Why cherries crack: what to do, how to treat, what to treat

If a cherry tree cracks, you should not hope that the tree will heal the cracked area on its own, and you can ignore the problem. By ignoring the appearance of peeling bark with cracks, they lose not only one tree, but the entire garden. An untreated burst wound turns into a gateway for infections or pests, weakening the cherry's defenses. Causes: weather conditions, insects, fungi and diseases. The infected tree is treated with special chemicals or folk remedies.

Why does the bark on a cherry tree burst?

Cherry trees crack most often in spring, leaving the trunk and skeletal branches exposed. When inspecting the garden, determine the depth and number of burst areas in order to select control measures. Often minor cracking heals on its own, and a tree with broken branches produces the same amount of harvest in the summer.

Stone fruit crops are prone to wood cracking; the problem occurs when there is a contrast between night and day temperatures. A non-leafy crop planted on a southern slope will react to changes with longitudinal cracks and furrows on the trunk.

Reasons for a broken cherry tree stem related to violations of agricultural practices:

excessive penetration of seedlings into the soil during planting;
The bark does not have time to grow against the background of the rapid growth of wood;
cherries are planted in a humid area;
close occurrence of groundwater;
excessive application of nitrogen fertilizers;
mistakes when pruning skeletal branches.

Gardeners recommend carefully inspecting the trunk and branches of the cherry tree for the presence of dead tissue and the appearance of burst areas with necrosis. It is enough to cut off the edges of cracks with burst bark with a sharp tool to get a detailed look at the damage:

An even, white-green cut is a sign of healthy wood and does not require control measures.
Patches of brown wood are considered a sign that the cells are filled with gum, the beginning of the dying process.

Emergency measures prevent the process of bursting and the appearance of cracks on the trunk, stop the development of rosette, chlorosis or small leaves.

Important! Cherry bark is damaged by hornets, wasps and other insects.

Exposure to weather conditions

The cause of cracking of the bark on cherries can be changes in air temperature at night and during the day. The phenomenon of bursting areas on the surface of the trunks is typical for winter sunny days. The trunk of the cherry tree in February and early March warms up to 20 degrees, and the air temperature remains at sub-zero levels. In the wood cells, the process of liquefaction of juices is activated, which freeze with the onset of night. Red-brown burns, turning into cracks with burst edges, are located on the south-eastern part of the trunk.

One of the accompanying reasons for the bursting of a cherry tree trunk is the lack of preparation for the frosty period. The gardener did not take enough measures to protect against frost damage; the tree remained unprepared for winter:

fertilizing with nitrogen fertilizers in the second half of summer;
late moisture-charging irrigation;
lack of watering during the growing season;
untimely or severe pruning.

Cherry responds to reduced daylight hours by slowing down life processes that begin in the upper parts of the shoots and end in the area of the root system. Violations during the period of preparation for frosts cause immature or burst bark with cracks and the appearance of frost holes.

Influence of pests

On a cherry tree, the bark may peel off due to insect activity. Pests eat wood, make tunnels or make nests under the bark, which leads to the formation of deep cracks and reduced frost resistance.

One of the common pests that cause cracks in cherries, the subcortical leafroller is a golden-brown butterfly that lays eggs under the bark of stone fruit trees. The hatched dirty white caterpillars chew through the wood, causing increased release of gum from the cracks of small wounds in the burst bark. They learn about the activity of the leaf roller by characteristic lumps of brownish-rusty excrement, shrouded in cobwebs.

The brown fruit mite is a reddish-brown pest that lays eggs on the branches of garden crops. Due to the abundance of eggs, the cherry seems to be covered with a red coating. The danger comes from larvae that damage leaves and buds, which leads to inhibition of branch growth and cracking of the main trunk.

The bark beetle is detected by oval holes on the trunk with gum deposits. Empty passages indicate penetration into the deeper layers and the emergence of a new generation. The last stage is considered to be the peeling or bursting surface of the cherry tree, broken off thin branches with holes at the breaking point.

