Spring Orchard Pest and Disease Control Methods and Key Technical Points

After the cold winter, most pests are killed by ice and snow, and only a small number survive. Therefore, this is a good time to prevent pests and diseases. Below, taking plum trees as an example, we will briefly introduce spring orchard pest and disease control methods.

1. Plum gummosis

This disease is mainly a plant disease caused by weak tree vigor and inadequate water and fertilizer management and care measures.

Control methods:

After the plum tree sheds its leaves and before it sprouts, spray lime sulfur mixture at 3-5 degrees Baume diluted 300-500 times once each time. In March-April, spray mancozeb once more. For trees that have already developed gummosis, scrape off the diseased spots, then use 70% thiophanate-methyl diluted 30-50 times to smear the diseased spots on the branches and trunk.

2. Plum bacterial shot hole

This disease mainly occurs in orchards with poor, sticky, heavy soil, excessive nitrogen fertilizer application, severe wind damage, and poor plum tree growth. It generally begins to develop in May-June. Each year in July, the rainy season with high temperature and high humidity is the peak period for the disease.

Control methods:

1. Agricultural control: Fertilize rationally, increase soil organic matter, irrigate and prune rationally, drain excess moisture in time, strengthen tree vigor, and improve the tree's disease resistance; during the growing season and dormant period, promptly remove diseased leaves, lesions, and diseased fruit. Especially during winter pruning, thoroughly prune out diseased branches, clear fallen leaves and fallen fruit, and bury them deeply in a centralized manner or burn them to eliminate overwintering sources of inoculum.

2. Chemical control: Before the tree buds, use a sharp knife to scrape off the diseased spots, apply lime sulfur mixture at 25-30 degrees Baume, or spray the whole tree with lime sulfur mixture at 4-5 degrees Baume; in early May at the initial stage of disease, use Pseudomonas fluorescens at 300 billion cells/gram, 8-10 grams mixed with 15 kg of water to spray the whole orchard. After about 15 days, spray again with 72% agricultural streptomycin diluted 5000 times, alternating use, for 3-4 consecutive times.

3. Fruit borers

There are many species of fruit borers that damage plum fruit, mainly during the period when plum trees drop flowers and set fruit.

Control methods:

1. Agricultural control: In severely affected orchards, during the fruit-setting period, combine intertillage with mulching the tree disk firmly, which can effectively prevent adult insects from emerging from the soil and causing damage.

2. Physical control: Install black light lamps in the orchard to trap and kill pests. According to terrain and topography, install 2-3 units per hectare; before winter, tie grass around the trunk to attract larvae for overwintering, and before the larvae emerge from dormancy the following spring, remove the tied grass and burn it; make sugar-vinegar liquid basins to trap and kill adults, with a ratio of 0.5 kg sugar : 1 kg vinegar : 1 kg water.

3. Biological control: Install sex pheromone lures in the orchard to trap and kill male adults; release Trichogramma wasps in the orchard.

4. Chemical control: According to monitoring and forecasting, during the peak egg stage of fruit borers, use 20 ml of Ai Lü Shi mixed with 15 kg of water for spray control.

If spring fruit tree pest and disease control is effective, it will help the later growth of fruit trees and is the foundation for a bumper fruit harvest. Therefore, every spring fruit growers attach great importance to this process.