How to Treat Jujube Tree Witches' Broom Disease? A Detailed Guide to Prevention and Control Methods

Jujube trees are very common in daily life, and many farm households plant one in front of their gate. The jujube tree has a very long history in China, with written records spanning more than 3,000 years. In the poem “July” from the “Bin Feng” section of the Book of Songs, there is the line “In the eighth month we strip the jujubes, in the tenth month we harvest the rice.” The jujube tree has extremely strong vitality and basically requires little care, but some diseases are still unavoidable. Here we introduce how to treat jujube tree witches' broom disease.

I. What Is Jujube Tree Witches' Broom Disease

Jujube tree witches' broom disease, also known as “jujube tree broom disease,” occurs to varying degrees in all parts of the province. It is the most serious and devastating disease among all jujube tree diseases. The main symptoms are as follows:

1. Flowers turn into leaves, the floral organs degenerate, and the flower stalks elongate.

2. Buds sprout abnormally; the main buds of one-year-old vegetative branches and the latent buds on perennial vegetative branches of diseased plants all sprout into vegetative branches.

3. Leaf lesions occur; some leaf tips and margins become scorched and withered, and in severe cases the diseased leaves fall off.

4. Fruit lesions occur; diseased flowers generally cannot set fruit. Healthy branches on diseased plants can still bear fruit, but the fruit varies in size, with uneven coloring and a bumpy surface.

5. Root lesions occur; due to the massive sprouting of adventitious buds, the taproot of a diseased tree often grows clusters of short diseased roots, and multiple clusters of diseased roots can appear on the same root.

The common cause of jujube tree witches' broom disease is a mycoplasma-like organism, and it is highly contagious. The natural transmission vector is insects, and it can also occur through grafting. The incubation period ranges from 25 days to more than 1 year. Jujube orchards with dry, barren soil and extensive management suffer severe outbreaks.

II. How to Treat Jujube Tree Witches' Broom Disease

There are mainly two treatment methods for jujube tree witches' broom disease, but neither can guarantee a 100% cure rate. The medication method uses drugs such as Zaofeng No. 1 and tetracycline, which can cure the diseased tree in the same year and have it bearing jujubes in the second year. The surgical method uses physical means to completely saw off the diseased branches and remove the affected parts, generally achieving a cure rate of about 85%.

When using medication, it is generally aimed at jujube trees with mild symptoms. For trees with more severe symptoms, the diseased branches and diseased plants should be removed from the orchard as early as possible, and pesticides should be sprayed promptly to prevent the spread of the pathogen. When digging out diseased plants, the jujube tree root system must be cleaned out thoroughly to prevent diseased suckers from regrowing. At the same time, all kinds of weeds and wild shrubs should be cleared promptly to control various leafhopper insect vectors.

When carrying out surgical treatment, the diseased branches must be dealt with thoroughly, completely sawing off the diseased branches. Winter is the best time for surgical treatment of jujube tree witches' broom disease. Detect early, treat early, and work on both the tree above and the tree below; never treat only the upper part of the tree and neglect the lower part. Surgical treatment must be thorough and clean, leaving no future problems.