Cradle cap scab

Cradle Cap (Seborrheic Dermatitis) in Infants (for Parents)

Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD

en español Costra láctea (dermatitis seborreica) en los bebés

What Is Cradle Cap?

Cradle cap is the common term for seborrheic dermatitis (seb-eh-REE-ik dur-muh-TYE-tis) of the scalp in infants.

Seborrheic dermatitis, also called seborrhea (seb-eh-REE-uh), can show up:

on the forehead and face
behind the ears
in the diaper area, armpits, and other skin folds and creases

What Are the Signs & Symptoms of Cradle Cap (Seborrheic Dermatitis)?

Babies can develop seborrheic dermatitis when they're between 2 weeks and 12 months old. It usually starts with cradle cap. A baby with cradle cap will have slightly red scaly or crusty yellow patches on the scalp. It may also start on the face or diaper area and spread to other parts of the body.

Seborrhea looks:

red and moist in skin creases and folds (like the neck and behind the ears)
yellowish with greasy patches or crusts
scaly or flaky

Seborrheic dermatitis might look uncomfortable or irritating to the skin. But it usually isn't itchy and doesn't seem to bother infants.

What Causes Cradle Cap (Seborrheic Dermatitis)?

The exact cause of cradle cap isn't known. It's likely due to a combination of things. Too much skin oil (sebum) in the oil glands and hair follicles and a type of yeast found on the skin called Malassezia may play roles in the development of seborrheic dermatitis.

How Is Cradle Cap (Seborrheic Dermatitis) Diagnosed?

Health care professionals can diagnose cradle cap and seborrheic dermatitis by the way the skin looks and where the rash is. Babies with seborrheic dermatitis are usually well and the condition should get better on its own or with treatment.

How Is Cradle Cap (Seborrheic Dermatitis) Treated?

Cradle cap and seborrheic dermatitis in infants usually clears up on its own in weeks or months. In the meantime, you may want to loosen and remove the scales on your baby's scalp:

Wash your baby's hair once a day with mild, tear-free baby shampoo.
Gently remove scales with a soft brush or toothbrush.
If the scales don't loosen easily, apply a small amount of mineral oil or petroleum jelly to your baby's scalp. Let the oil to soak into the scales for a few minutes to several hours, if needed. Then use a soft brush or toothbrush to remove scales. Shampoo your baby's hair as usual.

If regular shampooing doesn't help, your doctor may recommend a mild steroid cream or antifungal shampoo.

For seborrhea on other parts of the body, your doctor may recommend a mild steroid or antifungal cream.

Do not use over-the-counter steroid or antifungal creams or anti-seborrhea shampoos without checking first with the doctor.

What Else Should I Know?

Sometimes seborrheic dermatitis in the diaper area or skin folds can get infected. Talk to your doctor if the rash gets worse or there are any signs of infection (the skin looks red, starts to drain fluid, or feels warm).

Cradle cap and seborrheic dermatitis in infants usually get better by 12 months of age. Seborrhea may come back around puberty as dandruff.

Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD

Date reviewed: February 2019

Seborrheic Dermatitis (Cradle Cap): Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Seborrheic dermatitis (sebb oh REE ik der mah TY tis) is very common in infants and children. It appears as scaly, itchy, white, yellow or red patches. It most often appears on the scalp but can also be on the:

Face
Sides of the nose
Eyebrows
Ears
Eyelids

It can appear in body folds and creases as bright red and shiny, including:

Under the arms
Elbow crease
Behind the knees
Neck folds
Groin folds

Seborrheic dermatitis is often called cradle cap because it is common in infants. Cradle cap in infants usually improves between 8 and 12 months of age. It does not spread to others and probably does not bother your baby.

It also can happen during adolescence, which is called dandruff.

Signs and Symptoms

Common signs of seborrheic dermatitis include:

Patches of scaly skin or crusts on the scalp
Greasy skin covered with flaky white or yellow scales
Skin flakes or dandruff
Mild to moderate redness.

Causes

Seborrheic dermatitis is the result of an overgrowth of yeast on the skin. This combines with excess oil production and leads to redness and irritation on the skin. That causes the scaling and itching.