Pests more often attack weakened trees, and timely preventive measures minimize the chances of insect attacks. Elementary whitewashing before winter will save cherries from cracking and bursting of wood, and digging up tree trunk circles with spraying with chemicals or folk remedies will prevent attacks by bark beetles, ticks, butterflies or caterpillars.

Diseases

A cherry surface bursting with cracks may turn out to be an infectious or non-infectious disease. It is a mistake to consider cracking of the trunk an aesthetic problem. Through open wounds, infection occurs, leading to the death of the crop.

Root causes of cracks or broken trunks:

develop against the background of clusterosporiosis or moniliosis;
exceeding the norm of nitrogen fertilizers;
high soil acidity;
excess moisture in the soil;
due to sunburn and frost damage.

Important! You can protect against infected cherries with a burst and cracked trunk from entering the garden by purchasing a healthy seedling from a trusted nursery.

The false fungus grows from a crack in the lower part of the trunk, filling the cavities with white rot. The tinder fungus is a yellowish-brown growth. Fungal spores infect the surface in areas of frost damage, pest activity, and traces of mechanical impact. The trunk of a cracked cherry tree breaks due to gusts of wind, as the wood softens.

The sulfur-yellow tinder fungus develops in the cracks of the burst surface of the cherry, filling the core of the trunk with brown rot. Wood loses strength and falls apart. The formation is a dirty orange mushroom with wavy edges.

Attention! Bacterial canker causes the cracked surface on the cherry trunk to peel off. Infection occurs through mechanical cuts on the branches.

Gum disease or gommosis is considered a non-infectious disease of cherries. It is characterized by the leakage of gum from a burst trunk without signs of necrosis. Gum is a sweetish, viscous liquid that is a product of the breakdown of wood cell membranes. The consequence is the drying out of individual branches with burst bark, followed by the death of the tree.

Factors for outbreaks of cherry gomosis:

damage by parasites that secrete decay products;
mechanical injuries to the trunk;
discrepancy between the scion and the rootstock;
waterlogging of soil or air;
insufficient watering.

How and with what to treat cherry bark in the spring so that it does not burst or peel off: prevention

It is easier to prevent a disease than to treat it later. It is important to follow a number of preventive measures that will help maintain a healthy tree trunk and prevent the development of fungal diseases.

How to protect the cherry trunk from damage:

For the winter, young trees need to be protected from rodents. Some resort to chemical poisons, scattering them on the site. For others, this method is unacceptable, as there is a risk of harming innocent animals. In this case, a metal mesh is strengthened around the trunk, which prevents pests from reaching the bark.
It is necessary to protect the trunk from sunlight. To do this, in the fall they resort to whitewashing trees with garden lime. You can whitewash trees in early spring, when the sun is not yet too active. Whitewashing in May no longer makes sense; by this time the leaves are already protecting the trunk.
The tree trunk circle must be dug up before wintering.
It is necessary to increase frost resistance and apply potash and phosphate fertilizers.
With the onset of warmth, the tree needs to be cleaned of damaged shoots, get rid of frost holes, and scrape off old bark growths.
In the spring, trees are sprayed with fungicides and insecticides to kill fungi and insects.
Inspect trees for diseases and take timely measures.

Some people have a question: when can a crack in wood be treated? It is advisable to treat the wound in spring and summer, when it is warm and wounds on the tree heal quickly. It is possible to determine how successful medical care was for a tree after 1-2 years. Only after this time will you be able to see whether the wound is healing.

Pests and diseases have a detrimental effect on garden trees, including cherries. Even if the tree continues to live, the quality of the berries deteriorates. We have the power to prevent the disease in its development stage. The main thing is to carefully monitor the trees and implement a set of preventive measures.

Treatment of burst bark on a cherry tree

If it is too late to carry out preventive measures, they begin to treat the cracked cherry trunk. Work is carried out at any time, except during the growing season, so that the juices do not spread the infection throughout the crop.

