I don’t know how y’all do it. We finally had a spring with no late freezes so I had a great fruit set and I was super excited. Only to be disappointed by the onslaught attack of Japanese beetles and the other common bugs and now brown rot. I could have and should have done a better job spraying I guess but dang it’s frustrating. Thinking about just cutting out the stone fruit and buying from the local orchards.
On the positive side my blackberries have been doing fantastic.
Mike
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I’ve had similar issues with trees. I’ve converted to mostly cane fruit and bush fruit which is a lot more spray free. we get a lot of thunderstorms which makes spraying hard to plan and get done. id just plant more of what grows trouble free, naturally there. mine is raspberries, honey berries and blueberries.
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May and June was pretty wet for us. I’m sure that didn’t help the rot any. It’s just such an emotional rollercoaster.
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It makes you wonder and appreciate all of the growers and
farmers of years gone by, and how they ever made it.
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After awhile you find a routine that works and until then its a straight up hill learning curve. The path is more like stair steps i guess because once we get a good routine after 5 years of perfect fruit something new comes a long and changes our plans. Hang in there we all go through the same challenges and you just got to stay determined to succeed!
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Growing fruit trees is a labor of love for me. If I didn’t love doing it…I wouldn’t. There are certainly a lot of challenges along the way
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Thanks all. It’s ironic too because I grow perfect citrus in the ground here. Just have to protect them. Maybe I should replace all the stone fruit with citrus. Lol!
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I understand the frustration with stone fruit here. Our old plum and apricot survived the late freeze and put on heavily, only to be torn up by the storms. They were mature when I purchased our place 30 years ago. In all that time, they have produced ‘almost’ every other year. It is disappointing to lose a crop, but sure am blessed by the good ones. Grow whatever you are happy growing. It could be the challenge that keeps you young!
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Stoicism and patience- if you don’t already have them growing things is the place to learn.
My son told me that he and his wife prayed for patience, and the Lord sent them Ana (their daughter & #2 child). If you knew Ana you’d understand!
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In years gone by, a lot of pests and diseases hadn’t gotten established yet
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What I lost in stone fruit has been made up with blackberries that’s for sure. Kind of getting sick of eating them.
Figs don’t have many issues here short of temps so I’ll focus more on them. Persimmon and pawpaw do well too. I just need to take the above advice and focus more on the stuff that works well.
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i think id give at least a few fingers to grow blackberries like that! try a mix of fruit bushes/ canes and trees. that way if you lose your tree crops you’ll always have something else producing to make up for it. i have 35 types of fruit with multiple cultivars, but only several types of trees. I’m slowly weeding out the ones that don’t work out and replacing with ones that have produced well here. mother nature will dictate to you what does well in your region of the country. if you listen and learn from her, growing fruit gets much easier!
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Well for now. A favorite of SWD. I see they have entered your state now. Looks light for now, give it a couple years.
http://entoplp.okstate.edu/swd
Yes, if you really want the fruit, and I do! It took me a bit too. My stone fruit is fairly reliable. As reliable as bush fruit.
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Thanks for the heads up about SWD. Will keep an eye out.
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Yeah sorry. I deal with them. they mostly win. I concentrated on earlier crops to avoid them.
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Harsh, but true. No spray (consistantly with a program), no fruit.
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Having to deal with pests and disease is something a lot of gardeners and nurseries gloss over. Every single thing that fruits will have one problem or another unique to your area that you will need to master to succeed.
Blackberries and raspberries I need to net or the birds will get them all. You also have to trellis and prevent their spread if growing in a small space. Figs need to be protected for winter in my zone, they also split with rain and get stolen by animals. My persimmon is getting attacked by persimmon psyllid when I expected it to be 100% problem free. Etc. Etc.
Gooseberries and currants are the closest to problem free in my area, but I still have to net or the birds will take their share.
I’m pretty sure there’s a every 10-14 day spray regiment you can use to alleviate a good majority of your stone fruit problems. Something like Immunox + Captan + Spinosad / Malathion with NuFilm 17 after blossom fall. Easiest thing to do will be to ask your local extension office, seriously.
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Dude i feel like that every day. I’m in my fifth year orcharding and overall its been a very trying frustrating hobby for me. While I’ve harvested a few things over these 5 years, ive put way more work into them than what I’ve gotten out of them. This year i avoided the late freeze for the first time and managed to get decent fruitset. But the deer ended destroying about 90% of my total crop.
I try not to be Debbie downer but its tough.
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Yeah, it is tough. One year it’s bugs, another it’s late frost, then some years hail, drifting herbicides … there’s always something. It makes me wonder how in the world did America ever get settled!? But they didc it, and here we are.
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thanks again everyone.
There is a commerical stone fruit and apple orchard about 45 minutes from me. Some of the best peaches I’ve ever had. It gives me so much respect for them knowing the challenges I have here and they probably have the same.
I have learned that I will(must) do a better job of a spray program.
Mike
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