to all other fungal diseases.
- Advice: the main source of the pathogen is juniper, so its proximity to pears is extremely undesirable (the problem is that neighbors can grow conifers). Safe, stable distance between pear and juniper – 50 m.
- To prevent the appearance of rust (protection), protect the pear orchard from proximity to coniferous plants, do regular pruning, apply fertilizers according to the calendar, and do not ignore preventive treatments.
- Methods for treating rust are drastic, using chemicals and folk remedies. The most effective is the use of complex fungicides. Cardinal involves removing all affected parts and then burning them. Folk remedies like infusion of slurry or mullein can be used, but their effectiveness is low. Treating the garden using a urea solution gives good results.
Being one of the most dangerous and common diseases, rust on pears manifests itself in the form of the formation of red-rusty spots on the outside of the leaves and growths on the inside. Timely detection of foci of the disease, knowledge of how to treat it, and the application of appropriate measures will help save the crop, and even the tree itself, from death.
The disease gets its name from the rusty-yellow color of the spots on the leaves caused by infection with the fungus Gymnosporangium sabinae. Rust damage most often affects pear trees grown in household plots, since the development of this pathogenic fungus requires two plants - pear and juniper, each of which serves as the basis for the development of a certain stage of the fungus.
The main source of infection is Cossack juniper, tall juniper and other ornamental species of this shrub, widely used in landscape design.
A harmful fungus develops on them and forms spores that infect the pear. The pear acts only as an intermediate link in the life cycle of a harmful fungus. On it, it goes through the next stage of development, as a result of which the juniper is re-infected - the circle closes. The duration of the circular cycle is 2 years. At the same time, neither juniper nor pear trees are capable of infecting themselves.
The cause of juniper disease is insufficient resistance to low temperatures. In winter, in the conditions of the middle zone, the bark and cambium of juniper are often damaged, which provides favorable conditions for the introduction and development of pathogenic flexor spores. The affected juniper can be easily identified by the thickenings formed on its trunk, which over time transform into wounds, swellings or swellings. The development of the main life cycle of the fungus begins in the spring, when, after the first rain, brown, conical outgrowths - telytospores - appear on the affected skeletal branches and trunk. They produce and then develop basidiospores. Spring wet, windy weather favors their development and spread. The wind can carry dangerous spores within a radius of up to 50 km. Thus, decorative juniper varieties become a constant source of infection of pear trees.
How the disease develops
Every gardener may be faced with a situation where a pear tree has stopped bearing fruit or has completely dried out - leaf diseases, including rust, can cause the death or infertility of a pear tree.
The first signs of infection become noticeable in the second half of April, immediately after flowering. Small yellow-red spots appear on the upper part of the foliage, and sometimes even on the fruits.
By mid-summer they enlarge, acquiring a crimson hue with black dots in the middle of each spot. The affected tissue on the underside of the foliage swells, forming dense nipple-like outgrowths in which aecidiospores mature. When ripe, the spores are dispersed by the wind, again infecting the juniper. With mass infection, the foliage begins to fall off prematurely, the growth of shoots is inhibited, and over time they dry out. Due to disruption of the photosynthesis process, the tree receives less nutrition, its fruits become smaller, and their yield is reduced. Sometimes the disease can also affect shoots and tree bark. Depletion, which occurs as a result of the disease, leads to the fact that the pear tree weakens, and its resistance to frost or other diseases decreases.
With regular infection, trees stop bearing fruit or even die.
As a result of rust damage, crop losses in Georgia, the southern regions of Ukraine, Crimea, Stavropol and Krasnodar regions of Russia can reach 15-100%.
The following pear varieties are particularly susceptible to rust:
- Bere Ardanpon
- Dikanka winter
- Clapp's Favorite
Relatively resistant to the pathogen are:
- summer varieties: Chizhovskaya, Sakharnaya, Ilyinka, Skorospelka, Letniy Williams, Bere Giffard;
- autumn varieties: Bere Bosk, Red Borovinka, Autumn Dekanka;
- winter varieties: Belorusskaya late, Bere Ligelya, Nika, Yakovlevskaya.
In addition to the pear, apple, quince, and hawthorn trees are also affected by rust, and even a thuja planted on a neighbor’s plot can become the source of the damage. Pear trees suffering from rust are often also affected by another dangerous disease - scab.
Rust control methods
Regular garden care: crown formation, standardization, timely harvesting, fertilization, protection from diseases or pests are the key to garden health. The appearance of signs of disease raises a logical question: how to treat pears against pests?
