Pests and diseases of cherries and their treatment: photos, descriptions, diseases of the trunk, leaves, fruits

Cherry diseases with photos and treatment need to be studied by every gardener interested in growing a strong and healthy tree. There are many ailments that affect culture, but almost all of them can be successfully combated.

Description of cherry diseases with photographs

Most often, cherries in the garden suffer from fungal diseases; they develop especially often if the tree grows on unsuitable soils and does not receive proper care. Symptoms of diseases can be similar, and in order to protect the plant, it is necessary to study cherry diseases with photos and treatment.

Coccomycosis

One of the most common diseases for cherries is the fungus coccomycosis.You can notice the appearance of the disease by dark red and then brown spots on the leaves. Holes soon appear in the spots, and the leaf blades below become covered with a dark coating and begin to fall off. Advanced coccomycosis can lead to the death of a fruit plant, as it deprives it of its vitality.

Coccomycosis leads to massive leaf loss

Anthracnose

A fungal disease dangerous to cherries is anthracnose, which affects ripening fruits. First, small light areas appear on the cherry berries, quickly developing into dense tubercles covered with a pink coating. Then the fruits begin to dry out and die completely in a short period of time.

Anthracnose can completely destroy the crop

Anthracnose is especially dangerous for fruit plants in dry and hot weather. The disease usually appears in neglected gardens, where fallen berries remain lying on the ground and become a breeding ground for fungal spores. If left untreated, the fungus can lead to the loss of the entire crop.

Phyllosticosis

A fungal disease, also called brown spot, manifests itself as yellow-brown spots on the leaves of the cherry tree and ocher-brown spots on its bark. Over time, overwintering fungal spores form in the affected tissues; they look like small black dots.

Phyllosticosis is dangerous due to premature leaf fall of the fruit tree.

When affected by phyllostictosis, the bark of the fruit plant becomes deformed and dries out, and the leaves turn yellow and begin to fall off. At the same time, fungal spores remain in fallen leaves, so when carrying out treatment it is especially important to remove and burn all fallen leaves.

Moniliosis

Moniliosis is another very common and dangerous disease of cherry trees that affects the green parts and flowers. The most striking symptom of moniliosis is wilting and drying out of flowers and young shoots. With moniliosis, gray spots appear on the cherry bark, gum appears, the fruits rot and fall off prematurely.

With moniliosis, the plant looks withered and as if burned

Important! Since diseased cherries often look as if they are burnt, moniliosis is also called monilial burn.

Clusterosporiasis

A disease called hole spot, or clasterosporiosis, most often develops in cherries in warm regions with high humidity. The spores of the fungal disease select young annual shoots for wintering, after which, together with pests and the wind, they spread to the entire tree.

Clusterosporiosis leads to abundant holes on the leaf blades

Symptoms of clasterosporia blight are red spots with a crimson border that appear on young leaves. At first small, the spots quickly increase in diameter, and then become brown and brown. The leaves in the areas of the spots dry out and the dead tissue falls out, leaving behind holes. Clusterosporiosis harms cherries because it can lead to the complete death of the green mass and stop the development of the plant.

Scab

Scab fungus on cherries is characterized by brown-green and bright yellow spots that appear on the leaves in the spring as the weather warms up. Over time, the spots, as with many other diseases, dry out, the affected leaves crack and fall off. Scab also affects the bark and fruits.

Scab negatively affects both foliage and the bark of shoots and fruits

Since the fungus that causes scab overwinters in fallen leaves, it is important to carry out sanitary cleaning of the garden in a timely manner to prevent it. If left untreated, scab can seriously affect the volume of the harvest - cherries will produce half as many fruits, and their quality will be low.

Rust

A dangerous disease for cherries is rust - a parasitic fungus that overwinters in fallen leaves and spreads throughout the plant with the onset of warm weather. You can recognize rust by the appearance of characteristic tubercles and spots on cherry leaves - bright red with orange or yellow edging. Externally, these spots are very reminiscent of uneven rust, which explains the name of the disease.

If treatment is not carried out, rust will quickly spread throughout the wood. Foliage affected by the disease will quickly fall off, which will negatively affect not only the harvest, but also the health of the cherry as a whole.