In infancy, this is often a result of the mother’s hormones in pregnancy or through breastfeeding. In adolescence, the hormones of puberty can lead to this condition.

Treatment

Treatments may include:

Topical (on the skin) steroids
Anti-fungal creams
Medicated shampoos

Medicated shampoo should be used on the scalp and problem areas. It is left on for 5 to 10 minutes then washed out.

Cradle cap in infants usually clears on its own within a few months. During that time wash your baby’s hair or scalp once a day with mild baby shampoo. Home remedies listed below can help you control cradle cap.

Gently rub your baby’s scalp with your fingers or a washcloth to loosen the crust.
Wash his or her hair once a day with mild baby shampoo.
If the patches do not loosen easily, rub petroleum jelly or a few drops of mineral oil on the scalp. Let it soak into the patches for a few minutes. Brush with a soft-bristled brush and shampoo the hair to get out the oil. If you leave the oil in your baby’s hair, the cradle cap may get worse.
Once the scaly patches are gone, wash his hair every few days to prevent scaly buildup.

When to Call the Doctor

Call your child’s doctor if:

The cradle cap does not go away after treating it at home
The patches spread to your baby’s face or body

Other Information

This condition may come and go in children. Use the medications when the rash is present.
Sometimes the medicated shampoo is used weekly to prevent flaring. Ask your child’s doctor if this treatment should be continued after the rash is gone.

Sebhorrheic Dermatitis (Cradle Cap) (PDF)

Lullaby for the Apple Tree

Many beginner gardeners think that gardening ends after the harvest. And what, they say, is there still to do if there is nothing else to water, hill and feed? This is wrong - it is in the fall that the garden needs special care. During the season, he gives the owner so much useful that by the onset of winter it is weakened. So, before the frost hits, let's try to prepare the garden for the winter as much as possible. Then next year the flowering will be more magnificent, and the harvest will be more significant.

Zoya Kozlovskaya, Professor, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Head of the Fruit Crops Breeding Department of the RUE “Institute of Fruit Growing”, explains:

— Trees and shrubs, being insured against future frosts, gradually prepare themselves for winter, and then go into a state of rest. For example, an apple branch during the growing season dies already at minus 3-5 degrees, and in a state of winter dormancy it can withstand minus 20 or more. It has been scientifically proven that trees and shrubs are much more resilient than we think. For example, blackcurrant can withstand temperatures of minus 273 (!) degrees. True, if the cold comes instantly. And we have more and more frosts and thaws. Therefore, now it is necessary to make every effort so that the trees quickly retire and their wintering is as comfortable as possible.

The biological process of dormancy (that is, preparation for winter) in fruit trees begins with the upper branches, and then gradually captures the lower ones. Therefore, with the onset of early, albeit slight frosts, the stem and lower branches often freeze out due to the fact that they did not have time to properly prepare.

The roots of most fruit crops can withstand 12-15 degree frosts without damage. And soils that are open or located too close to the surface die already at minus 5 - 7 degrees. To protect the root system from winter damage, it is necessary to protect the ground from deep freezing. It has been noticed that the looser it is, the less susceptible to frost. After a rainy autumn, the soil is strongly compacted, displacing air and thereby creating conditions for rapid freezing. In this case, it is necessary to mulch its surface along the radius of the crown with peat or dry foliage. The main thing is that mice do not start there.

Even simple piles of brushwood or cut branches are excellent snow retainers. But the best protection for the roots is snow. Even its 5-centimeter layer can save them from 20-degree frost.

Some gardeners install real fences around fruit trees for the winter. According to the projection of the crown, they dig a groove 10–12 cm deep. Flat pegs a meter high or more are driven into it at an equal (about 0.7 m) distance. Roofing sheets are stretched along them with a snake and fixed with small carnations. The edge that is in the groove is covered with earth. The snow that has fallen will no longer be blown away from the near-trunk circle outlined in this way. A snowy feather bed will save the root system from frost, and the roofing will not let mice in. In the spring, such a device will not allow melt water to spread throughout the garden. Moisture will remain inside the circle and soak it properly.

Late leaves

If young trees have not shed their leaves yet, pluck them yourself. This will stop excess moisture from evaporating.

