Hi, I’m new here. I was going online with a lot of fruit tree questions, and most of my searches would pull up this website. Finally, I decided I may as well become a member! Thank you for So much wonderful advice. Most of what I’ve been searching lately, is safety of chemical sprays and trying to get more advice about chemical spray rotations. A lot of what I have been able to find on here is geared more toward organic or low chemical applications.
A bit about my situation, some years ago I planted three apples, Two peach trees, two plums. My goal was to get enough fruit to feed our family. I do a lot of canning and freezing, so I was hoping to furnish all our own fruit needs. We moved away while these trees were still growing and not producing much, were in service for three years, and now come back to mature fruit trees.
I am delighted with the trees, but realize I am not going to get any fruit without some effort. My first couple sprays after dormant were with a multipurpose fruit tree spray. I also purchased Topsin and imidan from a small garden store in Ohio, mostly because they were recommended as fairly guaranteed to work. I soon learned about plum curculio And decided to start using the imidan. But now what has me freaked out is the label and warnings! I don’t mind chemicals, but when you are advised to stay out of the area for four days, that says something. My worst horror was yesterday when I discovered one of my kids had went out to the Plumtree and picked some baby plums that had just been sprayed the day before. The trees are not very close to the house, but kids do roam! One of the growing experts at the garden store told me that I can expect 180 hours from the imidan if I acidify the water properly. So I have been doing a seven day schedule, and we’ve been having a lot of rain. So far my fruit looks really nice, but one of the apple trees just had petal fall. So I really would like to spray one more time with Imidan before going to something else. In my gardening practices, I tend to use chemicals while the plants are small and switch to natural stuff when we are getting close to harvest. That’s what I had in mind for my fruit as well, if I can figure out what will actually be effective. Where we were living in Central Virginia, we had some challenges with pest and disease in the garden, but it doesn’t hold a candle to what we face in West Tennessee! I have never seen an area with more growing challenges. my gardening friends that have moved to this area also say the same thing. So I am assuming my fruit trees will have the same challenges to deal with as the garden, and I want to stay on top of it. Any advice appreciated.
Yeah this is a tough call. Maybe put some raspberries or blackberries in and point your children to them. In an area away from the trees. A mulberry tree is also good.
Fencing the area would work. I didn’t start fruit trees until after my kids were long gone. My youngest now is 39!
For now maybe start using kaolin clay to fool the curculio. A little clay never hurt anybody. At least til they are old enough to understand the danger.
I wouldn’t recommend using Imidan in a small backyard planting. It’s an organophosphate and has a fair amount of toxicity to mammals (including people). If your using it be especially careful when doing the initial mixing since it’s much more concentrated before you mix it in the water.
I would recommend going to Sevin. The new formulation of Sevin has Zeta-Cypermethrin as the active ingredient. It’s fairly effective and has much less toxicity to people and mammals.
I would take a look at Alan’s spray guide it has quite a bit of useful info and it’s a good place to start.
I think apples are going to be doable in Tennessee. Peaches and plums are going to be more challenging primarily due to brown rot. Captan and Indar are pretty effective against brown rot. I should point out that Captan needs to be mixed into acidic water or it will decompose quickly.
Hopefully, @thecityman will comment on this thread. He is in Tennessee too and is growing stone fruits like sweet cherries and peaches so his local experiences would be very helpful to you.
Thanks for all the advice so far! The spray chart is useful. I see topsin may not be the best thing for brown rot. I may have to look into the systemic fertilome product or locating some indar. I also have an old bag of elevate on the shelf. Maybe that would work?
I do not like to be bested by gardening challenges, and a weekly spray schedule is very doable if it means reaping a good harvest!
I’m still listening 
I use two fungicides for brown rot. Infuse which has the same mode of action as Indar. but not as good. Still works though. And Fruit Tree and plant guard which has two fungicide that have a different mode of action. It’s a commercial grade fungicide home owners can use on brown rot. So I’m attacking brown rot on two fronts. It has worked for me if I keep up with allowed sprays per season. If I miss one I might see brown rot.
I know you don’t mind spraying synthetic chemicals but you have young kids. The Re-entry Interval and Pre-harvest Interval will be something you need to read labels and follow.
Scot5 Smith has practiced mostly organic spray.
Here is his write up.
And Spray Amount Guides give useful info.
I started with organic practice but it was not as effective. Right now, I do a combo or organic and synthetic with better results.
Where you are is challenging to grow stone fruit. Besides bugs and diseases, late freeze is a real issue, too.
@thecityman , Kevin, has been away for some time. Not sure he will be back any time soon. He would be a good resource for you.
I looked in my file cabinet for an old use label for Imidan 70W in water soluble packets from the 1980’s. As you can see it had a 24 hour REI for all uses. I sprayed and used a 24 hour REI in a commercial peach orchard for about 20 years. We did wait until it rained after an application before thinning the fruit.
Thanks y’all! You’re right, I can’t compromise on safety of my kids. And since it’s warming up they are outside and roaming a lot more. Have any of y’all had success using nuprid for PC? I keep that on hand and feel pretty comfortable with it so long as there are no bees around. Also would y’all say that generally synthetic pesticides are more toxic to humans than the fungicides? I definitely need to do more label reading before I buy anything new.