Thanks Scott, that’s what I needed to know. Right now I have 8 peaches with RH & Mad making decent amounts this year, but only seven on my PF17, three on Reliance, and one on Intrepid. (Indian Free, Contender, & PF24c all had blossoms that didn’t make it). So I wonder if after all these other trees mature (and I’m hopefully swimming in peaches) if I won’t start seeing some of the problems that go along with all that.
But I guess for now I’ll stick with MFF and play a wait and see game for awhile.
This here is the same thing, I buy it at a local garden center. But it sits right next to some Monterey Fungi-Fighter on the shelf, it’s just that it’s $2 cheaper.
It could be that their MFF is old stock if they’ve quit making it? IDK, but it seems to me that more people are familiar with MFF so when I’m actually talking about the chemical Propiconazole I just reference MFF.
But I’ve used the Ferti.lome shown here, as well as Hi-Yield and others. They all have the same 1.55% of the active ingredient of Propiconazole.
Yes, to save your leaves. I use it for septoria spot control on tomatoes. and that copper is useful for lot’s of applications. It can be used on leaves, just in lower doses, it’s not kocide either. Which diluted can also be used in such a manner.
My Romeo is super sad. I just finally got around to immunox for (I think) cherry leaf spot almost a week ago. But I could already tell at that point that the Japanese beetles were attacking it. Ugh. I’m having a hard time doing well by these. Good hard lesson. Blackberries and strawberries may be it for me at this point! I’ll keep up with my five remaining - I think the immunox was too much for a crimson passion- it was a tiny thing and the leaves all turned brown after I sprayed! Got a quick pic of the Romeo before we headed out today.
Wow, that sucks! I’ve never had to spray any of my 4 Romance series cherries with anything. Maybe I’ve just been lucky? Or maybe these cherries have a hard time dealing with insects and diseases from warmer zones? (I’m in zone 3). Mine do get bacterial canker though, but I don’t think there is any spray-cure for that, I think it just has to be pruned out to keep it in check. Fruit finally starting to color up on mine, installed the bird netting yesterday.
Sorry to see that. My Romeo looks similar, in that it’s lost a lot of its leaves to beetles, I believe. My plant isn’t as big as yours, and just looks pitiful.
My Juliet looks great, even after a deer pruned the tips of maybe half a dozen branches. I put a better fence around it and it’s recovered nicely. It was a two year old plant, so it was already big to start with, but it seems to getting established.
If you remember I also have a Crimson Passion, it was a tiny little 8in stick when I planted it. It really struggled to get going, I was worried about it, but now it’s put on some very good growth. It may be double in size now. Still small, but it looks encouraging.
The beetles have pretty much left these two plants alone, not nearly the damage the Romeo has. I haven’t sprayed any of these bushes, BTW.
Don3a, I saved my orchard when I learned how to make bacterial compost tea. Being in that cold of a zone, I would think you’d have less disease pressure. North Star apparently does well up in your clime, but it has lots of problems with our very wet springs. I have to remember to water my first year Crimson Jewel in our drought like summers. Some leaf damage.
JohN S
PDX OR
Does anyone intend to aggressively trim back their romance series cherries this winter? I’m thinking of doing this to mine to create a shrubbier plant, but I’m not sure how much it will set back fruit production. Any experiences to share? Thanks
I have a number of cherry bushes at my property away from home. One day in early September after being gone for a short vacation I discovered that the three large (5’) Romeos had no leaves! I assume it was an insect, since they are fenced from deer, and there were no leaves on the ground. The other varieties had less damage, with Juliets second in line for damage. The branches are still supple, so I hope they recover next spring okay.
All three of my RS bushes are basically stripped of leaves, couldn’t have been deer, either, as I have them fenced in. Looks like the J beetles got after them. They looked great a couple months ago, dull of foliage, especially my Juliet, but now they’re just all branches.
I have 4 bushes, most are about 6 feet tall but the Romeo had grown to 8 feet by this summer. I found that made it very difficult to cover the row with bird netting, plus the upper cherries were hard to reach. So right after harvest I trimmed the Romeo to a bit under 6 feet and did some lighter pruning on the other bushes also. I was expecting some regrowth after pruning, but that did not happen. I’m sure this will reduce production a bit next year, but that’s okay, I want the bushes to be manageable and they are so productive anyway that a bit of lost production won’t be an issue for me.
I’ve not got to it yet, but I’ll be taking around 4-5’ off mine. I’m just debating when is the optimal time to do it. But it’s necessary to get them to a manageable height. I toyed around with doing it right after harvest, then thought I best wait until they go dormant. IDK, but I’ll do it and see how things work out going forward. (My bad for letting them go so long…)
My 4 large CJ bushes are too close to my apple trees. They will be cut back severely this fall. They have some suckers growing farther away that I will let grow to replace them. Will cutting them back to the ground encourage more suckers to grow next year? Im not sure if I should try to dig them out or just cut them way back…
I have a Carmine Jewel (1 of 3) that suddenly looks like it is dying. I was hoping it was just something with the leaves and it would be okay if it lost leaves and just come back fine next spring. I took a closer look today and I’m not so sure. It almost looks like some type of borer and I’m wondering if anyone has any ideas or had similar issues.
Here is the tree. Sorry the background is a bit cluttered, but the leaves are basically doing and falling off from the branch tips in.
The bark is still green, but it seems a bit dried out and not as healthy as the other two in the same row. I had a pear that had a borer and died from about a foot up, but came back great after I cut that off. That was mid season though, and I’m not really sure what to do with this one since it is almost the end of the season. I’ll have to check the others for any signs as well.
Have people had borers take out their Romance trees? Any other thoughts of what it might be?
Yes, if no borer entry it probably is. My Indian Free peach has had canker for three years, it produced 200 peaches I just harvested. Hopefully this tree can go on, good luck!