Doesn't everyone want to shed the still green foliage of mature trees? Badly. The first big snow (and it is always wet and heavy) will break the branches. Prolonged leaf fall is evidence of poor preparation of plants for winter. This often happens when growing trees of late varieties. Therefore, before it is too late, it is necessary to force the leaves to transfer the entire supply of nutrients they have accumulated to the tree. To do this, you will have to cause the leaves to turn yellow, and then fall off. Spray the trees with a solution of "Urea" (500 - 700 g per 10 liters of water) or a 3% solution of "Copper sulfate", which will help speed up leaf fall and neutralize the accumulated infection if you leave the foliage in place. Apple, plum, cherry and currant foliage affected by diseases and pests must be collected in heaps, and then burned or buried deep. It is in the leaves that the causative agents of coccomycosis, dead drop, powdery mildew, rust and various spots find their refuge for the winter.

General cleaning

Fasten the cracks in the trees with staples or wire, remembering to put a piece of rubber or wooden sticks under it. Make a hole. In dry weather, re-cover with oil paint or garden pitch wounds on boles and branches. Cut out branches with cancer and cytosporosis. Remove the tinder fungi, and disinfect the place where they were with a 3% solution of "Copper sulfate" (30 g per 1 liter of water).

Remove dead and cracked bark from trunks and branches. Thus, you will remove from the tree possible places for overwintering pests - weevils, caterpillars of apple and plum codling moths, scale insects, sawflies, gooseberry moths, spider mites and others.

Remove lichen from tree trunks and skeletal branches. To do this, make a 7 - 10% solution of "Iron vitriol" (1 tablespoon of vitriol per 300 ml of water) and apply it to the lichens. In a few days, they themselves will fall to the ground. You will only have to collect and burn them.

If the trees are overgrown with moss (this also happens), wash them with "Iron vitriol" (200 - 400 g per 10 liters of water) or "Copper sulfate" (100 g per 10 liters of water). Clean wounds and wounds on trees with a sharp knife and disinfect with a solution of "Copper sulfate" (1 tsp per 1 liter of water), and then cover with garden pitch.

After leaf fall, dried fruits and nests of pests become clearly visible on the trees. Under no circumstances should they be left behind! Remove nests of hawthorn, golden goose, gypsy moth eggs from branches and burn. Also remove and set fire to trapping belts, if, of course, they were used.

Remove all plant debris from the site, where pests and pathogens are sure to overwinter. After overwintering, in the spring they will begin to multiply again, infecting plants.

In autumn, perennial plants experience their second wave of root growth in a season. Therefore, it is so important to carry out the last top dressing of the season on the soil that has not yet been frozen by frost in order to accelerate the growth of roots and increase the cold and winter hardiness of plants. You can use phosphorus-potassium fertilizers (but without nitrogen!) Or a mixture of trace elements. A great alternative to purchased fertilizers is wood ash. It contains all the macro- and microelements necessary for plants.

No excess

With the beginning of leaf fall and before the onset of stable (up to minus 10) frosts, it's time to start pruning berry bushes. In severe frosts, the wood becomes brittle, longitudinal cracks may appear in it, which will no longer heal, and during the winter, under the influence of frost, they will expand even more and become deeper. Pruning of fruit crops is best done in the spring in March-April.

If you haven't thinned the shrubs yet, do so now. In gooseberries, without regret, remove branches older than 7 years and filamentous shoots, as well as all shoots affected by powdery mildew, leaving only 3-5 mature and well located. Currants should also be cut. In black, cut out all shoots older than 4 - 5, and in red and yellow - older than 5 - 7 years. A currant bush should look like a bouquet, in which there are no more than 12 - 15 basal branches of various ages. When thinning shrubs, do not leave stumps: pests winter comfortably on them. If necessary, carry out formative pruning of chaenomeles (Japanese quince), magnolia vine and actinidia. And do not forget to cut off the repair raspberries at the root.

Check spring vaccination. If the strapping material cuts into the stem, loosen it.

Last attack

After the garden is trimmed and cleaned, it's time to treat the plantings against most common diseases - powdery mildew, scab, coccomycosis, various blotches. Spraying is carried out in dry weather 1-2 times with an interval of 5-7 days.