Gardener's note:

Using a sharp, disinfected blade, cut off the affected, burst areas with cracked edges down to living tissue. Removed formations with light rims indicate minimal infection; dark areas suggest the use of radical measures.
According to the instructions, any copper-containing preparation is dissolved, the trunk is sprayed, special attention is paid to bursting or peeling bark.
For cracks with pronounced areas of necrosis, strong fungicides such as nitrophen are used for treatment. The drug disinfects even neglected areas and does not damage healthy tissue.
All that remains is to cover up the cracks and broken areas with garden varnish made from natural ingredients. It is better to abandon products based on petroleum products, and use products made from beeswax, fungicides and conifer resin.

After the procedure, the cherries are wrapped with a piece of burlap and secured with wire. They continue to install traps against insect pests and spray as needed against fungal infections.

Drugs

Before treating peeling bark on cherries, treat the surface with an ash-soap solution. When choosing chemicals for disinfection, evaluate the benefits of use against cracks and burst bark:

the effect occurs after two hours;
the effect lasts three days;
the components of the product disintegrate after a week;
dissolves without sediment in water;
penetrate deep into the cortex.

Preventive spraying is carried out when the buds are swollen, but before the buds open. According to the instructions, a concentrated solution is used to treat the bursting surface with cracks and forks between the branches to prevent the development of diseases.

Chemicals to protect cherries from cracking:

blue spraying with Bordeaux mixture is an indispensable assistant for the gardener in the fight against cracks in garden crops;
treatment with copper sulfate solution stops fungal infections;
using iron sulfate, they strengthen the cambium cells and prevent the appearance of bursting and cracked surfaces on the trunk;
drug No. 30 - an effective method against pests;
They are treated against insects with urea or urea and at the same time fertilized.

The universal use of copper-containing preparations (Ordan, HOM, Kurzat, Abiga-Pik) allows you to heal deep cracks and burst areas on cherries and disinfect the orchard.

Folk remedies

The burst surface of cracked cherries after cleaning and disinfection, instead of garden varnish, can be lubricated with mullein and clay in equal parts. Apply the prepared mixture to the peeling branches, securing with a gauze bandage.

The disadvantage is that it is washed off after rain, which requires repeating the procedure. Clay also absorbs cherry juices necessary for normal life support, so you will have to periodically moisten the area with water.

Crushed sorrel leaves are placed on exposed, burst frost holes with cracks, wrapped on top with polyethylene or a piece of burlap. Every month the layer of green medicine is renewed, first cutting off the blackened rims of the cracks of the burst surface with a sharp knife.

Cherry cracked - how to treat?

If the bark bursts, you should immediately help the garden crops. The simplest remedy is a putty made from clay mixed with mullein. The product provides immediate help to affected plants, but there are a number of disadvantages when using it:

the difficulty is finding cow dung;
the product smells bad, so preparing it is unpleasant;
The duration of such putty is short, since it is washed off at the first good rain.

Advice. Sometimes gardeners wrap the treatment area with a bandage, which prolongs the life of the putty.

Another disadvantage of using such putty is that clay is an excellent absorbent substance. When such putty dries, it will absorb the sap from the bark, which is necessary to nourish the tree. To do this, you need to regularly water the treated area.

Advice. Protection against cracks is carried out at any time, but this should be avoided during the growing season, as the disease can spread throughout the entire tree along with the sap.

You should wait until the crack is dry. Then it is treated with an antifungal drug, and a special putty is applied on top. Gardeners have a choice of the following putties:

Garden var. Sometimes gardeners speak negatively about it. According to them, the product loses its therapeutic and protective properties within a year, and then becomes harmful to garden plants, irritating their delicate skin.
Special artificial leather. This is a new product that protects trees from cracks. Many experts consider this protection to be the most useful not only for young seedlings, but also for old powerful trees. This artificial bark is a dense coating that protects from excess moisture. It looks like a thick varnish-like material of a grayish tint. After applying the putty, the leather is applied on top. The gardener can make sure that the artificial bark does not become moldy or get wet.

Consequences of cracking

Minor cracks in the cherry tree will heal without intervention from the gardener. Even a small wound in wood will turn into a haven for pathogens of fungal diseases, which will result in a decrease in fruiting, drying out of branches or the death of cherries.

Frost damage leads to tissue death or necrosis of cherries. Visually, the cherry tree continues to develop, but the bark begins to burst, crack, and peel off. The darkened areas are initially small in area, but gradually occupy the entire surface of the trunk, becoming the cause of crop loss.

