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- Bridge grafting
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- Apple tree bark transplant
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- Tree rescue
In the spring, when the snow begins to melt, gardeners can expect an unpleasant surprise - gnawed apricot, cherry and apple plantings. Hares and mice in winter cold often raid gardens and spoil seedlings. Here people are clutching their heads in attempts to find the answer to the question of what to do if the mice have eaten the bark of an apple tree.
Bridge grafting
Rodents like to nibble not only apple trees. They can encroach on any fruit tree: cherry, plum, apricot. Mice eat bark, juicy young shoots of plants, thereby harming garden crops. therefore get rid of mice on the plot any gardener dreams.
Interesting!
The pear is the least affected by pest attacks. Her hares and mice do not like to gnaw.
If the apple trees nibbled the mouse around the ring or the wounds of the tree are deep, then the seedling can be cured by vaccination with a bridge. For her, young shoots should be prepared, which are cut off before the heat and juice movement begin. Gardeners recommend harvesting them in December. The length of the branch should exceed the length of the wound by 8-12 centimeters.
Vaccination begins in May. It consists of the following steps:
- With a sharp instrument, the trunk of the apple tree is cleaned of dried parts.
- T-shaped incisions are made on the bark at the bottom and top for each stalk. The branch, going into the incisions should be slightly curved by an arc.
- Each stalk is wound into cuts.
- All sections are processed by garden var and covered with polyethylene or garden tape.
- Crohn's undercut.
For young apple trees take 3 cuttings. For adults, about eight are needed.
It is possible to restore apple trees after a raid of mice in this way, if there is time to look after them. It is required to provide watering and fertilizer with potassium and phosphorus. From the cuttings, it is necessary to carefully remove the buds and sprouts.
On a note!
Strong shoots growing at the bottom of the trunk should be left. Then they are used as cuttings.
If the eaten apple tree has not recovered by autumn, then you should try to vaccinate with a bridge next year. Saved shoots are used for this purpose.
Transplant bark
Save the apple tree if the mouse has eaten the bark by transplant. This method is also suitable for apricot, cherry or plum. But the method is rarely used, because there should be an unnecessary and lively tree in stock.
On a note!
You can cut the bark from a wild game or a non-fruiting tree. Those who keep the apple orchard can have them.
Before you start treating apple trees after mice, you will need to prepare a template from cardboard. Then the bark of a gnawed tree is trimmed along it. According to the same template, a piece of live wild bark is cut off, which is quickly applied to the wound and nailed with cloves.
On a note!
The patch can be put even with a circular lesion. But success depends on clean surfaces and tree compatibility. Plum bark or other fruit tree will not work for an apple tree.
The site is treated with garden putty and tied with twine. A layer of roofing material can be applied on top. Crohn's undercut.
Tree rescue with surviving cambium
Mice rarely get to the cambium, the part of the trunk along which juice moves.If the animals ate the bark, leaving important organs in place, it is not difficult to save the apple tree.
There are several ways to help the tree:
- Damaged areas are wrapped with tape or stretch film, the branches under the wound are removed, paint for fruit is applied on top.
- Cut the cuttings from the surviving branches, in May remove the ground from the trunks to the root, cut the trunk below the bite and plant the cuttings. The operation ends with the return of the turf to its place.
- If the apple tree was bitten by mice, then sorrel is applied to the damaged area and everything is wrapped with a bandage. The bandage is removed in the fall.
Important!
Gardeners warn that a garden var is not suitable for cultivating trees. It is absorbed into the wounds and prevents them from healing - the bark does not grow and the culture dies.
If the mice ruined the bark of a young apple tree, then you need to look for the presence of kidneys below the damaged area. The strongest spinning top is left, and the trunk is cut. The cut is processed with a mixture of ash and natural drying oil. The following spring, a new crown is formed from the top.
Treatment of an apple tree before the onset of heat
Some gardeners advise against waiting for the thaw. In March, all the seedlings dig out the snow and check whether their mice were bitten in the winter or not.
If damage exists, then the following actions are carried out:
- Ice and snow are removed from the wound.
- The gnawed area is treated with putty.
Treatment of trees with this method helps the apple tree to build up “skin” by the next fall. This method is good because it helps to keep badly damaged trees. But the cambium must be alive.
In order not to encounter the problem of how to restore apple trees after mice, it is necessary to do prophylaxis and protect the trunks from rodents. For these purposes, a metal mesh is suitable, which is wrapped around a seedling. Can apply ultrasonic rodent repellers in the garden. Some gardeners spray the trunk with copper sulphate or lay out near the site poison from mice.