You can use the usual "Urea" or "Ammonium nitrate": 500 - 700 g per 10 liters of water, as well as a 3% solution of "Copper sulfate". Such a concentration of nitrogen is detrimental to pathogens. You can also use a solution of table salt: 1 kg per 10 liters of water. It is necessary to carefully spray not only the aerial part, but also the soil under plantings. You need to start from the very ends of the branches, because that is where the aphids laid their eggs. Then process all the branches, their forks. Many pests hibernate in them and in cracks in the bark. Do not forget to walk the solution along the trunks and stems. In fallen leaves, under it and in the upper soil layer, pests also settled down for wintering. When treated with a solution of such a high concentration, you will destroy them. Why? Because the chitinous covers of most wintering pests are not yet strong enough. Mineral fertilizer, having penetrated inside, will disrupt their salt metabolism, and the pest will die. A plant that is entering, or perhaps already at rest, will not be harmed. Repeated spraying with a concentrated salt solution can be done in early spring, before the start of sap flow. But in the summer, of course, such treatments cannot be carried out. You can burn both leaves and ovaries.

See also

Too much wet snow can damage plants

For autumn processing, a solution of soda ash and soap (300 - 400 g of soda and 30 - 50 g of laundry soap per 10 liters of water) or "Copper sulfate" (200 - 300 g per 10 liters of water) is effective. But it is not advisable to use biological preparations now: microorganisms actively develop and work only in heat, when the temperature of air and soil is above plus 15 degrees.

With a shovel for pests

After the cessation of vegetation, be sure to loosen the ground under the trees and bushes so that now and in the spring it gets as much rain as possible. Most pests and pathogens hibernate in the top layer of soil at a depth of 15-20 cm. Digging will destroy sawflies, gall midges, crimson beetles, weevils and others, as well as their pupae, larvae and eggs.

Dig shallower in the trunk circles, and at a distance from the plants - on the bayonet of a shovel. When turning over piles of earth, do not break them - this way they better retain snow in the garden, and by spring the soil will be softer and more lush. Together with digging, ash can be added to the soil - this is not only an excellent fertilizer that increases the cold resistance of plants, but also protection from pests.

Mulch the dug-up earth under the crowns of fruit trees with peat, humus, sawdust, bark, wood chips, healthy foliage with a layer of 8-10 cm. This “clothes” will protect the roots from frost. In the spring, remove the mulch, at least temporarily, so that it does not delay the warming of the soil and the development of plants.

Berry suffering

See also

How to save the beet harvest

Treats for rodents can be both commercially available preparations and prepared on their own. There are plenty of recipes. You can mix 1 kg of grain, 50 g of Zinc Phosphide and 50 g of sunflower oil (instead of Zinc Phosphide, 5 g of Rat will do). A mixture of flour and gypsum (1: 1) works well, as well as flour, sugar, sand, cement (alabaster), seasoned with a couple of drops of vegetable oil for smell.

To protect plantings from rodents, install a fine mesh around the trunks of apple trees, pears and other fruit crops, rolling it into a pipe. Dig one end 2 - 5 cm into the ground, and tie the other through the burlap to the trunk. Such a protective mesh tube should be at least half a meter above the snow cover.

To scare away hares, coat the plants with a creamy mixture of mullein and clay (1:1) with the addition of 1 tbsp. l. "Carboxylic acid". Or rub with bacon - eared do not like this smell. You can also hang garlands of black cardboard circles or rustling dark bags on trees, as well as wrap trunks and skeletal branches with nylon tights. Excellent shelter and spruce spruce branches tied to the trunk with needles down. The most effective means of protection against hare raids is a mesh fence.

In early spring, as soon as the snow melts, you need to remove everything that protected your trees. Otherwise, the trunk will begin to overheat, and the buds (if the tree was completely wrapped) will bloom prematurely.

And to make visiting the garden more pleasant in winter, hang up bird feeders. You will help the birds in the harsh season for them, and they will work in the spring and summer, destroying pests. On a plot of six acres, it is enough to have 2 - 3 houses. During the winter, one flock of tits destroys more than half of the wintering codling moth caterpillars.

