At this stage my single peach tree has a great crop of fruit on it. How should I protect it from the JB’s, when they come? They swarm onto the cherry trees and rhubarb each year in hundreds. Should I cover the whole tree with an insect barrier fabric or put bags on individual peaches. Will bags make brown rot more likely? Rose Capsid bugs are also around now and have eaten some. I have used traps for both before, but wonder if I am just pulling in more of them?
Apple fruit set is poor again despite some good blossom and bees. Fireblight nothing like last year, thankfully. Advice welcome and thanks in advance.
In my case the japanese beetles don’t touch my peaches. I think it all depends on what’s around. They’ll have different preferences on different sites. In my orchard they seem to prefer the plums, grapes and mulberries. Most of my apples they don’t bother too much with the exception of McIntosh.
Surround works decently for JB if you start spraying before they arrive and keep a good amount of coverage to the point that it flakes off well.
I have used mostly the digital method for the ~ 2 weeks in which they are in the greatest numbers; I toss hundreds by hand into a bucket of soapy water. They primarily attack hazelnuts and strawberrys, peaches and apples to a lesser extent.Over the past several years their numbers have gone down. I do not know if this is due to the nemetodes that I apply in that area of the yard. Last year I also applied milky spore. We’ll see what this years infestation looks like.
How old and how big is your peach tree? The suze will determine how challenging it can be to cover the whole tree.
Do not use Kootanay cover. The mesh is too fine and it could cause more fungal issue due to poor air ventilation.
@anon89542713 used a good material to cover her peach tree. I can!t sew but I like her idea. She is also very smart and creative.
If this is your first time having peaches, you don’t need to worry about brown rot yet. If you are lucky, PC and OFM do not know you have peaches.
Unfortunately, J beetles know you. Cover the tree is better than protecting the fruit because JB could destroy the leaves which are needed to feed the fruit.
If you want to spray, use carbaryl, an ingredient of the old Sevin.
Look into Milky spores, an effective way for a long term solution.
The peach is only tree I never covered, - by the time I learned how to cover the tree was too big! What I learned, you need a stable frame and insect fabric placed over it, so it is not lay on the branches. If you interested, I could find an old post with instructions.
Fever pitch beetle mania is upon me now. This year as opposed to simply consuming leaves (mostly hazelnut) for the first time the have attacked my fruit (blueberries). As might be expected they seem to have focused on our favorites, the Legacies. I have nets for birds but not for beetles.