- 3% solution of Bordeaux mixture at the beginning of the bud break period - the so-called “green cone” period, when the average daily air temperature reached +3-5 ° C;
- with the “Horus” preparation, dissolving 2 g of the product in 10 liters of water, spray the pear before flowering begins - the so-called “rose bud” period;
- with the preparations “Raek”, “Abiga-Pik”, “Skor”, “Alirin”, “Gamair”, taking 10 tablets of any of the listed products and dissolving them in 10 liters of water - at the end of the flowering period;
Carrying out protective measures against scab at the same time serves as an additional way to combat rust. To create a solution for chemical treatment of affected trees, it is recommended to use the drug “Strobi” - 2 g per 10 liters of water, spraying frequency - at least 3 times a year.
Another way to protect pears is to treat them with 0.4% colloidal sulfur up to 5 times per season.
When fighting rust, it is recommended to periodically water pear trees with a two-day infusion of wood ash - 0.5 kg per 10 liters of water or infusion of slurry. To prepare an infusion of slurry, dilute the manure with water, maintaining a 1:2 ratio, and leave to infuse. After 2 weeks, dilute the resulting infusion with water again (1:2). To water one adult tree you will need 10 liters of infusion, for a young tree - 4-6 liters.
Rust and other pear diseases will not be so dangerous if appropriate measures to prevent them are taken in a timely manner.
Reliable preventive measures are:
- Refusal to grow juniper near orchards.
- Arrangement of windproof plantings around the garden. They will provide reliable protection against accidental ingress of rust spores from wild junipers affected by the disease.
- If it is impossible to refuse to grow ornamental varieties of conifers in the same area as fruit trees, it is recommended to carefully inspect the conifers in early spring. If affected branches are found, they should be pruned to prevent harmful spores from maturing and spreading.
- Regular pruning, fertilizing, and treating with fungicides prevent the development of the most dangerous diseases.
- Treatment of pear trees and juniper in the spring-autumn period with a 1% solution of Bordeaux mixture, copper oxychloride, Kuproksat or any other copper-containing preparation will protect them from infection by fungal spores. The optimal time for preventive treatment is in the fall - the beginning of the leaf fall period, in early spring - before the buds open.
- Another option for preventive treatment of pears is 4-time spraying with a preparation of biological origin - “Fitosporin-M” during bud break, after flowering, during the formation of an ovary the size of a hazelnut, and also when the fruit reaches the size of a walnut.
- If signs of rust disease are detected, in late autumn it is recommended to burn the collected pear foliage.
- As health measures, when lesions are detected, it is recommended to prune the affected skeletal branches and shoots 5-10 m below the lesion, strip them to healthy wood, disinfect with a 5% solution of copper sulfate, and treat with garden varnish.
Dealing with rust is quite difficult, but knowing how to treat a pear tree, it is possible to achieve recovery of the tree. To avoid infection and spread of the disease, it is recommended to regularly apply special preventive measures. And in order to avoid relapse, even after complete localization of the source of the disease, trees should be regularly treated with fungicides for several more years.
Video
Any gardener knows that every plant can develop diseases, and pear is no exception. One of its characteristic diseases is rust. To cope with it and not harm the pear, you need to study the symptoms and choose the right treatment.
Causes and signs of the disease
Rust is a fungal disease and is more common in warm southern regions, but recently it can also be found in colder areas. A peculiarity of this disease is its development on two trees at once - juniper (including ornamental) and pear. The disease develops as follows: first, the fungus infects the juniper and forms a mycelium on its various parts. In the spring of next year, brown spore storage pyramids appear on the affected areas, which separate and are carried around by the wind, the needles take on a “burnt” appearance. If spores land on a pear, infection can occur.
Rust can spread from an infected juniper to a pear
If juniper grows on your site or near it, then periodically inspect it so that if signs of rust appear on it, immediately take measures to protect or treat your pear.
As a rule, pear infection occurs in early to mid-April, but the first symptoms appear much later - in early to mid-July.
- Infected leaves develop speckled yellow-green spots, which then change color to crimson, with dark dots over the entire surface. The size of such spots is 1–1.5 cm. Dark spore storage growths form on the reverse side of the leaf.
- The plant sheds many leaves and weakens because it cannot produce nutrients in sufficient quantities. Because of this, the growth of branches slows down (heavily affected ones can dry out), the yield decreases, and the bark may crack.
- The pear's winter hardiness decreases, and the tree may freeze.
Signs of rust are bright spots and bumps on the leaves.
Treatment of pears in summer
There are a large number of chemical and folk remedies to combat rust, and you can choose the most suitable option for you. It is advisable to carry out all procedures in cloudy, windless weather, and if there are no such conditions, then in the morning or evening. Try to use non-metallic containers for all mixtures. Also, before processing, if possible, try to remove the most affected leaves and cut off small damaged branches (it is better not to trim large branches in summer). If the sections are more than 1 cm in diameter, then do not forget to disinfect them with a solution of heteroauxin (0.5 g per 10 liters of water) and cover them with garden varnish. Collect all fallen leaves and mulch from under the tree and burn it.