Rust can be easily identified by its characteristic reddish spots

Powdery mildew

Most often, a disease called powdery mildew develops in warm and humid regions, on nitrogenous soils and in thickened orchards. The fungus is carried by precipitation, wind and insect pests, and symptoms of cherry disease can be noticed as early as late May or early June.

A characteristic sign of powdery mildew is white spots on the leaves and fruits of cherries that release dusty spores that look like flour. The disease usually spreads from the bottom of the plant upward, affecting not only the leaves, but also the flowers and ovaries.

Powdery mildew on fruits looks like a white coating

The disease is dangerous for cherries because it reduces the volume of fruiting and deteriorates the quality of the fruit.To prevent the disease, it is recommended to monitor the level of soil moisture and thin out the branches in time to ensure good air circulation.

Gommoz

In videos of cherry diseases you can often see gommosis, which is also known as gum disease. As is easy to understand, the disease mainly affects the trunk of the cherry tree. Gum is released abundantly from cracks in the bark, which then freezes and hardens, acquiring an amber-yellow color. In terms of composition, gum is a product of the breakdown of cells and tissues, so its appearance indicates serious negative processes.

The expiration of gum weakens the strength of the plant

Gommosis usually develops against the background of external damage - cuts on the bark and broken branches. It can also be provoked by violations of growing rules - for example, waterlogged soil. Gum discharge is caused by some cherry pests.

It is necessary to combat cherry trunk disease, since wounds on the bark allow infections and bacteria to penetrate, which can lead to the death of the plant. Treatment consists primarily of carefully cutting the gum down to healthy wood, and then carefully treating the wounds on the trunk and branches with garden pitch or copper sulfate.

Lichens and mosses

On old cherry trees or on young trees growing in high humidity conditions, you can often see mosses and lichens abundantly covering the trunk and branches. They are not a symptom of fungal diseases and do not pose a direct danger to cherries, but they still serve as an alarming signal.

Lichens are not dangerous in themselves, but indicate an unhealthy state of the plant

Since mosses and lichens need nutrients to grow, they inevitably take them away from the cherry tree itself.This leads to a decrease in yield, to the weakening and death of individual branches. Despite the fact that mossy cherries can continue to grow in the garden for a long time, the number of its fruits will be greatly reduced.

Attention! The appearance of mosses and lichens on cherries indicates serious violations in agricultural technology. Most likely, the tree grows in conditions of constant waterlogging and is also very thick.

Bacteriosis

Among the diseases of cherries with descriptions and photos you can find a dangerous disease - bacterial cancer, or bacteriosis. If treatment is not started in time, the tree can die very quickly.

Bacteriosis can be recognized by its characteristic symptoms. If the disease is present, pale yellow spots appear on the cherry leaves, which quickly turn brown, and the flowers also turn brown. Over time, holes begin to appear in the leaves, and the trunk and branches become covered with cracks and growths that secrete a thick orange liquid. Cherries affected by bacteriosis bear few fruits, and those that ripen quickly become covered with dark spots and begin to rot.

Bacteriosis can quickly destroy a garden tree

Most often, the disease develops in cherries against the background of waterlogging in warm climates. It is important to start treatment at the very first stages, before bacteriosis has time to seriously affect the plant.

How to treat cherries for diseases

Treatment of any of the listed diseases is a whole range of measures to restore the health of the cherry:

When the first alarming symptoms appear, treatment must be started immediately. If spots appear on the shoots and leaves, and the bark begins to dry out and crack, then there is no point in waiting for the disease to go away on its own; it will only develop over time.
For treatment purposes, it is necessary, first of all, to remove all affected parts of the cherry. It is most often impossible to save them, but fungal spores and infection can spread to healthy tissue. Diseased shoots are not simply cut off, they must be carefully collected from the ground, taken outside the site and burned.
To destroy fungal spores and infections, fungicidal solutions are used, such as Bordeaux mixture, HOM or Nitrafen, as well as Horus and Skor. When treating a disease, it is important not only to thoroughly spray the cherry, but also to shed the soil at its roots, in which the pathogenic fungus may also remain. The treatment needs to be repeated several times per season: in early spring, during the period after flowering and in late autumn, shortly before wintering.
After treating cherries, you need to pay special attention to autumn preventive measures. Before preparing for winter, it is necessary to inspect the cherry tree again, if necessary, removing weakened and dead branches, and destroy plant debris at its roots. In this case, fungal spores will not be able to overwinter in fallen leaves and dead tissue, and the disease will not spread again in the spring.

