Even experienced gardeners face problems when growing fruit crops. They put a lot of effort to grow a healthy apricot tree, giving a decent harvest. However, plants tend to hurt, suffer from damage and pests, which can lead to rotting and cracking of the tender pulp of apricots. Read more about why apricots burst, later in the article.

Why do apricots rot and burst on a tree?

Establishing the cause of the appearance of rot and cracking of pulp is the main task of the gardener. Such signs are a signal of damage to the plant by any fungal or viral disease. To make an accurate diagnosis, you need to carefully examine the branches, leaves and fruits of the trees, since the signs of some diseases are very similar. In addition, with bacterial spotting, the affected fruits also burst right on the branches.

Also, the invasion of any pests, insects or rodents can subsequently lead to cracking of the fruits of the apricot tree

Apricots can burst due to errors in care:

1. With irregular fertilizer application, most often with very frequent top dressing.
2. With excessive watering.
3. With mass pruning of shoots.
4. With increased acidity of the soil. Chalk, wood ash can lower the acidity of the soil.

The reason for apricot tree cracking can be heavy rains during their ripening period with a small number of sunny days. Fruits can burst on those trees that grow in the shade and near water bodies. Chronic diseases, fungal infections of stone fruits, in particular apricots, cause a decrease in energy, early falling of leaves, cracking, rotting of fruits, etc.

Important! You should consider the place for landing in accordance with the region of residence. Some varieties of apricots are demanding of climatic conditions and habitat.

Pests

The most common pests of a fruit plant are:

1. Eastern codling moth. Its caterpillars eat leaves and damage the fruits. In early summer, butterflies in twisted leaves or ovaries make nests, later on the fruits. Young caterpillars begin to eat the pulp of apricot fruit, which leads to their decay and shedding.
   

2. Californian scale shield. Small sucking insect. The stone fruit culture begins to suffer due to the fact that the Californian scale insect sucks all the juices from the plant - it is depleted. The bark begins to crack, the fruits burst and change shape.
   

3. Fruit striped moth. Her emerging offspring eats foliage, giving it a seemingly cut or torn appearance. A localized large cluster of larvae can completely destroy trees. Caterpillars are able to bite off small pieces from young fruits.
   

4. Butterfly hawthorns. The butterfly itself does not harm the trees - its caterpillars that eat leaves and buds of the tree are dangerous. Caterpillars cobweb dry foliage for wintering. On the trunk and branches during the fall of the leaves you can notice their nests - the gardener must destroy them. Otherwise, in the spring, the caterpillar will actively eat the leaves: in a day it can destroy up to 30 pieces.
   

5. Fruit weevil (goose). The bug does not disdain to feast on either leaves or buds or fruits. Most often, the goose falls on apricot trees from other fruit crops. When the apricot attacks a significant number of pests, the tree begins to drop leaves in the first month of summer. By July, a fruit crop could be half-naked. Weevils gnaw holes in the pulp for laying eggs - this leads to rotting of the fruit.
   

6. Aphid. A small insect finds housing in twisted leaves and twisted ovaries. Typically, an accumulation of black insects can be seen in June - July. They settle on the back of the leaves. Aphids contribute to weakening the plant, thereby provoking the occurrence of fungal diseases.
   

7. Leafloader. The nocturnal butterfly eats leaves, and the caterpillar of the leafworm hits the stem of the apricot tree. Cracks appear on it and gum bleeding begins; as a result, the fruit crop begins to dry out and may die.
   

8. Pipeline hawthorn red-winged. Pest beetles have a red color with a brown tint. For food, they choose buds, foliage, later switch to fruits. Females bring no less harm to fruit crops: they lay their eggs in a young ovary. Over time, the fruits darken and mummify.
   

9. Ticks Tiny arachnids feed on sap and are difficult to see with the naked eye. Ticks can be seen as tiny dots on the underside of the leaves that become spotty. Where ticks settle, the leaves fall prematurely.
   

Fungal diseases

Stone fruits, including apricots, affect fungal diseases. At the first stage of infection, the tender pulp of the fruit begins to brown, and then all parts of the fruit culture may die, since the fungus spreads at a high speed. In addition, rain, wind and insects help its growth.

Important! If you leave the affected fruits to rot on the branches, then the fungus will spread throughout the tree and pass to others.

Moniliosis

This is a common fungal disease. It affects all fruit trees, including apricot, with fungal spores, without exception. The disease has two forms:

• monilial burn. Infection of trees with fungus occurs in spring, during flowering, at a fairly fast pace. The ideal conditions for defeat are wet weather. First, the stem and flowers are affected by the pathogenic organism, and then the whole apricot and its fruits. A negative consequence of the disease can be a loss of yield, and then the whole tree;
  

• fruit gray rot. Fungal infection of trees occurs in the summer, a couple of weeks before the start of the harvest. The disease is manifested by the appearance of small spots of light brown in color on the fruits. Later, spots increase in size and become soft, with white coating on gray rot. As a result, the fruits rot. In contact with healthy fruits, especially in windy weather, the fungal cycle will continue.
  

