Early spring is a great time to get ahead of tree healthcare issues with preventative treatments. Today we wanted to tell you about two treatments that should be applied in April – fungicidal sprays and pine tip blight/needle cast treatments.
Fungicidal sprays should be applied to ornamental fruit trees, hawthorns, cotoneasters, and serviceberry trees to help control issues such as apple scab, leaf spot, and various rust diseases. Insecticides can be added for an additional fee, but this should only be done when leaf feeding caterpillars are present.
Fungicidal sprays should be applied 10 to 21 days apart, and the first application should be made at bud break. You can start later, but control may not be as effective. You can also apply fungicidal sprays after a tree has been infected, but it won’t act as a cure, just as a method of suppressing further infections until the tree is placed on a regular program.
April is also the time for pine tip blight/needle cast treatments. We’ve previously discussed this issue, which has caused many trees in our area to die in recent years. To combat the problem, we use spray applications in combination with proper pruning, fertilizing, and watering during drought periods to reach maximum effectiveness. Spray applications should be applied 10 to 14 days apart, with the first application taking place just as new shoots are emerging.
As with fungicidal sprays, spray treatments for pine tip blight/needle cast can be applied later, but control may be diminished. You can also spray after an infection is identified, but it should only be used to suppress further infections.
Contact Cartwright Tree Care today to schedule fungicidal sprays and pine tip blight/needle cast treatments for your trees today. You can check out our website for additional services and treatments that we offer.