Fungicide treatment is usually carried out three times per season.

If the cherry growing on the plot brings many problems when growing and often gets sick, you need to pay close attention to the growing conditions. Most often, fungal diseases are provoked by insufficiently thorough sanitary cleaning of the garden, but, in addition, ailments can appear due to waterlogged soil. Diseases develop more actively when the plant crown is too thick, so to maintain the health of the cherry, it is recommended to trim it regularly.

Advice! Since fungal spores are often carried by insect pests, fungicidal treatment can be combined with insecticide spraying.

Description of cherry pests with photographs

It's not just fungi that pose a threat to cherry trees. Pests can also damage the health of cherries and reduce their yield, so the gardener should study photos of cherry pests and how to combat them.

Aphid

Cherry aphids most often appear on young leaves in late spring. Externally, the pest is a small insect with a green or black color; aphids are located mainly on the underside of leaves. The pest is dangerous for cherries because it feeds on the juices of its leaves and can almost completely destroy the green crown.

Aphids are a common and very unpleasant parasite.

Cherry weevil

Among the photos and descriptions of pests on cherries, there is a weevil; in adulthood it is a green beetle with a bronze and reddish tint to the body. The pest larvae overwinter in the soil near the cherry trunk and awaken in early spring, after which they move to the trunk and shoots.

The cherry weevil feeds on plant juices during the period of swelling of the buds, and poses a particular danger during fruit set. The pest gnaws holes in developing berries and lays eggs in them, from which larvae quickly develop, feeding on the pulp and juices of the fruit. By the time of harvest, the cherry weevil leaves the cherry fruits and goes back into the soil, and the berries affected by the pest fall off, thus damaging the crop.

Cherry weevil spoils ripe fruits

Sawflies

Among cherry pests, the cherry slimy sawfly is dangerous; it mainly affects the green mass. The adult insect has a shiny black body up to 6 mm long and two pairs of transparent wings up to 9 cm in span. The cherry sawfly larva reaches a length of about 10 mm, is greenish-yellow in appearance and is covered with black mucus.

The slimy sawfly overwinters in the soil under the trunk of a cherry tree. In the spring, the pest pupates, and in mid-summer the pupae turn into adult insects and lay eggs on the underside of cherry leaves. The pest larvae begin to eat the pulp of the foliage, and the green crown dries out and falls off.

The cherry sawfly weakens the plant and reduces the yield

cherry fly

The cherry fly, which is dangerous for fruit trees, lays eggs in developing fruits, gnawing small holes in them. Subsequently, pest larvae emerge from the clutch and feed on fruit juices until the very beginning of autumn. Although cherry fly damage does not lead to the death of cherries, the pest causes significant damage to the crop. The berries become unsuitable for consumption and fall off prematurely.

Premature shedding of berries is often caused by cherry flies.

Ants

Cherry pests are ants, which are often attracted by the aromatic sweet smell of ripening fruits. Insects eat ripening cherries and spoil the harvest, so you need to get rid of them. Another danger of pests is that they act as carriers of aphids; with their appearance, another, much more dangerous pest can settle on the cherry.

Ants are not nearly as harmless as they seem

Spider mite

The garden pest spider mite most often affects cherries in dry weather and when there is a lack of moisture. The adult pest is a small green, red or yellow insect with four pairs of limbs, and the eggs of the mite are orange-red, so they can be quickly detected on branches and shoots.

Spider mites appear on cherries mainly after flowering. You can recognize it by the following signs - red, silver or yellow small spots, white specks on the underside of the leaves or white webbed membranes between the leaves and stems. The last sign indicates a serious and large-scale pest infestation.

The presence of visible cobwebs on the foliage indicates a serious mite infestation.

The pest is dangerous because during its life, its larvae can seriously damage the green mass of the plant and draw out the vital juices from the cherry. It should be noted that simply spraying cherries with water during drought and moderate watering are good prevention of mites - the pest does not tolerate increased humidity.

