Lichen on a fruit tree: how to treat it to get rid of it

Unfortunately, fruit plants covered with moss and lichen are not a rare occurrence. This disease slows down their growth, the trees begin to bear fruit worse, and their branches dry out and die over time. In addition, unpleasant growths on the shoots are an ideal habitat for insect pests. How to protect poor trees?

The procedure for cleaning them should be carried out in early spring (usually in March) or late autumn, after the last harvest (in November). In this case, it is necessary to collect and burn all nearby foliage. How to process lichen on a fruit treeTo get rid of it once and for all, read the material prepared by the editors of “With Taste”.

How and with what to treat trees from moss and lichen

If there are already signs of lichen on the tree, we recommend preparing a 5% solution of iron sulfate (50 g per 1 liter of water). Apply it generously to the trunks and skeletal branches of your trees. After 6–8 days, the moss and lichen growths should fall off on their own. Remove the remaining scales mechanically. To do this, spread a film under the plants and scrape the surface of the branches and trunk with a brush, a wooden spatula or old burlap. Collect the fallen pieces into a pile and destroy. Also, do not forget to treat the soil under the trees with the solution, because iron sulfate is the best remedy for the prevention of most diseases of fruit trees.

Thinning pruning

If your garden is in a neglected state, when literally all the trees are covered with moss and lichen, then carry out sanitary felling before starting to clean it with vitriol. Carefully examine each fruit tree and trim off any dead branches. Some trees may be so affected that cleaning them is pointless.

Remember to do thinning pruning on a regular basis to keep the crowns from becoming crowded. This will have a beneficial effect on the additional flow of light and air. This way you will not have high humidity. Accordingly, your trees will not be afraid of excessive growth of mosses and lichens.

After thinning, remove large parts of lichens and mosses by hand. Then prepare a solution of copper sulfate. To do this, dissolve 400 to 500 g of powder in 10 liters of water. Trees are treated with this composition in the same way as iron sulfate. Treatment with a solution in this concentration is carried out once every 5 years. Sometimes even one time is enough for the garden to get rid of all kinds of mosses and lichens forever.

Try not to let your fruit trees grow and from time to time inspect their bark. If you find even small “islands” of moss, carefully remove them. Remember: with large growths it will be much more difficult for you. We previously wrote about who needs to drink raspberry leaf tincture to be healthy.