Apples and Pear Trees

[Nyboy]

I hate spraying loving the fig and mulberry more and more

 

[thistlebloom]

I've released ladybugs into my most heavily aphid infested apple tree for 4 years now. It was mostly for a hands on demo for the kids class. I didn't see much of a result from it until last year when the kids found eggs and newly hatched nymphs on the leaves the week after we released. This year the tree has some aphids but not the sci-fi horror that it usually has going on. It looks remarkably healthy.
I attribute it to the ladybugs, since I've not used anything else.
This year we will be releasing green lacewings as well, since they stick around better and are aphid eating machines.

This is just a general comment about aphids, I don't think ladybugs will help your mite problem @murphysranch although they do eat mites. It looks like you have a huge amount of them. I would use something serious and really get after them.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I have a very old bottle of malathion...I covet it...I'll give that a try. No wind today...

 

[ninnymary]

I hate spraying loving the fig and mulberry more and more

Do you have the dwarf mulberry one?

Mary

 

[flowerbug]

I've released ladybugs into my most heavily aphid infested apple tree for 4 years now. It was mostly for a hands on demo for the kids class. I didn't see much of a result from it until last year when the kids found eggs and newly hatched nymphs on the leaves the week after we released. This year the tree has some aphids but not the sci-fi horror that it usually has going on. It looks remarkably healthy.
I attribute it to the ladybugs, since I've not used anything else.
This year we will be releasing green lacewings as well, since they stick around better and are aphid eating machines.

This is just a general comment about aphids, I don't think ladybugs will help your mite problem @murphysranch although they do eat mites. It looks like you have a huge amount of them. I would use something serious and really get after them.

for a mite problem the answer is diversity. get some healthy soil from a forest floor someplace if the problem is mites on trees or other perennials. they are a diverse species and there are many predatory mites that will eat the other mites. problem may take a few seasons to correct but it is a much better approach than spraying. the more general issue is that people manage an orchard usually by mowing the plants down and having just grasses and not much other plants or diversity, also they leave little below the trees for mulch/forest litter, because they think it encourages diseases (which of course it can, but if you have animals which eat the fruits then that isn't so much of an issue... chickens will clean up an area under fruit trees and then rotate them out so the plants can recover, etc.). when you impose an unhealthy system on a plant, well, yes, it encourages diseases and problems...

 

[thistlebloom]

On my biggest maintenance job there is always a potential for mite trouble. Mostly spider mites I think. When I started working at this landscape about 7 years ago for the former owners, I convinced them that having a pest service come in and spray regularly wasn't necessary. It didn't seem to be having great results anyway because many of the shrubs were still getting heavy damage. Especially the cranberry viburnums.
I started thoroughly hosing the foliage off twice a week, and that first summer the results, just from that, were amazing. No mite infestations at all.

As to aphids on my apple trees, there is an interesting situation. I have two in the backyard flanking a path. Two different varieties. One is healthy and vigorous, the other has always been loaded with aphids. I mean, really heavily infested.
The only thing I've done for it is release ladybugs into it for the past 4 seasons. This year it has grown a nice looking canopy with just a minor aphid presence.
I just think it's odd how the two trees are growing next to each other and one always has a big problem and the other doesn't.

 

[flowerbug]

@thistlebloom is the one that has least problems closer to other perennials or ? but yes, i'm sure there can be differences as the aphids (and the ants that sometimes farm them) will find some plants easier to get through the skin. i've seen a lot of variation in preference on other plants like rosebushes. luckily the ladybugs only real preferences seem to be that there needs some place where they can overwinter nearby.

 

[thistlebloom]

@thistlebloom is the one that has least problems closer to other perennials or ?

The trees are only separated by a path, and nothing is growing closer to one than the other. Just bare ground for several (20ish?) feet.