How to control pests on cherries

Pests of cherry trees cause damage to the crop and generally weaken the fruit plant. Therefore, it is necessary to treat pests in the early stages. The following measures aimed at getting rid of insects can be listed:

With the beginning of spring, the cherry tree must be regularly inspected and the condition of its leaves, shoots and ovaries checked. In the initial stages, a pest infestation may not be noticeable, but with proper attention, eggs and larvae of harmful insects on the leaves and bark are easy to notice.
For minor pest infestation, you can use a regular soap solution for treatment. Natural laundry soap is diluted in warm water in a proportion of 100 g per 1 liter of liquid, and then the crown of the plant is generously sprayed in the morning or after sunset.
In case of serious pest damage, the fruit plant can be treated with insecticidal solutions such as Karbofos, Fufanon and Kemifos. Mild chemicals help get rid of even large populations of aphids and mites.

It is recommended to treat cherries for pests several times a season. Since some pests manage to lay eggs several times during the summer, repeated treatment increases the effectiveness of treatment. It must be remembered that spraying with insecticides should be carried out no later than 3-4 weeks before harvesting, otherwise the chemicals may penetrate into the tissues of the fruit.

When preparing a fruit plant for winter, you need to remove all fallen leaves from the tree trunk and dig up the soil. Many pests overwinter in plant remains or the top layer of soil, so in a neglected area they can attack cherries again with the onset of spring.

The most effective way to combat parasites is to treat them with insecticides.

Measures to protect cherries from pests and diseases

Cherry diseases in the Moscow region and their treatment can be associated with great difficulties. Therefore, it is best to prevent the development of diseases using preventive protective measures:

When growing a fruit plant, it is necessary to follow proper agricultural practices. The soil should not be allowed to dry out or become waterlogged; the tree crown should be thinned from time to time to avoid excessive thickening.
Most often, fungi develop in fallen leaves near cherries and on the remains of shoots and fallen berries. To prevent diseases of the fruit tree and the appearance of pests, every year you need to remove from the site and burn the plant debris that remains under the tree trunk in the fall.
Regular sanitary pruning plays an important role in disease prevention. Dry, broken and weakened branches must be removed in a timely manner. Any damage to the bark of the fruit tree is covered with garden pitch or copper sulfate; if the wounds are left open, infections and fungal spores can enter the cherry tissue through them.
Treatment with fungicidal and insecticidal preparations can be carried out not only for the treatment of ailments and pests, but also for prevention purposes. Typically, cherries are sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, Skor or Horus shortly before flowering, after it and a few weeks before harvest.

To maintain the health of the cherry, you should annually feed the plant with potassium and phosphorus - mineral fertilizers increase the endurance of the fruit tree.

Advice! To prevent cherry diseases and the fight against them from causing much trouble, for planting in the country it is better to choose hardy, zoned varieties with increased resistance to diseases and insects.

Proper care can, in principle, prevent most ailments

Resistant cherry varieties for the Moscow region and other regions

Among dozens of cherry varieties, gardeners especially attract those that have increased resistance to pests and diseases. You can list several well-known varieties that are distinguished by good endurance.

In memory of Vavilov

The variety has average winter hardiness and is not recommended for cultivation in northern regions.But in the conditions of the Moscow region and the middle zone, the variety develops very well. The fruit plant is resistant to coccomycosis and is little affected by moniliosis, although the latter poses a certain danger to it.

Early Yagunova

The cherry variety has increased cold resistance and adapts well both in the middle zone and in Siberia. The fruit tree is resistant to monilial blight and rarely suffers from coccomycosis, which simplifies the growing process.

Robin

The Malinovka variety is well suited for growing in the Moscow region. The tree overwinters well, but often suffers from recurrent frosts, so it is not suitable for northern regions. The variety is highly resistant to most fungal diseases and, with proper care, does not suffer from fungi and pests.

Silvia

Cherry is recommended for cultivation in the Central region and rarely suffers from coccomycosis, monilial blight and other fungal ailments. The yield of the variety is relatively low, but it brings almost no problems during cultivation.

Conclusion

Cherry diseases with photos and treatment allow you to recognize fungal diseases of the fruit tree in time or notice signs of pest damage. Although diseases and harmful insects pose a serious danger to cherries, if treatment is started in a timely manner, they are not so difficult to deal with.

Diseases and pests of cherries and their control: photos, how to treat them in the Moscow region and regions