Help the development of the site, sharing the article with friends!
Even with good site conditions and the best care, tree diseases cannot always be prevented. Fungi, bacteria and other pathogens can sometimes cause serious damage. This is especially true for trees planted in densely populated areas with a lot of car traffic - these are under a lot of stress due to numerous causes. Vaccination can strengthen these trees.
A good portion of compost replaces a vaccination
Good and bad microorganisms
Phytophthora and other harmful organisms enter the tree via the soil. They spread very quickly, especially when the tree is quite young, has just been planted, or is otherwise weakened. In some communities, therefore, for some years now, when new city trees are planted, a cocktail of strengthening microorganisms - for example mycorrhiza soil fungi - has been vaccinated. In particular, mycorrhizal fungi enter into a symbiosis with the tree, in which the partners supply each other with nutrients and thus strengthen each other. It is not without reason that such communities are often found in forest trees - beech or spruce trees thrive better in the company of porcini mushrooms, birch trees together with birch mushrooms, etc. Such an effect can also be simulated in garden trees.
"Vaccinate" the garden tree - Here's how
Now you don't have to inoculate your trees with porcini spores - which in all likelihood is doomed to fail in the garden anyway - to strengthen them. Conventional compost often has the same effect, as it contains a large proportion of valuable, living soil organisms. For this reason, when planting a tree, a generous shovelful of compost should always be placed in the planting hole, ideally together with horn shavings (€32.93) or another long-term fertilizer. This measure also has the advantage that the soil is loosened and made more permeable, so that the roots can grow faster. Furthermore, the supply of the young plant with valuable nutrients is secured.
tips
When your grandparents talk about "tree vaccination", they rarely mean the preventative treatment of diseases. Instead, "vaccination" is an outdated term for budding, a form of grafting that is particularly common in fruit trees.