all-purpose orchard spray

[bassoonmom]

I'm new at raising fruit trees. My sour cherry trees (3) are doing pretty well. They have dropped their petals and fruit is clearly beginning to form. My young apple trees (2) have struggled with leaf scab in the past, and now I've noticed tiny caterpillars eating the leaves. My young peach tree bloomed brilliantly, but now has a little leaf curl. Also, my raspberries (2nd year on this bed) look overall good, with small areas of dusty leaves. My books recommend "all-purpose orchard spray." I'm reluctant to use chemicals, but I'm afraid I'll lose my crops. Any advice? Thanks!

Cindy in Madison, Wis. (zone 4/5)

 

[vfem]

Well, there are 'organic' mixes for orchards now. The main ingredient is Neem oil, an oil derived from a plant in Africa. No additional chemicals are added. You can also buy neem oil and dilute it. It protects against fungus and mildew, as well as a wide range of bugs. its not fool proof... but MUCH better then nothing.

I suggest spraying the first time in dormancy, then again AFTER bloom and its set fruit. Then again mid season, and probably a week or 2 before the ripening is done.

I think it needs to be use slightly more then the chemical stuff. Don't spray in the morning or afternoon while bees are active, don't spray when its windy either... spray in the early evening. I also do it after dinner for the staying power at that time.

As for your peach tree, if it has leaf curl... you need to pull those bad leaves before and after you spray and burn or dispose of them! (Not in the compost.)

:watering Enjoy your fruit trees! I LOVE mine!!!

 

[patandchickens]

You want Bt for the little caterpiggles on the apple leaves. Follow label directions; and keep a CLOSE eye for recurrence the rest of the season, spray again with Bt as needed. For best results you need to get 'em while they are small, as it takes a while for the Bt to work.

For apple scab, a big thing is to rake up and dispose of (like, burn or send to municipal composting facility) the fallen leaves at the end of each year, and consider getting rid of any chronically-severely-infected trees (that can act as 'typhoid mary' type things for other trees). If you also want to spray with something, AFAIK it is best to spray BEFORE scab actually appears (like, before the tree flowers), not just after the problem has really gotten rollilng. Common "less toxic" sprays would include sulfur, lime sulfur mix, or Bordeaux mix. My m-i-l uses Bordeaux plus a now-banned chemical fungicide. Really, growing resistant varieties of apple is probably the best bet in the long run.

Raspberries probably have mild case of powdery mildew -- other than making sure they have good airflow (thin canes appropriately, and thin out anything else that's blocking the breeze to them) there is not really a lot you can/should do unless it gets to be a horrible problem.

Remember that jsut cuz there is a little bit of 'something' going on, it is not *necessarily* a real problem in need of Doing Something. Plants can tolerate a certain amount of stuff on them, especially if they are kept growing well in good soil good drainage right amount of water etc.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Grow 4 Food]

Where can you get Neem Oil? What is Bt?

 

[vfem]

BT - bacillus thuringiensis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/RTProduct.asp?SKU=BOP-803&src=froogle&kw=BOP-803

Neem Oil - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neem_oil

http://www.amazon.com/Triple-Action-Neem-Oil-Bottle/dp/B001990XQM

With neem oil, the mixes are 70% neem... 100% is WAY too potent, and a bit stinky!

 

[bassoonmom]

Thank you for your collective wisdom!

Cindy