How to Save an Apple Tree Gnawed by Mice: A Note for Summer Residents

15.02.2023 19:40

In early spring, summer residents walk around their property, planning the amount of work for the next couple of months.

Special attention should be paid to apple trees, which often suffer from the actions of rodents. Thus, in the spring, you can find that the trees are gnawed by mice.

The consequences may be different: tree disease, crop loss and plant death. It is better not to ignore the problem.

First, it is worth assessing the extent of the damage. If rodents have eaten a ring of bark, the tree will most likely die.

But even in this case, you can try to save the tree. Sometimes bridge grafting helps, when the cuttings are inserted into the upper and lower parts of the living bark. But it is important to understand that with such damage, the success of the procedure is a great success.

Apple
Photo: © Belnovosti

If part of the bark is eaten, then there is a high probability of saving the tree. The damage should be covered with paint. Then the plant itself will heal the wound, and while this is happening, nutrients will pass through the healthy part of the bark.

In spring, fruit trees are pruned. An apple tree damaged by mice also needs to be pruned.

The procedure is carried out proportionally to the damage to the crown, so that the nutrients are not used for a large amount of green mass, but for the fastest possible restoration.

Dmitry Bobrovich Author: Dmitry Bobrovich Internet resource editor