I have done that not by plan, if I have extra spray after hitting stone fruits I hit the apple trunks if its before petal fall on them. This is with spinosad in the tank. One reason why I think they often crawl up is the standard trap for PC is called a delta trap and its basically a “fake tree trunk” they crawl up.
How is everyone doing with the Surround? Here is an update from me.
I continue to have nearly all trees with little damage but a few hot spots. My White Gold cherry got nailed, it probably didn’t get enough spray earlier. Maybe 1/4th of the cherries I had to pull. A couple apples in one spot got nailed; fortunately as I was spraying I saw the guilty party and gave her a big squishy “hug”. On apples if all in a cluster get hit what I do is wait and see which fruits get a worm in them, they will be deformed in a few weeks. Usually there is one or more which only has a surface bite and that should mature to a fine fruit albeit with one spot on the side.
The early fruits that got infested that I didn’t find are now dropping due to the seed being eaten. I had a fair amount of damage on one apricot stand, it looks like 10-20% of the fruits are dropping. Since I had under-thinned it there’s no problem on the overall crop load. I am looking under that stand every day now and picking up fruits. The next tree in line to drop is Nadia which had gotten nailed earlier, and I am checking the ground on it out as well as there will be a load of plums there any day now. Right now I am starting to get the neck bites on Euro plums, this is an annoying problem and they need to be well-covered for a long time to minimize it. I grossly under-thin them in anticipation of losing a good chunk of the crop. Last year my Coe’s didn’t have many plums to begin with and I ended up with nothing after the PC OFM and deer came through.
We just had a big rain spell and I had several days with very little coverage. Fortunately it was also really cold so I didn’t get a huge amount of new damage in that period. The apples had gotten nailed after an earlier rain where it was warmer after the rain and I could not cover soon enough.
How many coats to start season? At 3 cups/gal for first spray of season do any of you get adequate coverage with just one coat? If not, do you apply a second coat as soon as first coat is dry?
If I wait say an hour between coats does the clay start clumping in the tank?
Excellent! Thanks. I have two pears I better hit for psylla as soon as the high wind dies down. I plan to use clay to nickel size fruit then bag. Keep Hope Alive.
Has anyone used Surround effectively for Japanese Beetles? This will be my first year using surround. I am attacked by pear psylla I will also use it for Codling moth. Japs were particularly long-lasting last year on my grapes.
It works well on JBs. You so need to keep the coats up after rains and new growth. I put down milky spore a few years ago, I got tired of all the spraying, and that ended my JB problem.
Milky spores do not work as well in colder zones but it is still a good option, all things considered. I am in zone 6a. I put them down 2 years in a row maybe, 8 -10 years ago. JB population has been low here.
You need to read the instruction on when and how to put it down. You want to do it correctly at the correct time.
Previously I have been adding neem oil to my surround which has caused it to be hard to wash off when harvested. Will using only surround/water help with removing it at harvest time???
Problem: About 50% of my Goldrush blossoms have dropped and the fruits are large enough for PC bites but I don’t dare spray yet while other 50% blossoms are still getting pollinated. Guess I have to wait to spray Surround and cross my fingers.
I see a lot of notes in this thread about use of Dawn soap with Surround. A note for those who are trying to be mindful of chemicals in their fruits:
Note that Dawn is a detergent, and not an ordinary soap… I had a personal incident with Dawn by which I first sprayed diluted bleach, then washed with water/dawn, and observed a chemical reaction… luckily I had a chemical respirator on, and the lung damage was temporary. However, know that Dawn appears to contain Ammonia or some derivative of it, and who knows what else.
Are there other soaps you all are using when spraying surround?
Some of my apple blooms have dropped their petals, some are in full bloom. Should I start hitting my apples in petal fall (and the few peaches) with Surround now?
I was putting some laundry on the clothesline yesterday, and I could’ve sworn I saw a plum curculio land on one of the sheets. So, I want to get ahead of them soon.
We had rain overnight and it’s cool and cloudy today. So the trees need to be dry for the Surround to take better?
I just hit what has the petals down. Since I am already spraying Surround on the pears cots and plums it is easy to also hit any apples that have dropped petals. So far no apples have been sprayed but it looks like half or so I will be able to spray this coming weekend.
If the bark on the smaller branches is wet I don’t spray, but even on a cloudy day the smaller limbs will dry out. So generally the only times to avoid are when a big rain is coming, it is raining now, or it was raining in the last couple of hours. I used to be more picky on when to spray but the curcs had a feeding fest on my unprotected trees so now I spray almost any time… really windy? Really no problem!