Bacterial spotting

The main carriers of infection are insects. Gardeners know this disease as gnomoniasis. It manifests itself in the defeat of young foliage in spring with high humidity.

Did you know? China is the birthplace of apricots, but the National Day dedicated to this fruit is celebrated in the USA on January 9th.

Then the infection passes to the fruits: black dots appear on them. Later, the affected areas on the fruit pulp turn brown and begin to increase in diameter. Due to extensive fruit damage, a substantial portion of the crop may be lost.

Holey spotting

Also, this fungal disease is called kleasterosporiosis. The pathogenic fungus cladosporia affects almost all stone fruits. The first signs of manifestation are the appearance of brown-colored spots pressed into the leaves. Over time, they dry up and fall out, forming holes. If the infection becomes intense, the leaves may fall at all.

Important! Do not send rotting and damaged fruits to the compost pit to prevent the infection from spreading further.

The fungus also affects the fruits: fringed spots of a reddish color begin to appear on them. Apricots burst later. The trunk and branches also suffer from a fungus: they begin to crack and release gum - sticky juice. Depleted branches and trunk can dry out over time.

What to do if the apricot starts to burst?

One of the causes of apricot cracking may be a defeat of the fruit culture by kleasterosporiosis. If apricots began to burst when they were hit with a hole blotch, you need to:

• remove affected fruits from the tree;
• immediately treat the fruit crop with 4% Bordeaux liquid or 1% copper sulphate. You can conduct the treatment with the drug "Nitrafen." If frequent rains are observed in spring and summer, the procedure should be repeated 2 times a month;
• perform anti-aging pruning;
• destroy fallen fruits and foliage by burning;
• digging the soil around the tree;
• In autumn, treat the wood with a 5% urea solution. It is better to do this during leaf fall;
• spray apricot trees with fungicides and insecticides.

Did you know? Alexander the Great, the illustrious conqueror, was the first to bring apricot fruit to European countries from the East.

Another fungal disease, scab, can affect fruit cracking. The disease begins to develop actively with high humidity and frequent rainfall. The infection first affects the leaves, and then the fruits: hard spots of brown or gray color appear on them. So, the scab destroys the pulp of the fruit, and cracking occurs.

If the apricots on the tree began to burst when defeated by scab, you need to:

• remove all damaged fruits;
• make the maximum cut, covering the wounds with garden var;
• treat the plant with chemicals with such active substances - thiophanate-methyl, diphenoconazole;
• suspend trimming
• eliminate heavy watering.

Learn more about apricot tree diseases and their treatment.

Preventative measures

Healthy fruits can become infected from fruits damaged by infections, so rotten and bursting apricots must be removed on time. For the prevention of diseases and their spread, it is necessary to perform mandatory measures:

1. Trim damaged shoots, collect fallen leaves, fruits and burn them.
2. Destroy infected organics.
3. Treat the trees with the necessary tools, depending on the disease and its course.
4. Treat fresh wounds after sanitary trimming with copper sulfate solution.
5. Spray Bordeaux fluid, pollinating the trunk and soil at a distance of one meter in diameter.
6. Stop excessive watering.

Care Tips

In order to minimize the risk of apricot trees becoming infected with various diseases - it is they that lead to rotting of fruits and cracking, plant care procedures should be regularly carried out. It will also help reduce the risk of pests attacking fruit crops.

We advise you to familiarize yourself with the features of healthy and unhealthy properties of apricot.

It is necessary to carry out such actions:

1. With the advent of spring, clean trunks and skeletal branches from growths and other neoplasms. For processing sections, you can use 1% solution of copper sulfate. If the cracks are deep, it is better to use clay with the addition of fungicides to process them. Similar procedures are carried out in the fall.
2. Whitewash trunks, high grabbing skeletal branches from below.
3. Carry out forming crown pruning to avoid its thickening and to provide light access.
4. Conduct sanitary pruning, capturing a small part of a healthy shoot, removing and burning damaged branches and fruits.
5. Treat with fungicides near-stem circles.
6. Loosen the ground, remove weed grass - fungal spores can live on it for a long time.
7. For work, use processed inventory.
8. For plant care, use preparations of trusted manufacturers and follow the clear recommendations in the instructions.
9. If last year, too, cracking of unripe apricots was observed, then it is necessary to exclude near-top dressing in the current season. It is necessary to deal only with enrichment of the soil.

So, the main thing that a gardener should know is that the disease that attacked the apricot tree should be correctly diagnosed. It is important to understand what contributed to the rotting of the fruit pulp and its cracking, and immediately begin to carry out sanitary actions. It must be remembered that those drugs that are suitable for the treatment of fungal infections will be ineffective in the treatment of bacterial infections.