Advice! If cracks or broken surfaces appear on the trunk, you should immediately use a metal brush to clean the areas down to healthy tissue, and cut off the broken branches with a hacksaw. If there remains a focus of infection with harmful bacteria, then soon the cherry tissue will be completely affected by the infection.

Treatment

If the crack in the tree did not appear as a result of an infectious disease, then you can try to cure it yourself, without the use of special drugs. To do this, you need to do the following:

First, we clean the area of the damaged bark until fresh Kara appears.
Use sandpaper to clean the wound a little. It is important not to skip anything unnecessary and to carefully remove the dead area of bark. It can be identified if you knock, the sound will be dull. Also, the color of the area will differ from the healthy part of the tree.
If you do not properly remove the damaged bark, then fungi or parasites may accumulate in this place. When they start destroying the trees.
After the wound has been treated, it must be disinfected with 5% copper sulfate solution.
Next, it needs to be closed using garden varnish. Cement can be used to close a deep gap.
Next, you need to wrap the affected part of the trunk with a rag or burlap. Everything is neat, but tightly secured.

Prevention of cracks

Preventive measures are aimed at reducing the risk of infection of cherries through cracks. Following simple tips will help prevent the appearance of bursting boles with cracks:

The choice for planting self-fertile, zoned cherry varieties that are resistant to temperature changes and recurrent frosts.
Compliance with planting rules is the key to a healthy tree. The cherry grafting site is raised above the ground level, leaving enough space to form a tree trunk circle.
Cherries grow successfully only on neutral soils that are limed.
To prevent frost damage, the trunk and skeletal branches of the cherry tree are whitened in autumn and early spring; after the first leaves appear, the procedure is impractical.
They are tied with bundles of straw, spruce branches or spunbond.

Experienced gardeners furrow the skeletal branches and trunks of cherry trees to avoid cracks and bursting of the surface. The operation is performed on 6-year-old crops, making shallow dotted furrows at intervals of several centimeters. The wounds heal quickly, the wood does not tear the tree as it grows, and the cherry tree rapidly increases in size. For additional tips on preventing and combating burst cherry bark, see the video below.

How to heal damaged bark

If cracks are detected on the trunk and skeletal branches, several manipulations must be performed:

Cut off the affected fragments with a sharp, disinfected instrument.
Treat the trunk and damaged areas of the tree with any preparation containing copper.
Coat cracks with severe necrosis with one of the fungicides. This will prevent damage to healthy tissue.
Cover the broken areas with garden varnish. In this case, it is recommended to use a preparation prepared on the basis of coniferous resin, beeswax or fungicide.

After first aid, the damaged areas are wrapped in burlap and secured with wire or rope.

For preventive purposes, cherries are treated with the following means::

ash solution;
Bordeaux mixture;
copper sulfate;
urea;
urea.

Insects are controlled using insecticides.

To prevent frost damage, whitewash is applied to the trunk and skeletal branches of the tree.

If you follow all the rules of agricultural technology, as well as timely detection and treatment of diseases, cherries will annually delight you with an abundant and high-quality harvest.

Why do cherries crack?

It is possible to prevent cracking of fruits by choosing resistant varieties of cherries, as well as strict adherence to agricultural practices. Cracks and bursting fruits are not considered a sign of a serious disease. Gardeners have noted the varieties “Summit”, “Yaroslavna”, “Regina” and “Valeria”, which produce a harvest of large, one-sized fruits without cracks or damage.

Exposure to weather conditions

Cracking and bursting of cherry berries is most often observed when the dry period is replaced by heavy rains. Frequent fogs or heavy dew also provoke spoilage of fruits.

The same phenomenon occurs when a gardener has not watered a crop for a long time, after which he decides to replenish the moisture deficit. Due to excessive water intake, the fruits burst and become covered with deep cracks, often down to the pit.

Influence of pests

One of the dangerous pests of cherries is the cherry fly, which lays eggs in unripe berries. Due to the activity of the larvae, the fruits become dented, soften, burst, and the skin becomes thin and cracks.

