A tree is considered a source of strength. It is enough to hug him and stand for a while, closing his eyes. But no tree will grow if its trunk is left unprotected. What is the name of the tree bark? It is rightly called the skin of the plant, which is the protective cover of the trunk. The bark of a tree occupies about a quarter of its total volume. It depends on the breed, age and growing conditions. The thicker the trunk, the more bark. In adult trees, its volume decreases. On the contrary, it increases if the growing conditions of the tree have worsened.
What is the protective layer of the trunk?
Tree bark is an important part of it. It protects the trunk from damage and the harmful effects of the environment, regulates the process of respiration and nutrition. Any, even the most insignificant, change on the surface of the bark can lead to the death of the whole tree, if left without treatment. The structure of the tree bark suggests the presence of an inner and outer layer.
- The inner layer is pubic. It is represented by living cells, participates in the transport of nutrients from the crown to the roots of the tree and stores its reserve supply. Bast consists of three types of cells and tissues. The most important are sieve elements. In coniferous trees these are cells, and in deciduous trees they are tubes.
- The outer layer is cork. It is called a crust. The structure of the tree bark It provides a unicellular layer of living cells, which alternately divide on both sides, so that the tree grows in thickness. The peel directly protects the trunk from environmental influences and consists of three layers. The middle layer of the tree bark contains a special substance - suberin. Thanks to it, its hydrophobicity is ensured.
Tree Bark: Views
The bark has protective, conductive, healing properties. And it complements the landscape of your site with a texture, restrained colors and decorates it in the winter cold. Each tree has a different and different: a unique pattern, a color that can be red, white, green, gray and orange, the nature of the surface. On this basis, the types of tree bark are:
- Smooth.
- Grooved. Especially distinctly these longitudinal and transverse stripes are visible in oak and ash.
- Scaly species of tree bark are easy to distinguish. The trunk is covered with scales that peel well. A striking representative is the bark of pine. Larch is covered with a furrow-scaly bark, which is formed by layering scales one on top of the other.
- Fibrous. For this type of bark, peeling of long longitudinal strips, as in juniper, is characteristic.
- Warty. The bark of this species is characterized by small warts. A typical representative is a warty euonymus.
Bark disease
Trees, like people, are susceptible to various diseases. What do they come from? There are many reasons why trees are sick. An indicator of their health is the bark of a tree. She, like human skin, is very vulnerable. But, unfortunately, she is not able to look after herself. The bark provides this care to a person, giving him a plentiful harvest in the future or pleasing him with his appearance. The protective layer of the trunk is damaged by infectious diseases, pests, animals, frost, sunlight. And sometimes it just does not keep up with the growth of the plant and cracks, forming deep wounds. Only good care and timely treatment will not allow the tree to die.
Black cancer
Many diseases of tree bark lead to their death. One such disease is black cancer. It begins with the appearance of sunken red-brown spots on the protective layer. The bark rises, tears and cracks. Struck by black cancer, it is covered with small black tubercles. This is a parasitic fungus.
Often the bark falls off, forming open wounds. The disease develops gradually, affecting the trunk and branches, wrapping them in a ring. Sick bark is a great place for wintering the fungus. Black cancer occurs and develops due to burns, cracks and wounds. Weak tree development accompanies the occurrence of this disease. Fruit trees at any age are affected by black cancer, but older plants are more vulnerable.
Cytosporosis
This disease often affects old trees that are 20 years old or more. The infection penetrates under the bark of the trunk and branches due to wounds on it received from burns, frosts, various pests and large animals. The bark of the tree is covered with a red-brown bloom and eventually becomes bumpy. Cytosporosis quickly spreads to healthy tissues. In one and a half to two months, the branches completely dry out. Over time, the tree will die if left untreated.
Dropsy cancer
This tree disease is characterized by dark spots on the bark. Infected areas die, and indentations appear at the place of the dead layer. From them flows a brown viscous liquid with a repulsive odor. This is dropsy cancer. Young trees die within one year, and old trees after several years. If the disease has covered most of the bark, the tree can no longer be saved. To prevent the infection from spreading to other plants, they should be dug up and burned.
Infectious diseases and their treatment
How to treat tree bark for black cancer? First of all, the source of infection is eliminated. To do this, burn all the fallen leaves. In them, fungal spores live even in winter. When the annual cutting of diseased branches is carried out, the garden tool must be treated with copper sulfate so as not to infect the infection.
