Spruce quite often are infected with various harmful insects, including aphids and ants. To protect the plant from death, timely measures should be taken to adequately treat the tree and get rid of pests. After reading this article, you will learn how to recognize signs of infection of a tree with aphids and ants, what appearance these pests have, and how to deal with them effectively.

Christmas tree diseases

Spruce trees are susceptible to various infectious diseases that can be transmitted by air, through soil and water, and can also be carried by animals from other infected trees.

The infected spruce loses its visual appeal and decorativeness, weakens and begins to dry out. Cases when such a plant died without timely measures in the fight against the consequences of diseases are not rare.

Among the most common are the following:

1. Schütte. A characteristic feature of this disease is the redness of the needles. There is an ailment as a result of the fact that the tree is attacked by fungal pathogens - ascomycetes. Black growths can form on young plants, in which fungal spores accumulate. As a result of this, the branches dry out, die off and fall off. Most often, the lesion occurs in late spring. These are signs of one of the varieties of the disease - shute present.At low temperatures in the winter, infection with fungi may occur under the snow Phlacidiumin festans. This provokes redness of the needles of the spruce. With the onset of heat, the needles change color from red to gray, the needles dry and crumble. This variety is called shyutte snow.This effect of pathogens can destroy the plant. Trees also suffer from brown shute.In case of defeat of this disease, the branches become brown and die, but do not fall. As a result, the whole tree is infected. A suitable technique to combat this disease is the systematic treatment of the tree with fungicides, for example "Falcon" and Quadrice with an interval of about 2 weeks.
2. Fusarium - A viral disease that affects the roots of spruce and the plant does not receive proper nutrition. The needles dry and fall, and the tree dies. Such spruce should be treated with directional drugs, disinfect the soil and apply stem injections. Self-treatment of this disease can lead to the death of the plant, so you need to seek help from specialists.
3. Rust ate provoked by a fungal infection and can affect the needles, trunk and cones. When the disease is exposed to needles, the needles become blistered, change color to yellow and fall off. The disease passes to the bark of the plant, it thickens and cracks, and yellow bubbles form inside. When the cones are damaged, dark-colored etsiopustules appear on the inside of the scales. As a result, the cones open prematurely and the seeds die. The treatment for eating from this disease consists in the treatment with drugs that destroy the causative agents of this infection. The most effective are Fitosporin-M and Abiga Peak.
4. Spruce necrosis spruce may develop as a result of a fungal infection Kabatina. The main sign of this disease is the death of young branches of the Christmas tree.This leads to a weakening of the tree, and its subsequent death. To combat the disease should be a systematic treatment of plants with fungicides "Amistar Trio", "Antracol" or "Falcon".

Aphid spruce

Aphids are the main harmful insects that parasitize on spruce, despite its persistent ethereal aroma. In the process of its life, this insect leaves a specific sticky trace, which remains on the needles and branches, attracts ants.

The aphid is small enough, which makes it difficult to detect. However, it settles in large colonies, which quite intensively deprive the tree of moisture and juice. As a result, the spruce loses its vitality, slows down in growth, and some of its branches even die off.

Important! On the site, it is recommended to plant mint, lavender or thyme, which will repel aphids from plantings. It is also necessary to get rid of ants, otherwise the fight against aphids will not bring results.

Timely methods to combat this type of insect consist in the systematic irrigation of trees with cold water (under high pressure) or soapy water. In the case of using soap, it is very important to cover the root zone so as not to harm the spruce. The procedure should be repeated with an interval of 6-9 days.

It is also recommended to cut the branches on which the aphid has settled.

Harm from ants on the Christmas tree

Ants are the main cause of aphids on Christmas trees. The thing is that ants "breed" this insect to get copper water. There is always aphids where ants appear. This is the main harm that these fairly small insects can do to a large tree.

Ants also emit caustic acid when moving. However, it is able to harm the roots of spruce only in large quantities. One way to combat ants is to use Diazinon. It penetrates the nervous system of the insect, which inevitably leads to its death.

By a similar principle, you can use Chlorpyrifos, it has a longer effect, gets into the ground and protects the site from the harmful insect infestation for about 4 months. Also in the garden near the spruce It is recommended to plant aromatic plants for natural protection, such as garlic, wormwood or parsley. Ants cannot stand pungent odors.

Did you know? Ants descended about 110-130 million years ago from insects that resembled wasps. Forest orderlies-laborers lived in the era of the dinosaurs, but did not die out and continue to exist until our time.

Existing Pests

Almost all varieties of spruce trees are attacked by harmful insects. Some of them belong to monophages - pests that parasitize only on spruce plants. Insects can damage any part of the tree: buds, branches, needles, trunk and cones.

The following types of pests on Christmas trees are distinguished:

1. Sucking. These include scale insects, aphids and spider mites. They are dangerous in that they absorb juices from the trunk, branches, shoots and needles. Often they are difficult to notice due to their microscopic size.
2. Pine gnawing. Damage needles and kidneys. These include various species of butterflies, sawflies and beetles.
3. Stem. Damage even the deepest layers of wood. They are represented by beetles, including bark beetles, luboedov and black barbel.
4. Damaging cones ate. This includes the caterpillars of leafworms, a variety of grinder larvae and seed eaters.

To prevent the plant from dying, the above-mentioned pests must be quickly combated.

Important! There are false shields that hit the blue and ordinary spruce. The carapace has a brown color, and males have wings.

Pest Control

Depending on the type of spruce pest, methods of control will differ. So, if yellow spots have formed on the mature needles, this is evidence of the presence of aphids. Often its appearance is provoked by an abundant number of ants.

Therefore, their population on the tree and near the plant must be controlled by treating infected areas with clean or soapy water. If the coniferous tree is affected by a spruce spider mite, it is necessary to spray the areas of insect accumulation with a solution of colloidal sulfur, tincture of dandelion, garlic or chamomile.

If the apical and lateral shoots become brown in color and do not fall at the same time, then the spruce sawfly parasitizes on them. The affected tree must be treated with insecticides. As a prophylaxis, it is recommended to regularly dig up trunks. With coniferous worms, a tobacco-based solution helps. Spraying should be carried out several times with an interval of one week.

Did you know? In Sweden, a spruce tree grows on Mount Fulufiallet. Today, her age reaches 9550 years.

If a spotted nightlight appears, which first looks like a caterpillar, and then turns into a butterfly, it is necessary to treat the affected areas with biological products and solutions from insecticidal plants during the period of bud opening.

If the cones are damaged by a butterfly eating seeds, it is necessary to treat the plant during insect pupation with insecticidal solutions. To combat bark beetles, douching of holes formed due to pests and spraying the crown of a tree in the summer with “Aktaru” is necessary.

Now you know what methods should be used in the fight against pests that have settled on Christmas trees. The most important thing in this case is to quickly recognize and exterminate insects from infected trees in a timely manner in order to prevent the spread of harmful individuals to healthy spruces. It is also recommended to find on the Internet a photo of the above insects in order to quickly recognize them in appearance.