the nut it is a magnificent and perennial fruit tree capable of reaching remarkable dimensions, which is why it is planted in the garden if only for its beauty, receiving shade and precious oxygen. However, if we are interested in nuts and want to harvest them healthy and plentiful, the condition (thixag_12) is that the plant is healthy and lush (thixag__12).
In fact, it often happens that fruit spoiled by harmful insects or that the leaves, branches and trunk affected by a pathology are visible what affects nut production . Problems that can often be avoided by simple cultivation precautions, or counteracted by early intervention.
In this article, we focus in particular in tree nut diseases and possible solutions for an environmentally friendly defense and, leading to harvesting perfect nuts without unnecessarily polluting and killing organisms. A biological agriculture This does not mean that you have to transport a lot of waste or a lot of waste: if it is managed in a rational and careful way, it will pay off.
Contents [Ocultar]
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disease prevention
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Main walnut diseases
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anthracnose
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Fusarium
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black neck rot
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Walnut root rot
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dry bad
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Bacterial Walnut Cancer
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Contents
disease prevention
In general, one can say that when plants are at risk of being seriously affected by certain diseases, it is useful to use copper products which should always be used with caution after reading the instructions on the label.
However, before that, it is essential to apply certain prevention strategies.
- Cleaning pruning tools : Whenever you prune a diseased or disease-looking plant, it is always a good idea to disinfect the leaves before pruning a healthy plant.
- Appropriate planting distances y: From the time walnut trees or walnuts are planted, the location and distances between plants must be considered. The ideal place is sufficiently ventilated and not too susceptible to stagnation of moisture, and planting should not be dense, but should take into account the future volume of nuts.
- Rapid removal of affected plant parts , such as leaves, branches, fruits. The same applies to the leaves that fall in autumn, to be removed in case of illness.
- Preventive treatments with macerated equisetum or propolis the latter very useful especially after pruning cuts.
Main walnut diseases
To have a healthy nut, you need a basic knowledge of the most common adversities and natural defense to counter them. So let’s see what are the most common fungal and bacterial diseases that affect this plant, to have a healthy tree and an excellent production of organic nuts.
anthracnose
It is a fungal or cryptogamic pathology that causes necrotic spots on leaves, flowers, fruits and young shoots of the current year. Older and now lignified branches, on the other hand, are able to resist the fungus. What can be seen on walnut leaves affected by anthracnose are brown-black spots surrounded by lighter halos, and in the central part of the spot the tissue tends to tear.
The severe course of the disease is profuse defoliation drying of young shoots and drop of nuts on which many small spots first form.
The most damaging infection is one that occurs in spring , but there may be other cycles of infection during the summer, especially during summer thunderstorms. The mushroom hibernates in fallen leaves so raking them is a basic form of protection against infection the following year.
Fusarium
This disease affects the fruit: the fusarium fungus causes soft brown rot of the shell, that is to say the coating of the nut. Fusarium, like other diseases, can cause abundance hickory rot .
black neck trash can
This disease, caused by certain species of fungi of the genus Phytophthora as good as black neck rot also known as ” ink disease ” and often has a fatal course .
the pathogen enters the plant through wounds and other natural openings at the base of the plant .
The hair turns yellow and the bark of the stem fills with cracks from which a blackish liquid comes out . Trying to remove the bark in these places may reveal blackened, necrotic areas underneath.
Unfortunately, it is a difficult disease to cure even in conventional agriculture, so those who intend to plant a walnut tree should be oriented towards plants grafted on resistant rootstocks information that should be requested from specialized crèches.
hickory root manure
This disease can cause symptoms similar to black neck rot, in terms of diffuse yellowing of the hair developmental delay and death in severe cases.
The track in question root rot offered by the presence of fungi from the roots to the base of the plant .
The causative fungus is Armillaria mellea is very polyphagous, in the sense that affects many types of plants and is retained as mycelial masses in soil, dead wood or other organic matter. Penetrates the nut through radical wounds then infecting the neck and part of the trunk.
The main precaution against this pathology is attention to soil drainage. , since it is favored by radical asphyxia. From the moment of planting, it is important to understand the type of soil and if it is too clayey, it is useful to dig a particularly deep hole for planting and mix the sand with the soil, as well as the amendment of the ground.
dry bad
It is a pathology of bacterial origin caused by Xanthomonas arboricola juglandis . the dry pain affects all air organs walnut: flowers, leaves, shoots, branches and fruits. That’s why you can have a very negative effect on the harvest result .
if the nuts they are still young, we can notice some necrotic spots in them, while if they go towards ripening, the shell turns black and they fall abundantly. Also and the stains they appear on the leaves, first pale green, then blackish brown surrounded by rings. Branches are interested in more or less extensive and lethal cancers .
The bacterium enters the plant through leaf stomata or through wounds and hibernates in the shoots, only to resume the spread of infection by pollen, rain and cutting tools in the spring.
Surely one of the most incisive precautions is the careful disinfection of the scissors which are used for pruning when changing from a diseased or suspected plant to a healthy one. To keep the pathology blocked, it is possible to perform treatments with copper products the first of which takes place upon vegetative awakening.
walnut bacterial cancer
The bacterium Brenneria nigrifluens it is responsible for cortical cancers evident in the stem of walnut and wounds in the bark from which emerge blackish exudates .
Walnut trees severely affected by bacterial cancer reach lose a lot of leaves . Also in this case, by peeling the trunk a little, we can notice a blackening below.
It is precisely the action of skinning those affected parts which is often helpful in containing disease because it stimulates healing and the formation of a new healthy crust in 1 or 2 years.