Chemicals
For summer treatments, chemicals that do not harm ripening fruits are suitable.
To increase the efficiency of processing, it is recommended to add 2 tbsp to the solution of the drug you have chosen. l. silicate glue and mix thoroughly.
Pear processing (table)
| Drug name | Byleton | Colloidal sulfur | Polisher | Phytoflavin | Revus |
| Main characteristics |
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| Application | Prepare a solution at the rate of 10 g of the substance per 10 liters of water and immediately spray the pear. | Use a 0.4–0.5 percent solution by mixing 40–50 g of the substance with 10 liters of water. The resulting mixture must be used immediately after preparation. At the time of processing, the air temperature should not be lower than +18 o C and not higher than +28 o C. | Dilute 1.5–2.5 g of powder in 10 liters of water and immediately treat the pear. | Mix 20 ml of the drug with 10 liters of water and spray the pear. | Mix 12 ml of the drug with 10 liters of water and spray the pear. |
| Number of treatments per season (July-August) | 2–3 treatments with an interval of 15–25 days. | 3 treatments with an interval of 15–20 days. | 1-2 applications with an interval of 15-20 days, with the second one should be carried out 60 days before harvesting. | 2 treatments with an interval of 15 days. | Treatment is carried out once at the very end of August. |
It is advisable to spray pears in the morning, evening or in cloudy weather.
Some gardeners, faced with the need to treat rust on a pear, advise alternating the drugs used, since the fungus can become addictive.
Video: treating pears for rust in summer
Folk remedies
If you do not want to use chemicals, then you can use folk remedies to combat rust. But they are often noted to be less effective than chemicals, so try to use them whenever possible for auxiliary purposes, for example, to curb the development of the disease and avoid contact of toxic substances with the fruit.
- Horsetail decoction. To prepare it, take 200 g of dried horsetail (or 70 g of fresh), pour in 1 liter of water and boil for 15–20 minutes, and then bring to a volume of 15 liters with warm (heated in the sun) water. Another option: pour 1 kg of fresh horsetail into 10 liters of cold water and leave for 24 hours. Boil the infusion for 30 minutes, cool and strain. Before spraying, dilute with water (it should be 5 times more than the broth). It is better to spray in hot weather 2 times with an interval of 7 days.
- Sol solution. Boil 3 kg of ash for 1 hour in 3 liters of water, then strain, cool and add half a piece of grated laundry soap. Before spraying, dilute with water (it should be 5 times more than the mixture). You can repeat it 2 more times with an interval of 10 days.
- Soda solution. Mix 4 tbsp. l. laundry soap (can be rubbed), 5 tbsp. l. soda and 10 liters of water, and then spray the pear. You can repeat it 2 more times with an interval of 7 days.
- Infusion of marigolds. Pour 500 g of dried marigolds into 10 liters of warm water and leave for about 12 hours. Treatment with this infusion can be carried out 2-3 times with an interval of 7 days.
Non-chemical mixtures can be prepared from a variety of ingredients
To make the composition more effective, you can mix plant mixtures with an ash solution in equal parts and treat the wood.
Video: processing pears using folk remedies
As you can see, it is not difficult to treat a pear for rust; you just need to notice the symptoms and start treatment on time. Follow all the rules and tips, and you will certainly get the desired result.
This fungal disease is rust on a pear; experienced gardeners know how to treat it. Immediately after spring flowering, yellow-orange rusty spots appear on the leaves of some pears. Inexperienced gardeners do not attach importance to this phenomenon, and in vain, because such marks are clear symptoms of a serious problem. The solution to the problem depends entirely on the owner of the garden. The sooner you can diagnose the disease and decide how to treat the diseased tree, the higher the likelihood of its complete recovery.
Is rust on a pear dangerous?
Pears tolerate the disease in different ways, the course of the disease depends on several factors:
- variety - there are varieties that almost do not suffer from rust; in the southern regions, where this disease is most common, it is better to give preference to such varieties;
- immunity - if the garden is properly cared for, the trees have good resistance to any diseases and pests;
- epidemiological situation - in the event of an epidemic, it is difficult for the pear with the strongest immunity to resist the total invasion of pathogens.
At first, the disease progresses rather sluggishly. Its first results are massive loss of leaves due to damage to the petioles. Because the pear loses its green cover, the process of photosynthesis is inhibited. As a result, the quality and appearance of the fruit deteriorates. Some gardeners take these phenomena lightly. However, if rust is not treated, the fungus affects not only the leaves, but also the branches, fruits and even tree trunks.
