I use Imidan on Plums first cover at petal fall, second one ten days or so later both w a sticker. If I don’t the curculios attack en masse. I believe they have one reproductive cycle (not sure), so two sprays have saved me for six or eight years. I used to have plum drop when the size of large olives, until I went out with a flashlight at night on the first 90 degree day and saw them flying around and then saw the quarter moon scar and hole on the dropped fruit. It took me what ten years to figure this out!
Now I deal with black knot on European plums, and got Indar on this site to try to attack that. It begins to seem hopeless after a lifetime of fighting everything. I quit keeping bees this year after thirty years of raising bees… mites, hive beetles, viruses, dead colonies etc.
The squirrels have eaten all my peaches, pears, apples, etc the last two years, so I began to trap them this year. TBD. But there are still the possums and raccoons.
Brown rot seems to get my sweet cherries and nectarines now even with fungicide applications. My coarse nylon mesh bags worked for two years on apples and pears until the squirrels finally figured em out. I have Gardens Alive lures in home made milk bottle/tanglefoot traps for the borers and I catch zillions of flies, but the borers are probably gettin in. I paint 50/50 white Latex with some Lorisban on trunks to help with borers and wrap sweet cherry trunks with nylon stockings coated with Tanglefoot for ants/aphids. Immunox on apples at petal fall for CAR.
I have what 70 trees of a mix of all major fruits. It never ends it seems. Gosh do I respect professional orchards!! How the H do they do it?
I think the big pros mostly don’t have mixed plantings
The professionals are more efficient because it’s not much more work to spray 200 trees than 150, as long as they’re placed together. For me, I grow less popular fruit that need less interventions. Plus the warmer the climate, the more pests. So if you believe in climate change, you can expect more and more pests…
70 trees is a lot! I have 50 or so, and that is way too many for me. I just did my delayed dormant sprays and I realize I am going to have to start downsizing. I just can’t keep up.
I’m a professional “home orchardist” and manage over 100 orchards of various sizes, but none for commercial production. None of the problems you site are insurmountable or even very complicated, but it helps when you have a system that starts when you first prune your trees.
To defeat squirrels and coons you need at least 4’ of straight trunk before the first scaffolds and there can’t be nearby trees or fences squirrels can launch from so that aluminum can be stapled to the trunks and greased and not bypassed.
Starving squirrels will defeat the grease and metal, especially on trees with less than 4" diameter trunks by attempting to climb them until the grease is gone. I use a combination of motor oil and axle grease and repaint the metal as needed during the season.
In your zone, PC can usually be easily defeated with Imidan, Avaunt or an appropriate pyrethroid at highest rates combined with a good sticker (I use Tactic) when applied at petal fall and just once again 10-14 days later. Managing all my orchards I can’t reapply after heavy rains, but somehow, regardless of weather, this works consistently.
I rely on Indar and Captan co-mixed to control brown rot and as long as I apply some just one time about a month before fruit ripens I get complete brown-rot control for most types of peaches and plums. If it doesn’t work for anything, such as some nectarines or cracking cherries, an application 2 weeks before should do the trick.
I can sympathize with Patrick, though, as I having been fighting a lot of voles, insect pressure, low fruiting, caring for bees, chickens, dogs, family…discouraging when all that work and effort yields such problems and small return. What if you picked your favorite trees and like ztom suggested, starting downsizing? Personally, I struggle with taking any trees down, even those with issues. I keep plugging away, hoping for the best. At 40 trees I said I was going to stop, and now I have 4 more coming.