(8–017) 287–19–31

nvt–[email protected]

How to help plants survive the winter safely

If you do not want to find your site in a depressing state in the spring, help the plants to winter safely

November is the last month of autumn, winter. The days are waning and the nights are getting longer. However, until the frosts finally fettered the earth, it is too early to leave your site. Once again, go through it with a “watch” and take a look at what you forgot to do in order to go on a “summer vacation” with a light soul. And we will give you some tips and advice.

Photo by Alla Bibikova

Last winter turned out to be "childish", but this does not mean at all that the coming one will have an equally mild disposition. After all, severe winters are also memorable, mercilessly freezing bushes and trees in some areas. As a result, raspberries did not bear fruit, currants, gooseberries and cherries were only on the lower branches, apple trees and pears froze. However, for those who took care of their garden, even two-year-old seedlings remained safe and sound

Falling, falling leaves...

In autumn, our gardens are filled with the sweet, acrid smell of smoke: the leaves are burning. Some argue that the foliage is fertilizer and should not be burned. Others consider the ashes from it valuable. Both the first and the second are right in their own way. But not everyone knows that smoke contains a lot of harmful substances, including formaldehyde, which is very dangerous to health. Yes, and burning leaves, as well as burning dry grass, is strictly prohibited, since this can lead to fires, death of people and animals.

Fallen "healthy" leaves can be composted. And it's very easy to cook it. It is enough to sprinkle each layer of leaves with earth and water. After a year, the fertilizer (and mulch at the same time) will be ready.

Rotten leaves can be successfully used in greenhouses, as they generate a lot of heat. Plantings are sprinkled with them in order to better retain moisture in the ground.

Autumn foliage is the perfect base for a warm cucumber bed. Its device just needs to be dealt with in the fall. Just do not forget that the "featherbed" should be located from north to south.

Even if you just scatter the leaves around the garden and dig it up, it's already good. Indeed, the foliage contains all the microelements necessary for the life of plants: nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, coal.

Photo by Olga Rukevich

And here they are in the fire

After leaf fall, dried fruits and nests of pests become clearly visible on the trees. Under no circumstances should they be left behind! Remove hawthorn nests, golden tails, gypsy moth eggs from the branches and burn. Also remove and set fire to the trapping belts.

Remove dead bark from trunks and branches, where pests mostly overwinter, whiten them if you have not already done so. Thus, you will protect the trees not only from harmful "tenants", but also from sunburn, the formation of cracks in the bark that appear due to sudden changes in temperature.

After clearing trees of pests and dead fruit, carefully rake and burn dead leaves from diseased trees and bushes. It is in the leaves that the causative agents of coccomycosis, dead drop, powdery mildew, rust and various spots find their refuge for the winter.

Down with mushrooms

If fungal diseases (in particular, powdery mildew) are detected on trees, as well as foci of scabies, aphids, mites, moths, other pests and diseases, be sure to treat with a 1% solution of DNOC (dinitroorthocresol - a plant protection drug) at a temperature not lower than plus 4 degrees. If the scab has actively worked in the garden, treat apple and pear trees along the trunks and branches, as well as the soil under them and fallen leaves with urea (500-700 g per 10 liters of water).

Fasten the cracks in the trees with staples or wire, remembering to put a piece of rubber or wooden sticks under it. Make a hole. In dry weather, re-cover with oil paint or garden pitch wounds on boles and branches. Cut out branches affected by black cancer and cytosporosis. Remove the tinder fungi, and disinfect the place where they were with a 3% solution of copper sulfate (30 g per 1 liter of water).

Is there a scarier animal than a mouse?

For a young garden, there is nothing worse than mice. In winter, they gnaw the bark in that part of the trunk that is under the snow, completely “ringing” the tree. Which is why it actually dies.

To avoid attracting rodents, keep the area clean and tidy, remove all plant debris and “edible” debris from the garden, dig up the soil along the fences and paths. And tie the trees themselves with spruce branches, with the needles down. Cut reeds, sunflowers, raspberries, as well as roofing felt, burlap, roofing felt, rags, pieces of oilcloth, any dense fabric can be used as a stem bandage. But not straw and tow!

