Content of the article:
Felted cherry today is grown in various climatic zones of the country and our gardeners in search of cherished cherrylarge yields of sweet, elegant berries. But no matter how unpretentious this culture may be, summer residents need to be able to recognize the diseases of felt cherries, a description with photos and methods of treating ailments will help to quickly and effectively deal with the problem.
residents of the Old and New Worlds met with felt or Chinese mountain cherries at the end of the 19th century. The history of the spread of interesting fruit culture in Russia began later. The first seedlings of amazing cherries from the southern regions of the Soviet Far East to the central part of the country were delivered in pre-war years. At the same time, the first cultivars appeared. But I.V. Michurin became a real popularizer of felt cherries. He created species adapted to the conditions of most regions of the former USSR.
Modern varieties that can withstand temperatures down to –40 ° C are distinguished by the highest winter hardiness, they successfully survive long dry periods, are high-yielding and large-fruited.
For several decades, felt cherry was considered almost the most resistant and unassuming plant among all stone fruit. Shrubs are not affected by diseases dangerous to related species. For example, felt cherries do not affect coccomycosis, which has become a thunderstorm for ordinary cherries. And even most of the pests that traditionally threatened cherries, plums, apricots and peaches flew around the Chinese guest.
Still, the disease of felt cherries and the fight against them is a pressing issue for many gardeners throughout Russia. Unfortunately, shrubs were vulnerable to certain diseases of fungal origin, affecting both ordinary cherries, and plums, and southern types of stone fruit: peaches and apricots.
Pocket disease of felt cherries
The disease caused by a fungus of the Taphrina family on felt cherries manifests itself in the form of an unusual type of ovary. Fruits that form after flowering do not have a bone and more resemble not the usual berries, but elongated soft bags. In such "pockets" the spores of the harmful fungus ripen, and the defective berries that are not removed dry out and become a breeding ground for the infection, spreading up to the next vein.
A disease of felt cherries can deprive a gardener of one fifth of the entire crop in one season.
If measures are not taken to destroy the fungus and the infected parts of the plant, in subsequent years the disease can lead to the death of the plants. When other related crops are grown near the felt cherries, the danger of this infection increases many times over.
For example, on plums, the disease of felt cherries has similar manifestations, and on peaches it causes leaf curl. 
For the prevention of this disease of felt cherries and the control of it, fruit bushes are important:
- should be planted in sunny, well-ventilated, dry places where the spores of a harmful fungus are less likely to develop, survive and infect plants;
- regularly pruning, prevent excessive crown thickness and immediately remove the branches with signs of the disease.
All the diseased parts of the plant are burned, the same way they do with fallen ovary and foliage.
As a prophylaxis, cherries in March are twice treated with a 1% solution of copper sulphate or 3% Bordeaux liquid with an interval of 5 days.
Modern systemic fungicides are no less effective for the treatment of the disease on felt cherries. They are used strictly according to the attached instructions. After the growing season, in the fall the bushes are pruned, removing all dry, damaged or weak branches, and then the cherries are again treated with copper sulphate.
Moniloz Felt Cherry
Mostly felted cherry suffers from monilial burn or moniliosis. This is the name of a putrid infection caused by fungi, which first infects ripe berries, and then, from the dried mummified fruits, spreading to shoots, flowers and leaves.
A gardener should be seriously alerted if:
- felted cherry dries after flowering;
- flowers wither, acquiring a copper-brown shade;
- dry leaves, time to form ovaries and young fruit shoots.
As a result of the defeat of moniliosis, the felt cherry in a short time can lose most of the crown, and sometimes the planting can be killed entirely.
Infection occurs during mass flowering. Spores of a harmful fungus through a pestle germinate into a pedicel and further, into the tissue of the shoot. Symptoms of the disease on felt cherries become noticeable already at the end of spring or in the first days of summer. Dried branches look as if they were on fire. The death of the branches goes quickly and massively, creating the deceptive impression that the shrub got into the zone of spring frost. Unfortunately, this is not the case!
If you do not remove and destroy the affected shoots in time, do not start the treatment of the disease of felt cherries, it is impossible to avoid reproduction of the fungus. At this stage, the spores penetrate the fruit, causing their mummification. Berries become a container of a huge number of pathogens, which will be ready for further settlement for another 2-3 years.
Moniliosis is also dangerous in that it affects almost all types of stone fruit, including the most common cherry. When felt cherries dry up, it is obvious that similar symptoms will soon appear on other fruit trees. Therefore, control measures and treatment of the disease should affect all cultures at risk.
Particularly attentive is to be a gardener living in areas where there is heavy rainfall in the spring and summer. Plants in the Nonchernozem region and in the North-West region are most often affected by monilioza felt cherries. Here, gardeners who expect to get a good harvest and protect the health of plants should annually treat the plants with fungicides. However, under unfavorable circumstances, the disease fully manifests itself even in the steppe zone, in the south of the Black Soil Region and in the Volga region. Here chemical treatment of shrubs takes place as needed. 
General approaches to the treatment of diseases of felt cherries
We must not forget that prevention is more important than combating the disease of felt cherries when it is already in full swing. To help protect the garden will help:
- early spring pruning of weakened, thickening the crown or completely dry branches;
- regular rejuvenation of the planting of felt cherries with cutting of old shoots and their gradual replacement by new strong branches;
- removal and burning of fallen leaves that remain on the branches of the fruit and cut parts of the plant;
- spring treatment of all stone fruit in the area with a 3% solution of Bordeaux fluid;
- removal of weeds and loosening of the soil under crowns;
- in the formation of buds double treatment of plants with foundation or another fungicide that is active against the causative agent of moniliasis.
When cutting branches, all damaged wood is subject to removal, and since the mycelium of moniliosis penetrates deep into, it is better to cut the shoots 7–10 cm below the dried section.
Sick, dried or somehow damaged branches should not be left on the plant. They weaken the fruit shrub, make it a target not only for pathogens, but also for the pests of felt cherries.
Among the insects that parasitize a culture there are several varieties of aphids, shield insects, cherry weevils and gall mites. At the first signs of the appearance of these pests, measures must be taken to eliminate them.
After sanitary pruning and chemical treatment to restore strength, shrubs are useful to feed, so that the plants quickly compensate for the lost part of the crown and next year they pleased the gardener with a good harvest.
