What Is Peach Crown Gall Disease? Symptoms and Control Methods Explained
What is peach crown gall disease? How can peach crown gall disease be controlled effectively? Symptoms of peach crown gall disease: 1. Symptoms Peach crown gall disease is caused by Agrobacterium tumefaciens and is a bacterial disease. After a peach tree is infected, galls of varying sizes, spherical or flattened spherical, form on the roots or trunk. After fusing, they become irregular in shape, then gradually turn brown, with a rough, uneven surface, hardened and woody, forming irregular cavities. After seedlings are infected, their development is hindered, growth is slow, and the plants are stunted; in severe cases, the leaves turn yellow and the plants decline prematurely. When mature fruit trees are infected, the fruit is small and the tree's lifespan is shortened.
What is peach crown gall disease? How can peach crown gall disease be controlled effectively?
Symptoms of peach crown gall disease:
1. Symptoms Peach crown gall disease is caused by Agrobacterium tumefaciens and is a bacterial disease. After a peach tree is infected, galls of varying sizes, spherical or flattened spherical, form on the roots or trunk. After fusing, they become irregular in shape, then gradually turn brown, with a rough, uneven surface, hardened and woody, forming irregular cavities. After seedlings are infected, their development is hindered, growth is slow, and the plants are stunted; in severe cases, the leaves turn yellow and the plants decline prematurely. When mature fruit trees are infected, the fruit is small and the tree's lifespan is shortened.
Control of Peach Crown Gall Disease
2. Control methods
1. When grafting, take scions from the higher parts of superior mother trees and use the bud grafting method; try not to use the cleft grafting method. Grafting tools must be disinfected with 75% alcohol before and after use. For all rootstocks used for grafting, before they sprout, the parts below the graft should be soaked in 1% copper sulfate solution for 5 minutes, then placed in 2% lime water for 1 minute.
2. Strengthen cultivation management, choose soil free of disease infection as the nursery site; when planting on alkaline soil, appropriately apply acidic fertilizer or increase the application of organic fertilizer; orchards or old orchards where crown gall disease has occurred cannot be used as seedling propagation bases.
3. When diseased tumors are first found, first use a sharp knife to completely excise the galls, disinfect the wound with 0.1% copper sulfate solution or a 50-fold dilution of 80% 402 antibacterial emulsifiable concentrate, then coat the outside with Bordeaux mixture for protection; the soil around the diseased plants can be disinfected by drenching with a 2,000-fold dilution of antibacterial agent 402.
4. Control underground pests to reduce the chance of disease.
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