If the tree bark is damaged by cytosporosis, you need to remove the affected area and treat this place with copper sulfate. Then cover with var and bandage with a clean, dry cloth.
Circular lesion of the layer: how to treat?
If the defeat of the bark goes in a circle and captures the root neck, the tree may die. And if such a lesion is seen in the upper part of the trunk and branches, the tree has more chances for recovery. Wounds can be healed by grafting grafts. If this does not help, you need to transplant the bark from a healthy tree. If the wounds are very small, you can wrap them with transparent polyethylene without coating with var.
Lichens and their treatment
By the state of the bark on the trunk and branches of the tree, you can determine whether it is healthy or not. If the protective layer is covered with moss and lichen, there is a high probability of damage to the bark by fungal diseases and pests. Lichens tolerate frost and heat well. They perfectly coexist year-round spores of infectious diseases and the larvae of various parasites.
How to treat tree bark if it is covered with lichen? Treatment should be carried out in spring or autumn in wet weather. To do this, with a solid nylon or metal brush, lichens are removed from the bark. First you need to lay burlap around the tree. After cleaning, all this is burned and buried deep in the ground. The peeled bark and soil under the tree are sprayed with iron sulfate. You can wash the trunk and branches with soap-and-ash solution. In a bucket of water, half a kilogram of ash, one and a half kilograms of lime are bred and insisted for several days. After spraying, the trunks and large branches of the trees whiten. Lichens begin to blush and fall off.
Bark Disease Prevention
In order to prevent various diseases of tree bark, regular preventive measures should be taken. It is as follows:
- The trunk and main branches are cleared of the old bark, which prevents the growth and thickening of the tree.
- Mosses and lichens are removed.
- Disinfection is carried out. It is needed to destroy the spores of mosses and lichens, pests and their larvae. Damaged tree bark is thoroughly washed with a soap-ash solution. The crown is sprayed with it, but the solution is diluted several times with water. You can wash the trunk with copper sulfate, dissolving 100-200 g in a bucket of water. In its absence, iron sulfate is used. But it needs more on a bucket of water, 600-800 g. Often gardeners use sorrel leaves for disinfection. To do this, on the bark, you need to remove all growths to the very wood, level the wounds at the edges and rub with a sheet of sorrel. They are quickly tightened with a new protective layer.
- Cracks after disinfection should be covered with a var or a mixture of clay and lime. If there is nothing, just whitewash.
Often on the trunk and branches you can see the hollow. They eventually lead to the death of trees due to a developing infection. They must be shut up. To begin with, garbage is removed from the hollow, the bark and wood are cleaned of rot. Then disinfection is carried out with iron sulfate. After this, the hollow is sealed with pieces of cork or a mixture of lime with cement and sand. If the hollow is very large, it is clogged with stones, gravel, brick and poured with a solution of cement.
Thermal damage
Trees in the process of growth undergo a sharp temperature drop, when during the day the bark is very heated by the sun, and at night it cools. This leads to the formation of frost pits, cracking and sunburn. Thermal damage is dangerous because it causes partial or complete death of the cortex, which occurs due to blockage of the vessels along which nutrients move. This disease is called necrosis and is characterized by sinking of the affected tissue. Frost freezes can be easily identified by the bark that has separated from the trunk, where pests and all kinds of fungi settle and breed. If frost frosts are not detected and neutralized in time, hollows may form.
Diseases of the bark of trees can be caused by the sun's rays, when their direct exposure leads to burns. This usually happens with the onset of spring, when the daytime air temperature becomes positive, and the night - with a big minus. There is a cooling of the internal and external parts of the tree. As they cool, they shrink. Moreover, the outer parts are faster than the inner ones. As a result, rupture of the cortex occurs. To prevent it, the trunks and branches of trees are whitened and tied with burlap before the onset of winter cold.
Prevention of thermal damage to the cortex
- Water the tree regularly, from spring to frost.
- Do not apply nitrogen fertilizers late in the fall.
- Whitewash trees twice a year. This will protect them from the formation of frost pits and sunburn. Whitewashing smooths out temperature fluctuations on the cortex. The trunk, skeletal branches and their lower part undergo treatment with a solution of lime. To make lime stick to the bark better, add 50 g of wood glue to a bucket of mortar.