Processing of trees in the spring, as well as foliar, intra-soil top dressing is very important. Why are spring spraying of trees from pests and diseases so important for the garden? Perennial trees are characterized by continuous nutrition. Their roots, under certain soil conditions (temperature, humidity), are able to grow all year and consume nutrients. The main autumn root dressing of the orchard does not always provide the necessary concentration, the necessary ratio of nutrients during the growing season. Therefore, spraying, top dressing, processing of fruit trees, as a rule, is also carried out in the spring, when the nutrient reserves of plants have already been significantly reduced, and the mineral elements available for consumption, the most important of which are nitrogen, are washed deep into the soil by precipitation during November – March. .
Spraying trees in spring, than to process
First, let's talk about foliar top dressing and treatments in the early spring in the garden. Inspect your fruit trees carefully. The buds have not yet woken up, but ants are already crawling along the branches. And if you take a closer look, you can see black dots near the kidneys. This is the future aphid, its eggs. Ants are waiting for her to hatch. As soon as the buds hatch, the aphids hatch, begin to feed on leaflets, harm our garden.
Against such a misfortune, early spring spraying will help, which should be done as soon as the snow melts, before the buds open.
How to spray? It can be processed with Bordeaux liquid (hydrated lime + copper sulfate). This long-known, popular pest control tool is used now.
A more effective drug is a mixture of urea (urea) with copper sulfate. Typically, the complex of these components, sold in stores, is designed for 10 liters of water. It includes 700 g of urea (urea) and 50 g of copper sulfate. What is its advantage over Bordeaux liquid? It not only destroys pests, but also serves as fertilizer for trees.
Getting on the branches, trunk, urea (urea) through the bark, the kidneys feed it and in early spring the tree receives very good help for spring growth in the form of nitrogen fertilizer.
Once I read this information once, since then I have been using this drug in my country house. I see how the trees from hibernation wake up together and actively, but ... with some delay. Now you will understand why this is also a plus.
Urea inhibits vegetation. The buds of the trees that we sprayed wake up 1-1.5 weeks later than the rest, untreated. Accordingly, the flowering time is also postponed. What is the advantage of late flowering, because we want, on the contrary, an early harvest? And in that we reduce the risk of getting such early flowering plants as apricots, peaches under late spring frosts. Do not worry! Treated fruit trees will catch up, even overtake their unprocessed counterparts, but will be stronger, healthier.
In this 2014 March 29, suddenly, after the apricots began to bloom, snow fell, at night the temperature dropped to -5-7 ° C (Novokubansky district). Of course, you understand what experiences gardeners experienced, I am among them too. But my young apricot still has not budged buds, although it does not apply to late varieties. I think that the processing played a positive role - the tree did not fall under an unexpected frost.
Let's go back to a mixture of carbamide with copper sulfate.It destroys last year's spores of fungi, various eggs of pests, including the bee-eater, protects the future crop from late frosts.
When spraying trees, you need to do the same with the ground, last year's leaves. By the way, the processed leaves decay faster, since urea very well stimulates the decomposition of organics. In addition, spores of harmful fungi, pests under the trees will be destroyed.
Urea with copper sulfate of the same concentration can be sprayed on the garden in the fall. Here, the period of autumn spraying is also important - it is optimal to do this, when from apple trees, for example, from 20% to 40% of the leaves fall. Earlier spraying can provoke a late growth of shoots, and this is fraught with severe freezing in the winter. Therefore, in the fall, fruit trees are sprayed, they also cultivate the ground under them when leaf fall begins. It also stimulates the decomposition of fallen leaves, destroys spores of fungi. But we were distracted, because we have spring.
How to prepare a solution of urea with copper sulfate? First, pour urea into a clean bucket, fill it with half water, stir well until completely dissolved, add copper sulfate powder. The spray mixture is ready. You can handle it. Be careful. The mixture is toxic. Do not spray trees in the wind. Use a respirator, mask, goggles to protect the respiratory system and vision from harmful effects.
