Content
- Fungal attack on the tree: what helps?
- Detect and combat fungal attack
- Effectively prevent fungal infections
- Always problematic: tree fungi
- Tips
Often there is a fungal attack on the leaves
Fungal attack on the tree: what helps?
In addition to bacteria and viruses, tree diseases are often caused by fungi. There are many different species that attack the leaves, flowers, fruits, shoots or roots. Many types of fungi are relatively harmless and can be eliminated with a vigorous pruning. Others, however, have much more serious consequences.
Detect and combat fungal attack
A fungal attack is not always easy to recognize, often the signs are similar to other diseases or a pest infestation and can easily be confused. However, you should be surprised by these typical characteristics and have a closer look at them:
In all these cases, you should first check the affected tree for possible pest infestation. If this can be ruled out, compare the damage with the exemplary damage pictures in a textbook or on the Internet. So the pathogen can usually be limited quite well. In most fungal diseases, a vigorous pruning of all affected parts is sufficient, whereby too much removal of leaves, for example, may result in the tree becoming absorbed. That's why often only pesticides help with a very strong infestation.
Effectively prevent fungal infections
In any case, prevention is the most effective medicine. So that fungal pathogens do not even have a chance, you should follow these preventive measures:
Always problematic: tree fungi
So-called xylobionts are wood-decomposing tree fungi that can attack mostly dead trees, but also weakened living specimens. Hallymasch, common sulfur or birch mushroom, oyster seitling or tinder fungus develop initially for years in secret - their fruiting bodies appear only when the mycelium has already passed through the wood. There is no salvation for such a tree - you can only cut it down. However, you can still wait a bit, because fruit trees often bear fruit for a long time and only gradually come in.
Tips
Lichen is a symbiotic community of certain bacteria and algae. These just sit on the tree, but do not tap it. Therefore, they damage the plant, but are often an indicator of weakened specimens.