See also

Too much wet snow can damage plants

Perfectly repels rodents and wormwood, tied tops down. It not only protects the tree from mice, but also protects it from sunburn. In addition, such a strapping does not freeze to the bark and is well ventilated. Fresh or dried blackroot plants, scalded with boiling water and laid out in the garden, will also frighten away rodents. Red elderberry will also help. At one time, Michurin recommended planting it in gardens next to an apple tree, plum, gooseberry, or sticking elderberry branches directly into the trunks of fruit trees. The "wood pests" do not like the smell of printing ink. Therefore, in the absence of other means, you can safely wrap the trunks with ordinary newspapers. If time permits, coat the trees with a mixture of clay and cow dung (3-4 kg each), diluted in 10 liters of water.

Some gardeners trample the snow around the trees and pour water over it so that an ice crust forms around the tree circles and not a single mouse slips through. After thaws and heavy snowfalls, do not forget to trample down the snow again.

Start tying and covering the plants in late autumn, before the hard frost sets in. But not when temperatures are above zero. Hurrying, you will not improve, but worsen the winter hardiness of trees. The harness should fit snugly around the trunks and branches so that the mice cannot get to the bark and damage it.

"Fur coat" for flowers

The first frosts (albeit small ones) signal that it is time to cover the plants for the winter. So that they do not freeze out in winters with little snow and do not succumb to frequent and prolonged thaws, cover them with fallen dry leaves, straw, sawdust, needles. But do this only with the onset of significant frosts (down to minus 5-7 degrees), when the soil freezes to a depth of 3-5 cm.

Hyacinths, daffodils, lilies, irises, with green leaves of primrose, pansies, daisies. Bend branches of rhododendrons and hydrangeas to the ground, pin with metal pins, cover with old film and cover with leaves or needles on top. Spud clematis roots with peat or soil. The vines removed from the supports can not be hidden: they winter well under the snow.

Take care of conifers too. In order for evergreens to overwinter better, water them until frost. Coniferous plants are most harmed by the bright spring sun, which burns their thorny twigs. So wrap them in burlap.

Roses and frosts

And, of course, don't forget the roses. So that they do not freeze, cut them off, leaving 2-3 pairs of leaves, spud with dry soil and peat, cover with leaves. Put spruce branches on top, which will trap snow and protect it from compaction.

Photo by Olga Rukevich

Climbing beauties would not hurt to wrap, in addition to spruce branches, also with paper and film, laying them not on the ground, but at least on boards and covering them with sawdust, straw or peat from above with a layer 5-7 cm thick. into a bag filled with straw, remembering to cover their roots.

If your rose bushes are grafted, be careful that the grafting site is not exposed. Roses are afraid not only of the cold, but also of the winter heat (albeit rare), which happens during thaws. Under too warm "fur coat" they can rot. And therefore, do not be lazy to once again approach your pets and move the shelter so that air can penetrate inside.

Extreme in the garden

Until the frosts have shackled the earth, you can prepare a bed for winter sowing - the latest. Dig up the site, level it, make grooves 3-5 cm deep. In the last days of November, you will only have to sow dry seeds in the frozen ground, falling asleep on top of pre-prepared dry soil. Carrots, parsley, black onions, beets, dill are not afraid of such a winter extreme.

When sub-zero temperatures are established with slight freezing of the soil, annual flowers can still be sown before winter: alyssium, cornflower, godetia, iberis, calendula, clarkia, matthiola, mignonette, scabiosa, echscholcia.

Go to the root!

See also

Which trees and shrubs to choose for the winter garden

The well-known proverb to many that you need to keep your head in the cold, your stomach in hunger, and your feet in warmth, it turns out, applies not only to humans, but also to trees.

Winter for the garden is a serious test of endurance. Frost can turn the water contained within trees into ice. And then the ice crystals (besides growing) with their sharp ends will cripple them from the inside.

Each plant has its own winter hardiness limit, which directly depends on the variety. Different aerial parts react differently to frost. For example, fruit buds freeze more often than growth buds. But the most tender are the roots. They are in the ground, which cools much more slowly than air, and is covered with snow. Roots simply do not need to be as frost-resistant as a crown that is open to all winds. And if somewhere they are exposed, they immediately die. The roots of the apple tree can withstand temperatures down to 9degrees of frost, plums - up to minus 10, strawberries - up to 8 frost.