The same treatment should be carried out on bushes of currant and gooseberry. But, keep in mind, gooseberries wake up, release leaflets earlier than others, therefore, it must be processed before biting the kidneys.
Fertilizing fruit trees in spring, what and how
Now let's talk about intrasoil spring fertilizing.
To begin with, we will determine how to properly maintain the tree trunk circle of the fruit tree? The earth around it should be loose - this provides air access to the roots. Most often, we dig up the earth near the trunk, trying to ensure that the plowed area does not go beyond the crown.
Nowadays, more often you can find gardens where the space under and between the garden trees is a lawn. It is beautiful, aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Inoculate the ground of the near-stem circle with lawn grass or clover, that is, plants with a shallow root system, which will help keep the soil in a loose, porous state. In no case should it be weeds. The root system of weeds penetrates deep into the earth, picks up nutrients that the fruits could get.
Feeding, of course, is simplified if the land near the trunks is clean, without grass or weeds. Then, usually when loosening or digging, a furrow remains around the perimeter of the crown. Lay organic or mineral fertilizers there, drip them. And that’s all. The rest will be completed by rain or watering, dissolving nutrients, delivering them to the roots of the trees.
The first subsoil top dressing is carried out two to three weeks before mass flowering (March-April). For this, high-speed nitrogen fertilizers are used: from organic - bird droppings, from mineral - ammonium nitrate.
In no case do not lay fertilizers in the immediate vicinity of the trunk, since there are the main bearing skeletal roots of the tree there, it makes no sense to feed them. Suction, capillary roots are located around the perimeter of the branches. Such top dressing can be done from the moment the buds open.
What to do if you have a beautiful lawn under a tree? After all, I do not want to damage him with such dressings? Take a crowbar or stake pointed, step back a meter from the trunk and pierce your lawn with a crowbar / stake to a depth of 5-7 cm around the perimeter of the trunk circle (do not forget about the restricted area directly near the tree). Of course, near an adult tree, you will have to punch a lot of such holes.
Prepare a nutrient solution in advance. We take a large capacity - it can be a tank, for example, a 200-liter barrel.We pour 1-2 buckets of mullein there (it is better to take not quite fresh), or horse manure, or near a bucket of chicken manure, you can add a couple of handfuls of complex fertilizers, an armful of mowed grass, a crust of old bread, a half-liter can of wood ash. Fill with water, insist 12-15 days. For fertilizer, we will use a diluted solution - 1-1.5 liters of concentrate per bucket of water.
The amount of watering will depend on the age of your fruit pet. For example, for a 10-15 year old tree, 5-7 buckets of nutrient solution are enough. Water will get into the holes punched by you in a lawn, will be quickly absorbed. Then pour everything on top with clean water. It is possible from a hose. This will rinse the grass from fertilizers, the nutrient solution will not harm your lawn. It is good to do such fertilizing watering before the rain. Then the work will decrease, because you don’t have to pour clean water from above - it will make rain for you.
Such top dressing (possible less, but not at all greater concentration) can be done 1 time per month until the end of July, that is, until the end of the period of development, vegetation of trees. Prior to this period, we had fertilizing with a predominance of nitrogen. Beginning in August, top dressing of trees should be dominated by phosphorus and potassium in order not to cause a new wave of growth, to increase the winter hardiness of your garden. Nitrogen from fertilizer should be completely eliminated. During this period, intensive tree growth stops. The buds in the axils of the leaves pupate, the growth points are crowned.
Now about foliar treatments of trees in late spring. It’s good to do them when the trees have already bloomed, maybe the ovary has already appeared, the leaves have reached their full size. In stores for gardeners, there are complex high-speed fertilizers (ballast-free nutrient salts) containing in addition to nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and trace elements. Plant the preparations according to the instructions, spray the trees along the leaves.
Thus, processing, fertilizing fruit trees, spraying them in early spring will save your garden not only from diseases, pests, but also will lay the success of the future harvest.