When the insectivorous birds are numerous (tit, nuthatch, flycatchers, redstarts), we rarely hear about certain parasites with barbaric names such as cheimatobia and hyponomeute! So think about hanging nesting boxes in fruit trees. And then, if you have chickens, the orchard remains the ideal place to release them because they scratch the ground in search of larvae and worms that try to bury themselves to spend the winter.
But above all, in the orchard, once the leaves have fallen, the trunks and branches are open to you. You have plenty of room to clean: be careful, enemies are hiding everywhere !
Burn the dead leaves
To watch out for: after the fruits, it is the turn of the leaves to gradually fall. A normal phenomenon, which sometimes hides funny surprises.
The danger: the carpet they form is the favorite refuge for the spores of multiple fungi. They find it convenient to winter with impunity at the feet of their hosts before multiplying and colonizing them again in the spring! The list is long: pear and apple scab , riddled disease of cherry or peach, apple beetle, plum rust, walnut marssonina …
Prevention actions: to give you courage, consider efficiency of the purge that constitutes the collection, then the incineration of all these leaves …
Brush the bark
Watch out for: on the trunk and main branches, the aged bark is rarely smooth. Mosses and lichens cling to it.
The danger: the cracks in the bark and the hanging plants constitute so many refuges for the eggs or larvae of insects seeking to overwinter and they are numerous (codling moth of apple and plum, aphid, pear psyllid, canker, gall gall. plum tree…). In spring, after hatching or metamorphosis, nymphs and insects feed on the fruit or tree sap.
Prevention measures: before considering a treatment, it is essential to rub the bark with a quackgrass brush to remove mosses and lichens, which eliminates a number of potential shelters.
Remove mummified fruits
Watch out for: rotten and shriveled fruit sticks fiercely to the branches as well as dried up floral bouquets.
The danger: this is the sign of a widespread disease, moniliosis, which affects all fruit trees. The fungus overwinters on mummified fruits before attacking the flowers in the spring.
Prevention measures: start by removing all the mummified subjects before cremating them. Next year, remember that thinning out too many fruits is beneficial. When harvesting, only collect very dry fruits because, if they are wet, disease can develop during storage.
Pick up fallen fruit
To watch out for: damaged fruits, which have fallen to the ground well before harvesting, due to attacks by parasites which cause them to ripen prematurely.
The danger: codling moth caterpillars fall with the attacked fruits ( apple , pear , quince) before returning to the trees. Following the same path, the larvae of the cherry fly and the plum hoplocampus prefer to bury themselves to spend the cold season in the shelter of the ground.
Prevention measures : collect and incinerate suspicious fruits as quickly as possible. In the fruit tree, store only the healthiest: the codling moth caterpillar, for example, readily overwinters in the cracks in the shelves!
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