Deep digging of row spacing and treatment of the crown and trunk circle of cherries with chemicals like Actellica help reduce the number. Spraying is carried out during the period of insect flight, which is detected using glue traps. It is enough to apply a layer of long-drying glue to sheets of cardboard, then hang it on neighboring trees. It's time to start processing if more than 12 flies are caught in the trap.

Diseases

During the flowering period, cherry trees become infected with scab, which is caused by harmful bacteria and pathogenic fungi. Wet weather provokes the spread of the disease, affecting garden crops.

The disease manifests itself as brownish spots on the leaf blades, green berries dry out and fall off, ripe fruits begin to crack and burst. Spraying cherry trunks with Bordeaux mixture three times during the growing season will prevent the development of scab.

Remedies and prevention

If the cherry berries crack, the cause is determined. For cherry flies in the spring, use fishing belts. The year of the insect begins in May. The belt will prevent their reproduction. The crown and trunk circle are treated with Actellik. For diseases, treatment is carried out with Bordeaux mixture. This is done three times per season. The influence of climate cannot be avoided. We need to wait for the new season. The main thing is to adhere to prevention.

As a preventive measure it is recommended:

provide the tree with moderate watering;
apply fertilizer according to the dosage;
annually treat the tree against pests;
insulate the planting for the winter;
eliminate diseases and pests.

Proper care will prevent cracking and save the harvest.

Why are there cracks?

In order to understand why the bark cracked, you need to understand the main reasons for this. These may be:

Sunburn. You can get burned by active rays in early spring. At this time there are no leaves on the crown yet. When heated, the bark expands and begins to crack.
Humidity. The appearance of a crack in the trunk can be caused by moisture. Don't water too often. Because with abundant access to water, the tree begins to actively grow layers of bark. This provokes the development of cracks. You also need to pay attention that you need to plant cherries away from the place where groundwater flows. In addition, this provokes rotting of the roots.
Rodents. The bark can be actively eaten by hares or mice. This applies to young trees. In addition, the roots also suffer. Rodents can seriously damage the cherry tree, and it dies.
Bark beetles and mites. Cracks are caused by parasites. They crawl under the bark of a tree and chew through it. At the same time, irreparable harm is caused to him. In order to destroy ticks and other parasites, you need to treat the tree with chemicals.

Is it necessary to strip dry bark?

You can often find recommendations for regularly cleaning the surface of wood from dead scales; it is believed that this removes hidden pests and latent infections, and rejuvenates the plants. A metal scraper is specified as a working tool. But experienced gardeners warn against being overzealous.

The top layer - loose, filled with air - softens changes in temperature and humidity, especially in the off-season and harsh winters. Observations have shown that “peeled” apple trees freeze more strongly, and are also more often affected by diseases through microtraumas, which are inevitable with heavy peeling. Experienced gardeners advise carefully removing only clearly flaking pieces, as well as mosses and lichens, under which the bark constantly gets wet.

Lichens and mosses appear in conditions of high humidity, which often occurs in neglected gardens.

The areas freed from lichen are disinfected with a solution of copper (1–3%) or iron (3–5%) sulfate and covered with lime whitewash.

Why are cracks in trees dangerous?

Cracks pose a much greater danger to wood than might be imagined at first glance. After all, they accumulate microbes, bacteria, viruses that cause various infections.

If the crack is not treated in time, it, like an untreated wound on the human body, begins to become infected, hurt, and increase in size.

In fruit trees, the wound rots over time and forms large damage.

In order to preserve the viability of the tree and the ability to get a harvest from it, emerging cracks must be treated in a timely manner.

Causes of bark cracking

In the process of choosing a suitable variety, gardeners must take into account the weather conditions of the region. For example, growing trees with low resistance to frost in a cold climate will lead to the occurrence of cracks and the final death of the plantings.

Changes in the crust are a consequence of sudden temperature changes and poor weather conditions. When there is heavy rain, the trunks gradually absorb moisture, the smallest cracks will be filled with it. When rains are replaced by frosts, the water becomes ice, which, in turn, expands and tears the bark from the weakest and most vulnerable places.