Five troubles which result in holes in leaves

Some pests can cause serious damage to leaves and can strip a plant of foliage if not controlled.

• Capsid bug Pale green sap-sucking insect. Attacks shoot tips and young leaves of tree and bush fruits, leaving ragged holes. Spray the affected plants with systemic insecticide, such as dimethoate, after flowering or permethrin or pirimiphosmethyl just prior to flowering.
• Caterpillars The larvae of various moths can attack leaves of fruit trees, making many small holes. To control place grease bands around trunk of trees between mid-autumn and mid- spring to trap adult insects emerging from the soil; give the trees a tar-oil winter wash; spray against caterpillars with fenitrothion, bifenthurin or pyrethrins insecticides.
• Gooseberry sawfly Pale green caterpillars feed on leaves of gooseberries and currants. They can completely defoliate bushes. Spray with malathion, fenitrothion or rotenone insecticides.
• Shot hole disease Fungus which may attack cherry, peach, nectarine and plum trees if they are lacking in vigour. First brown spots appear, then small holes. Prevent by feeding, mulching and watering. Also spray the affected plants with copper fungicide in summer.
• Tortrix moth The caterpillars of this moth spin together leaves of tree fruits. Pick off or spray with fenitrothion, bifenthurin or fatty acid insecticides.

Eight problems affecting leaves and shoots

When pests and diseases cripple foliage or young shoots, the effect on the plants is debilitating.

Aphids Greenfly, blackfly and other aphids attack all kinds of fruit trees and bushes. Give plants a tar-oil winter wash, and spray in spring/summer with a systemic insecticide such as pirimicarb or with fatty acids.

• Cane spot Disease which attacks raspberries, loganberries and hybrid berries. Shows as very small purple spots on leaves and on canes or stems. Spray with benomyl or carbendazim in spring and early summer.

• Mildew Appears as white powdery patches on leaves and shoot tips of both tree and bush fruits. As soon as you notice it, spray with benomyl or mancozet.

• Peach leaf curl Affects only peaches, nectarines, almonds and occasionally apricots. All or part of leaf becomes thickened and curled, bright red blisters develop. Where only a few leaves are affected, pick them off. Spray with mancozeb during mid- or late winter.

• Red spider mite Microscopic spider-like creatures which feed on the leaves of mainly tree fruits but also bush fruits. Results in pale yellow mottling. In late winter spray dormant plants with a wash containing tar oil; during spring and summer spray with malathion or a systemic insecticide.

• Scab Apple and pear scab are diseases which show as olive- green or brown blotches on leaves, which fall prematurely. Spray affected plants with benomyl, carbendazim or mancozeb in spring and summer.

• Silver leaf This fungal disease attacks mainly plums. The leaves turn silvery. Branches die back. Cut back all dead branches in summer to about 15cm/6in beyond where internal purple staining ceases. Paint wounds with tree paint. If tree is too badly affected, dig up and burn.

• Woolly aphid Grey-brown bug that is covered with white fluffy wax fibres. Occurs on stems of apples, causing the bark to develop soft lumpy galls. Spray with a systemic insecticide such as dimethoate.

Two problems affecting roots and bark

Several tree fruits are affected by cankers. These are serious diseases, and must be controlled.

• Bacterial canker The most serious disease of plums, can also be troublesome on peaches and cherries. Shows on branches as elongated flattened lesions from which exude copious amounts of gum. The branches die back. Remove cankered branches and dead wood and paint the wounds with tree paint. Spray foliage with a copper fungicide in summer and autumn.

• Canker on apples and pears Sunken and discoloured patches develop on the bark, which shrinks. The branch usually becomes swollen around the canker. If the branch becomes completely girdled it will die back. Cut out cankered branches. If there is no die-back, cut out cankers to healthy tissue. Paint all wounds with tree paint.

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