@giants11596
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There is no magic bullet to cure all fruit trees’ malice. You should let us know where you live. From that, it should giveus a better idea what pest and disease pressure you are facing.
I’ve had my trees for 2 years. They even fruited last year, but would drop. I think I have ant issues as well. The bark and fruit have this clear hard puss. I thought spraying kaolin clay would get rid of the pests, but no.
No. Surround, kaolin clay is protectant. It deters but does not kill pests. It washes off after heavy rain and needs to be reapply.
Not only you need the choose what to spray, it is as important when to spray. A day late, pests could ruin a lot of your young fruit in one night.
There is ton of info you can read. Key words like “canker, gummosis, plum curculio, Oriental Fruit Moth, brown rot”, will bring up ton of info. Those are problems peaches and plums often have.
If you are using Surround and want to avoid bug killers, you might want to look at my low-impact spray schedule:
It sounds like you have peach leaf curl (red on leaves and curling) and plum curculio (all fruit drop, with a bug in them), and will probably get oriental fruit moths soon if not already. None of these problems are insurmountable but you will need to do several sprays in the spring.
Thanks Scott, I just read your guide. It’s exactly the info I was looking for. What zone are you in?
My god, why do they even sell fruit trees? It’s so much work. It’s good I only have 2 trees. I think I will give my peach and plum one more year. If I can’t manage to keep pests at bay, I will have to get rid of the peach and plum, and just concentrate on figs.
& @Ahmad Thanks guys for reminding me about OFM. For some reason I had it in my head all they did was cause flagging shoots. I think I am getting too comfortable with how well things are going now versus same time last year.
This is my 3rd year of fruit production on my peach.
Soon you will be introduced to brown rot. Where you are, it will come. Like @Stan said, I am tired of fighting these pests and diseases. I never like spraying and going fully organic for stone fruit is not possible here.
Those do so well because they are native to here. The right raspberry and blackberry that avoid swd in your area should be good too. Sour cherry is supposed to be the easiest stone fruit out East. The bush cherry like Romeo and Juliet are great for fresh eating.
I’m on the brink of cutting down all my stone fruit. I made it through the late freeze. Had great fruit set. Lost all the plums to bugs. Now the peaches are brown rotting and that is with me trying my best to spray. Might just plant more blackberries since they are bullet proof for me. 5 years I’ve been trying and can remember eating 1 nectarine and 1 plum. Not worth it for me anymore. 30 minute drive and I can get some fresh at a commercial orchard.
I have been having luck bagging entire plum trees and cherry bushes with insect barrier netting.
Of course this isn’t a perfect solution but I have been succeeding in getting some pretty fruit without spraying. (other than some dormant copper and some myclobutanil right at the start of the year)
At some point I plan to do a more comprehensive post on the results of my experience with the tree bags.
I have cut down all my sweet cherries,peaches, and plums as well as my apples. I get more fruits from my citrus tree than all my temperate fruit trees combined. I am in zone 6microB.