Bush hairstyle

If you haven't thinned your bushes yet, now is the time to do so. In gooseberries, without regret, remove branches older than 7 years, filamentous shoots, as well as all shoots affected by powdery mildew, leaving only 3-5 mature and well located. Pruning is also needed for currants. In black, cut out all shoots older than 5 years, and in red and yellow - older than 7. A blackcurrant bush should look like a bouquet in which there are no more than 12-15 basal branches of various ages, and in color - no more than twenty.

If necessary, trim chaenomeles (Japanese quince), lemongrass and actinidia. But take an ordinary quince (oblong) in the spring, when you can see how the plant overwintered. Then you will form a bush, leaving the required number of branches.

Go through the garden again and cut out any damaged, diseased or dead branches. Be sure to cut off the tops of young shoots with twisted leaves - aphids worked here and laid eggs. If in the spring you did a rejuvenating pruning in the garden, and then let everything take its course, most likely, a whole forest of fatty shoots has already grown. Delete them. Leave the cardinal pruning until spring: frost and cold will not allow the wounds to heal quickly. But the uprooting of bushes and trees that have served their time is now the time to do it.

Prostration

There is no consensus on the issue of whether it is necessary or not to bend gooseberry and currant branches to the ground for the winter. But gardeners have no doubt that under the snow they are much warmer. From a warm wintering, productivity also increases.

Bend the shoots of raspberries, gooseberries, currants as low as possible to the ground and tie them to each other or to pegs so that they do not rise above the soil by more than 30-35 cm. bend and freeze. Lay out the branches so as to avoid breakage. For greater certainty, press them to the ground with bars, boards, etc., remembering to place poison baits to protect against mice.

They only dream of peace

Protected by water

Trees and shrubs lose a significant amount of water every day and often die not from frost, but from dehydration. And therefore it is necessary to take care of the winter, the so-called moisture-charging watering. It will increase the reserves of nutrients in the soil, give more active growth next year, saturate the wood with moisture, which, in fact, will improve the wintering of trees and shrubs. The temperature of moist soil, as a rule, is 2-4 degrees higher than dry soil. Therefore, the roots are warmer, especially if there is no snow, and frosts are coming.

For 1 sq. m near the trunk circle consumes approximately 3-4 buckets of water. And so that it does not spread throughout the garden, make the so-called stem bowls. To do this, rake the soil around the tree (2-4 m in diameter) and fill in a circular earthen roller 15-20 cm high. Fill the bowl with water several times, making sure that it does not overflow. You can dig temporary furrows along a row of trees on both sides and let water run through them. If you have perennial grasses growing under your garden, increase the watering rate.

Winter menu

Finish your gardening with organic and mineral fertilizers. To increase the frost resistance of trees, carry out foliar top dressing by dissolving 30-50 g of superphosphate in 1 liter of water.

Sprinkle apples, pears and plums of late varieties, especially weakened by a large harvest, over the crown with a 1% solution of urea. If grass grows under the trees, apply fertilizer in liquid form through pipe sections stuck into the ground to a depth of 30-40 cm (root depth) along the entire projection of the crown.

FEATHERED ADVICE

To make visiting the garden more pleasant, hang up bird feeders for wintering birds. On a plot of six acres, it is enough to have two or three "houses". During the cold season, one flock of tits destroys more than half of the wintering codling moth caterpillars.

Photo by Valeriy Kovalenko

WIND ON US

What hares don't like

Photo by Valeriy Kovalenko

In winter, fruit trees also suffer from hares. They leave their marks 70-80 cm above the snow cover. And their "bites" are much stronger than mice. Therefore, tie young trees with nylon tights or coat them with rosin alcohol. To do this, dissolve 0.5 kg of crushed rosin at a temperature of at least 20 degrees in 1 liter of alcohol. Take care of painting in dry weather, until the thermometer drops below 10 degrees below zero.

NOTE

When thinning shrubs, do not leave stumps - pests overwinter comfortably on them.