Copper sulfate (scientific copper sulfate) is a bright blue salt crystals, often in powder. The substance is used in industry and agriculture against garden pests and as a fertilizer. Treatment of apple trees with copper sulfate is popular, because it is a gentle and inexpensive method.
Technique of processing apple trees with copper sulfate
Application in the garden
Copper sulfate treatment on the site is effective because of its action: it contacts with complexes of fungal cells or bacteria, destroys protein, and the disease disappears.
Iron sulfate has a similar effect.
Tree processing
Spring is a difficult period for plants. Diseases and pests can cause significant damage to the tree at this particular time. Therefore, an important stage in the care of crops is spraying the garden.
Copper sulfate is suitable as a top dressing for apple trees, pears, plums, quince because it has a small consumption for a large area. It is also used as foliar dressing.
Standard solution of 100 g of substance per 10 liters of water. If the fruit has a soft skin, the dosage is reduced to 50-75 g per 10 liters.
The procedure is carried out in spring, summer and autumn.
Shrub processing
For such plants, use a weak solution:
- 0.2% for tomatoes, process the back of the leaf;
- 0.7% for currants, raspberries, gooseberries.
Cucumbers are treated for spotting: 50 g per 100 liters of vitriol and 10 g of urea. Spring is the time of the first procedure, when the bushes have not yet released the leaves. Then spray for 1, 5 months. before the harvest. Spring processing of the garden is the most thorough, then most of the pests are destroyed.
Root disinfection
The substance has disinfectant properties. Prepare a solution:
- 100 g of copper sulfate;
- 10 liters of water.
This is a working solution for a home area. The rate is reduced for shrubs and flowers. The roots of the plant are placed in it for 2-3 minutes, it does not matter, tubers or bulbs. You can treat the roots of trees before planting. Then washed under running water and dried.
Tillage
It is poured over with copper sulfate to enrich it with copper. This is necessary for peat and clay soils.
Sulfate also destroys fungal cells or rot in the soil, they disinfect the beds with it before planting on the site or in the greenhouse. Working solution: 300 g per 10 liters.
It is not recommended to add it before winter - the soil is oversaturated with copper ions. A spring procedure will do. For these purposes, a solution of potassium permanganate, iron vitriol is used.
Other use of the solution
The solution is applied with a brush to the affected areas
After its antifungal properties for apple trees and shrubs, copper sulfate is still popular as a fertilizer and antiseptic for wooden structures or tools.
Once every 5 years, add 1 g / m² in dry form or make a low concentration liquid in the calculation of 30 g per 10 liters. For foliar feeding: 2 g per 10 liters of water.
The tree is processed in 3 ways:
- apply a 1% solution with a brush to the affected surfaces;
- boards or pillars are soaked for 48 hours, air dried for 1 month;
- a fresh tree is cut into a solution, it mixes with juices and destroys pests and mold.
Why spray apple trees with copper sulfate
Spraying apple tree trunks and their leaves with various substances in spring and autumn is necessary to protect the tree from diseases and pests. In addition, it also saturates the soil with copper ions, which has a beneficial effect on the harvest.
The substance is effective against:
- fungi (mildew, monilliosis, spot, powdery mildew);
- diseases;
- parasites (flower beetles, maggots, leaf beetles).
If fruit trees and plants are sprayed in a timely and regular manner, the costs of controlling fungi and pests are significantly reduced.
Spring, autumn and summer tree processing
In the cold season, the plants sleep, so there is no point in processing them.
They start working with substances even before the buds bloom - the first spring procedure. The prepared solution is used immediately, after storage it is unusable. Standard consumption is 10 liters per 100 sq.m.
In the spring
Spraying the garden with copper or iron sulfate destroys pests in the bark. Then the trunk is cleaned of coarse bark, old branches are cut off, and the remaining organic matter is removed from the ground. After swelling of the buds in the spring, but to the foliage, the trunk and crown are re-treated. This is done against possible flower beetles (weevils). They wake up after 10 ° C.
Summer
1-2 preventive spraying is carried out in the summer, but no later than 20 days before the harvest. It will help get rid of the stalk and leaf beetles. 14 days before harvesting, apple and pear trees are treated for scab, moniliosis.
In autumn
Processing in the fall will kill parasites
Completes the processing cycle. After harvesting, cleaning the site from organic matter, preventive spraying is done. In autumn, this destroys possible parasites that have settled on the tree in summer. Additionally, the trunks are treated with lime.
Fruits with a hard skin (apples, plums) can be eaten after washing with running water. Copper sulfate does not penetrate the peel, therefore it is not toxic. Only tomatoes, pumpkins, watermelons, melons, and tomatoes are washed. But pears, currants, apricots, peaches are processed in only 1.5 months. before harvest, because the substance penetrates through the soft skin. Shown for them only in autumn.
Dilution instructions
To plant a 1% substance for the garden. For this you will need:
- measuring containers for liquid and powder;
- dishes for solution, but not metal;
- wooden stirring stick;
- clean water 10 l;
- copper sulfate 100 g
It is safer to measure the substance with a matchbox without scales - 1 fits 25 g. First, dilute the entire volume of fertilizer in 0.5 liters of water with a temperature of 40-45 ° C. Then stir, adding warm water. This is how they achieve a working volume of 10 liters. It is important that the substance is completely dissolved: if this does not happen, a supersaturated solution is obtained. Before use, it is advised to strain through a filter, for example, nylon or a sieve with a fine mesh.
Precautions during operation
It is advised to spray in a protective suit and respirator, gloves and glasses. If not, use a change of clothing. Copper sulfate is toxic, although not fatally poisonous. Irritating in contact with skin and mucous membranes.
Treatment of trees and shrubs with copper sulfate.
COPPER CUP APPLICATIONS, PROPERTIES, DOSAGE
Saving the garden from fungal diseases / Treatment of the garden with copper sulfate
You must not smoke, eat or drink during the procedure. Choose calm, cool weather. When the substance comes into contact with the skin or eyes, rinse with running water several times until improvement. If swallowed, call an ambulance, do not take any medication. Protect children and animals for several hours from the site.
Spray gently if there are bees nearby. For them, the drug is toxic, they are not allowed to the plants for another 5-20 hours. If the dosage is exceeded, it is dangerous for plants: it burns stems, leaves, damages the bark, especially in the sun in hot weather.