A pear infected with rust gradually slows down its growth, loses its winter hardiness and resistance to other diseases. The shoots on which fungal spores have settled become thick and short, the bark on them cracks, and after a few years such branches dry out. The fruits on a pear affected by rust take on an ugly shape. Their weight is three times less than the weight of fruits taken from healthy trees.
If the disease is not treated, fungal spores spread throughout the garden. They happily live on apple trees, quince trees, and other trees. A garden whose owner did not bother to treat rust on the trees, even in the photo, is a sad picture. In addition, in the most advanced cases, if it was not possible to save them from infection by the fungus, the plants completely wither and die.
Causes of the disease
If in the fall thickenings appear on the trunks and branches of an evergreen shrub, which lead to the formation of swellings and even wounds, by spring the infected areas will necessarily transform into conical brown growths. These are myceliums with spores of a pathogenic fungus; such a plant is a carrier of rust.
Pears growing near infected juniper are at serious risk. Moreover, even those amateur gardeners in whose garden juniper does not grow are not immune from the invasion of fungal spores. The spring sun dries out the mycelium so that they crack and collapse. Winds carry spores over vast distances from the source. In some cases, pears that are fifty kilometers away from the juniper, the carrier of the fungus, become infected.
How to recognize the disease in time
From the first alarm signal for the garden owner - rusty spots on the leaves at the end of April, you should carefully monitor the condition of the pear. If by July most of the leaves are covered with spots, and their color has changed to garnet or brown with black spots, this is rust. Your tree has a serious fungal disease.
Autumn brings complete clarity to the picture of the disease. If the pear, despite the disease, has not lost all its leaves, inspect them carefully. On the reverse side, spindle-shaped brown growths appeared on them. These are myceliums filled with pathogenic fungus. Destroyed along with pear leaves and carried by autumn winds, rust spores freely fall on juniper shoots and infect it again.
In order not to expose fruit trees to the risk of rust infection, and yourself to the need to treat both pear and juniper, it is better to abandon this ornamental shrub completely. Those gardeners in whose plots juniper still grows should pay special attention to the condition of its shoots. If rust has settled on the plant and the first signs of the disease appear - thickenings, wounds, affected areas are immediately cut out and disposed of.
- Biological. If mechanical treatment is carried out, but the disease continues to develop on new shoots, further treatment for rust is carried out using a biological method. It is especially relevant if fruits have formed on the tree. With a pear that bears fruit, it is better not to experiment with chemical treatment. There is too high a risk that they will end up in the stomachs along with the fruits. Traditional (biological) methods are based on the use of natural remedies, the treatment of which does not harm the plant, people, or the environment.
Rust responds well to treatment by spraying with preparations made from wood ash. Lye is considered one of the most effective anti-rust agents. Dissolve 3 kg of wood ash in a bucket of water, bring to a boil and boil for 30 minutes. Cool the resulting solution and strain, dilute half a piece of grated laundry soap in it. The solution is ready for use. Another good recipe on the same basis - infuse 1 kg of wood ash in 20 liters of water for 2 days, filter and spray it on an infected pear.
When turning to the experience of grandfathers and great-grandfathers, unexpected information is discovered. It turns out that rust is afraid of ordinary manure. True, to treat a tree in this way, you will have to wait a little. Half a bucket of slurry is diluted in a bucket of water and infused for 2 weeks. The solution is filtered and diluted again 1:2. Spraying with manure infusion is possible throughout the summer. In addition to the above, some gardeners advise treating leaves suffering from rust with marigold or horsetail tincture.
- Chemical. If rust has managed to conquer most of the branches and trunk of the tree, only special chemicals can completely cure the pear. Wood processing is carried out in early spring. It is sprayed three times - during the growing season, after the color falls and during the formation of ovaries.
Rust does not tolerate treatment with preparations containing copper and sulfur. Experienced gardeners successfully use 1% Bordeaux mixture, copper oxychloride, 0.4% colloidal sulfur, Skor preparations (2 ml per 10 liters of water), Bayleton (5 ml per 5 liters of water) and Kuproskat to combat pathogenic fungus (50 ml per bucket of water).
The best defense is prevention
To avoid giving rust a chance, ensure your trees are properly cared for. The pear must receive all the necessary fertilizing, prune and water it on time, carry out preventive spraying, loosen the soil to allow air to reach the roots. Then neither rust nor other diseases and pests will be able to overcome the tree’s strong immune system, and strong and juicy fruits, beautiful as in the photo, will certainly decorate your table.
