Apples without use of pesticides..

[rebelshope]

am I just dreaming or is it possibe?

I have an apple tree in my backyard. It was here when we bought the house. I am pretty sure it is dwarf, as it is rather small I have no idea what kind it is or even how to find out.

Every year the apples have pits in them. That is the best way I can describe them. I assume this is from a worm or something. The apple are rather small too maybe the size of a Clementine orange at the largest. I normally just gather them up and toss them to the horses but I would really like to eat some myself. Just not really into the extra protein from the worms.

I have to prune it this, I did not do a complete job last year. I am just trying to figure out how to care for the darn them.

Any suggestions?

 

[S0rcy]

We had an apple tree with really small apples as well when we bought this new house. i did not have the pitting problem, but the tree did have apple scab, and several other fungal problems severe enough for me to cut the tree down. The bark and pith smelled very bad throughout the whole tree.

Do you know what type of apple it is? Have you ever tried apples off it? What do the apples look like? Have you cut through the apples to see what may be inside? Do you have a picture of the pits handy?

Pruning should be done before buds break out into flower, or the tree can lose alot of energy by the shock it's put through.

Others more experienced with orchards may have better solutions, but a fertilizer may help it resist disease, etc. If it is a larval problem, then traps that can be hung in the tree may trap the insects before they lay in the apples themselves. Dormant oils are available to spray the tree in fall and this should help too. Does anyone have any info on where Dormant oils fall in the organic level of producing fruit?

 

[rebelshope]

I'm in the midwest so we are having a very late spring this year. The tree has not flowered yet. I will try and prune it today.

It is located in a windy area, and other than the apples looks healthy.

I have not noticed scabbing. I tried to look at some of the different apple diseases on the net and can not tell the difference between the different maggot/moth/ wormy things.

I have NOT a clue as to what kind of apple tree it is. They are red apples. I tried a side of one once it was sort of good. ( how is that for a description!)

 

[patandchickens]

Really? I guess I should watch the news sometime and see what's happening in the world Here in Ontario we had the world's latest spring, but are now into the world's EARLIEST summer -- it has been well into the 80s for most of the past week, and hasn't gotten below the forties at night either. In the space of 3 weeks we went from a foot of snow and ice on the ground (old, compacted snow and ice), to spring thaw flood, to crocuses coming up, to crocuses being basically over, daffodils up, shrubs leafing out, willows and some other trees leafing out...

I'm really worried about the bareroot trees (coming from near Ottawa) that I ordered and am supposed to pick up the weekend after next. I strongly fear they will be all leafed out and transplant very very poorly nothing I can actually do about it, but this mid-to-late-May weather is VERY inconvenient. Although of course terrifically enjoyable

Anyhow back to your apple tree On another current active thread, about spraying apples, I posted a link to a page from www.siloamorchards.com that has a bunch of links to pages from various extension services, etc on general apple-tree care. Go read some of them , then see what you can do to make your apple tree happier. Judicious wise well-timed pruining; elimination of competition or shading; intelligent mild fertilization, etc.

The apples may be small because of an unhappy tree; they may be small because it set too many fruit last year, or honestly they may be constitutively small apples.

If it were me I would probably try to restrain myself from being too radical this year in attempts to help the tree, but do *some* things; use dormant oil and bordeaux mixture at appropriate times, since they are not too toxic; and maybe hang some of those red sticky-ball thingies in the tree to catch codling moths (it is not clear to me if that's actually your problem but it will make you feel lie you're doing something and you can tell if anything gets stuck )

Good luck,

Pat, with 3 young trees, rather poorly tended thus far , that I am hoping will bloom and maybe set *one* fruit this year, is that too much to ask <g>

 

[ams3651]

I had the same problem with my trees, mine were small and pitted because they needed to be pruned. They got pitted because the moisture cant evaporate. If its still relatively cold in your area you may be able to prune still. Following is a link I found helpful. Im going to try not to spray this year and see what I come up with. I am just going to pay attention and see how it goes.

http://ssfruit.cas.psu.edu/Pests.htm

 

[Rosalind]

Anti-bug options:

1. Red ball sticky traps, the kind with pheromones, available at Your Local Garden Center.

2. Pick off many of the small green apples, the ones that are left should be wrapped loosely with paper baggies

3. Spray only the fruit with a slurry of kaolin clay. This makes them less red and inviting in appearance to the bugs.

"Pits" sounds like plum curculio, they are a type of beetle, fairly common.

 

[bigzio]

Growing great apples is really a challenge for me. I have 6 trees with a newly planted one today. I fertilize with composted manure, however I choose not spray anything toxic that will kill the honey bees.

It seems as though the trees on the outside edge, or next to a open field seem to suffer the worst.

I still am able to harvest many bushels of good apples, and feed the the rest to the deer and chickens.

bigzio