Hello,
First want to thank the forum community, moderators and creators. I have used this forum for years and have learned a tremendous amount.
I live in central Ohio, 6a. I’m not new to gardening or growing trees per se. However, I am relatively new to getting to the harvest stage. I planted an 8-tree orchard in 2016 on our previous property, only to sell it in 2020 before I could get any fruit from them. I was bummed about that, but we have a new property with more land and very thankful to have it. Eventually we will have 30 trees or so. Currently I have 14 peach varieties ( my favorite), 5 apples and 6 pears. I have one more (maybe 2 
) peach I want and a handful of apples and pears ordered for next year. About 12 of my trees are 3-4 years old and ready to fruit. I will be following Scott’s low impact spray schedule to produce the most organically grown fruit I can. I plan to make adjustments/use synthetics as I learn and observe what works and what doesn’t. One thing I know will differ is my use of pyrethrin/pyrethrum (Pyganic). The japanese beetles in my area get literally plague-worthy. Spraying pyrethrin and dusting diatomaceous earth (I use a Dustin Mizer) has been effective enough to keep them at bay. I also use traps. Hopefully the other things I’m adding this year, like Surround, will help even more.
Finally, to my question. I want to add sulfur now and then to my pyrethrin tank. Adding it to the surround mix seems like a clog waiting to happen as my sulfur is Bonide dry flowable. Searched this site and others and can’t find any real answers. I know sulfur and oil are a no no. Pyrethrum comes from an oil, but not sure if it’s still an oil after extraction or would cause issues if mixed with sulfur. There is an orchard spray containing the two, but I have no idea if they match my products or rates. Anyone have some experience mixing these? Thanks in advance!
For anyone interested, a rep from MGK finally got back to me and explained that mixing sulfur with pyrethrin is not a good idea. Although not exactly like neem or mineral oil, pyrethrin/pyrethrum are oil based and there would be a danger of phototoxicity.
2 Likes
I appreciated your post, FF, as I have an orchard in Virginia much like yours. I have been using Spinosad against plum curculio on peaches, plums, apricots, and apples with mixed results despite being diligent. I want to be careful to not damage pollinator populations, and also find a more effective spray against plum curculio. I am curious about your experience with Pyganic. Safety precautions are similar to those for using Spinosad. Is it working well for you? What is your frequency? Same questions for the separate sulfur application.
Hello. I still use pyganic, but mostly for a knockdown of visible pests. During the warmest nights when the peaches nickel sized I will do a few cover sprays. The rest of the year I use it to kill jap beetles and aphids. I have adopted Scott’s organic program with some modifications. My 4 gal tank mix is usually surround, spinosad, bacillus amyloliquefaciens, bacillus thuringiensis, Madex, hort oil and raw milk (1/4 gal). Every 7-10 days in spring. This covers most of my pests/diseases and is all organic. I still get plenty of damage and problems, but a decent harvest with no chems. I no longer use dry sulfur. It didn’t seem to do anything. I do spray oil/lime sulfur twice in dormancy. What do you use and how many peaches are you getting?
Thanks for the info. I have a variety of stone fruit trees on a south-facing slope next to my home on a good sized lake that does not freeze. I mention this because even though the zone is 7b, those trees experience their own microclimate that is ahead of everything else in the area. But they are still subject to the inevitable freaky spring weather that may include a cold snap and freezing rain. All the trees are about 5 years old now. My nectarines and peaches have been producing well for a couple of years, but I’m not getting any production out of the plums or apriums yet. The apriums are starting to blossom right now - not great because their are no pollinators yet, and because of the freezes we have gotten in the past. So I am converting those over to several varieties of later-blooming apricots this spring via grafting. I am seeing many fruit spurs on the plum trees this year, so maybe they are getting established enough to set some fruit. The main problem I see is plum curculio, based on the stem cuts on early fruit and C-shaped bites. Last year, I sprayed with spinosad, starting early, and then covered the peaches and nectarines with zippered shrouds. (I keep the trees under 8 feet for easy harvesting and to reduce the need to spray.) The shrouds protect against marauding raccoons and squirrels too, but new growth is deformed by the confinement. For the first time, I lost all the fruit on the O’Henry peach tree due to rot last year. I think that it did not get enough air circulation and sun, due to the shroud and a nearby competing peach tree, but I don’t really know. I don’t shroud the plums or apriums, and the few fruit I see don’t seem protected by the spinosad. I have Surround on hand, so I think I will use it this year, and also adopt Scotts program with some of your additions. I do plan on doing better night surveillance this summer, using the PyGanic as you are for any high activity. To answer your question about yield, with thinning, I am getting dozens of moderate- sized fruits from each of my 4 five-year old peach trees with some acceptable insect damage on some of them. I slice and freeze most of them. In the winter, It is really nice to cook these up with some of the apples and pineapple guavas from another part of the 1 acre property. I let the apple trees get a little bigger, so no shrouds. The spinosad has not done a great job keeping those pest free, so I will try PyGanic and Surround on those as well. I have rotated to higher fire blight resistant varieties of apples/pears/asian pears and that has helped with FB. Also spray with Streptomycin once with the first sunny wet weather in the spring with good success. When I see a lot of concentrated J beetles, I hand spray them with a combo of water, cooking oil, and dish detergent. They really don’t like it, and it hasn’t hurt the foliage. If this sounds like it is getting to be a job, that would be correct. But the good fruit makes it worth it.