Thanks Mike. I’ve sort of forgotten myself but I believe I ended up loosing about 21 trees total. As it turned out, almost all those that were damaged but didn’t die within one year did come back out of it to pretty much 100% normal, with 2 excpetions. I have one pear tree that has never really recovered even to this day, and its clearly from the spray and not just an unhealthy tree. It still grows in odd ways, looks strange, and produces much less than its twin 100 yards away that I bought and planted at the same time. Honestly Ive only left it out of curiosity and because I have the extra space. I also had a plum tree that just never could get over the spray and also had strange growth and eventually died like 4 years later. And again, I’m certain it was from spray and not some other problem based on how it looked and acted those 4 years. I’d say 75% of the damaged trees (those that did not die) were back in good shape the very next year, and the other 25% improved a great deal the following year but weren’t completely over it until year 2 post spray- except the 2 I mentioned which never really recovered. That all sounds pretty good until you remember that about 21 or or were outright killed, so it certainly wasn’t a minor issue!
Thanks for the kind words, and yes, I’m basically back on track now and having a nice time. Meanwhile, you may recall me saying I planted a small orchard in our city park (8 trees and some grapes). About 2 weeks ago the home that backs up directly onto the park/orchard sprayed 2, 4-D on their grass and guess what? Yep…my grapes and 1 apple tree took a hard hit!!! They may survive but they look bad now. Honestly I don’t fault this guy and feel its an entirely different situation when its just a homeowner trying to get a nice yard and doesn’t understand plants that well. ANd his yard is 2 feet from the grapes and apple tree and separated only by a chain link fence. So I get it. He didn’t know better and probably couldn’t have. That’s a far cry from a professional, full time farmer with spray permits and training and who had to know it was too windy and droplet size was too small and so on. I only mention the grape vines to remind everyone how susceptible fruits can be to 2, 4-D.
Your photos are very encouraging for the rest of us. I have 20 fruit trees and 40 blueberry bushes on 1+ acres (most of that it on a VERY steep slope so I am limited). I made a big mistake by putting concrete walls around (partially) four of the fruit trees to try and terrace the hillside. This means that all four fruit trees are now growing at an angle, and I have learned that a wall on one side will force the roots to the other side, causing a tilt. I planted my trees 12 feet apart and now everything is growing a little too close together. I have heard from many people that this summer was a BANNER YEAR for fruit. We picked five gallons of cherries from one cherry tree alone. My four pear trees have a couple hundred pears…which is important when you consider that last year, we only had 10-12 pears. I am waiting from my four PawPaws to have flowers, but they are only three years old. Maybe next year.
Magnificent. I’m new here so I wasn’t familiar with your story. Thanks for the Bio and all the time putting this display together. I wish so many more people would find the rewards in fruit growing the way you have. Somehow in your life it was just waiting for you.
Thank you so much, Brian. And I think you are right that this hobby was made for me and “waiting for me” ha. When I started you have no idea how uninformed I was…much dumber than most other newbies even though I’d gardened for years…fruit is just a whole other world. But I find it so rewarding, and so therapeutic! Nothing like coming home from a stressful day and work and loosing myself in pruning or spraying. And when the fruit comes, it is just SOOOOO much better than anything I’d ever had from a store. Honestly its often even better than farmers market fruit because even they have to pick a few days early while fruit is firm so it won’t spoil or bruise too easily. With my own trees I can leave fruit on the tree until it starts to really soften. That’s when the sugar really builds up and the fruit is heavenly! Anyway, I can only hope that you find the same satisfaction I have from this hobby. We’re glad you are here and most of us really do think part of the fun is passing on our knowledge, so don’t be shy to ask for help or advice!
Do you spray these all three together at regular intervals? Are there any trees you don’t spray? Do you have a spray schedule you wouldn’t mind sharing?
Hey Brandon. There are lots of people here who have posted a spray schedule who know a lot more than me. I also do some things that I’m sure some will say is redundant/wasteful, unnecessary, overkill, and other critisizims. There is not universal agreement about much of anything when it comes to spraying fruit. I can only tell you what I have found over the years works best for me AND MY LOCATION. I’ve certainly tried an awfully lot of things that didn’t work, but here is what does:
EACH AND EVERY single time I spray I mix Pinene II sticker and vinegar with whatever I’m spraying. Sticker is to help it cling to leaf and fruit- especially in subsequent rains- and vinegar is to acidify the water.
1.) In the later part of dormant season, after bud swell has started, I spray a mixture of Kocide 3000 Copper and Horticultural Oil. Some will say that is late for copper, and others will say the oil is not needed for my area. But its what works for me at my location.
Just before bud break, when buds are almost open, I spray a mixture of Captan 50 WP and Myclobutanil. Some will say its too late, others will say its redundant. THis is what works for me and my location.
As soon as bees have lost all interest and most petals have fallen, I spray Imidan and Myclo.
Ten days later, I spray Imidan and Captan
14 days later, I spray Imidan and Myclo.
14 days later, I spray Imidan and Captan
14 Days later, I spray Imidan and Myclo
14-21 days later, I spray Imidan and CAPTAN (depending on how many bites I’m seeing)
14-21 days later I spray Imidan and Myclo
Any sprays beyond this will be based on insect pressure and if I’m seeing black spot on grapes, brown rot on late peaches, etc. If not, I will still spray Imidan only on stone fruits that have already produced just to protect the tips from flagging which can take away a lot of growing time at end of season.
I agree with you that each location is different. I’m in the humid Northeast. According to my count you sprayed Imidan 7 times. I’m curious what insects do you have a problem with? I would have guessed three with a strong insecticide like Imidan would be adequate.
First, I should have made clear that this is my stonefruit schedule- pomes are similar but about 1/2 as often. Also, I always have in mind that I spray 6 applications of Imidan per year, so I may have put one too many? There is no limit on total applications per year in TN that I am aware of on peaches. Some states do limit imidan to 5 applications per year on blueberries but not TN and I don’t spray blueberries a single time.
I’m after the same enemies as you I think, Plum Curculio and Oriental Fruit Moth. But if I go more than 14 days without spraying, the damage is just shocking. especially in late spring/early summer ( mid April- June). I know everyone thinks they have it worse, but I genuinely think its as bad here as it gets. For example, almost every photo I’ve ever seen of flagging tips on a tree shows about 1/2 to MAYBE 3/4 of tips on the tree flagged. If I go 3 weeks without spraying, you can search my trees all day and not find one single tip that hasn’t dropped/flagged. A fellow Tennessean recently posted some photos of peaches he grew without spraying. He said he loses 90% of so of his crop each year, but every single time I’ve not sprayed a peach tree I lost 100% of peaches, and all of them had bites all over them. Its just unreal. I’ve posted photos here of me shining a flashlight on an unsprayed peach tree at night, and there are so many moths on each nearly ripe peach that you can’t even see the fruit- just a huge ball of moths.
You get the idea. Its bad here. I tried Triaziacide and Bonide (older formula) and other things but none worked as will as imidan.
I notice you use Captan a lot. That is something I have never used in my spray schedule. I thought I read once that Captan had a tendency to burn foliage and for whatever reason thought it was only sprayed during dormant periods like copper. Obviously I need to do more homework. I’ve relied solely on Indar and Infuse to battle disease in my little orchard. It seems to work pretty well with my biggest problem being black knot on plums. I just read that Captan is probably the best way to slow down black knot aside from pruning practices. I’ll have to add it to my spray schedule.
Well, don’t get too excited! ha. It is true that I use captan quite a bit. In fact, last year I used captan and myclo BOTH during every spray session but I finally convinced myself that this was a crazy waste of money and started alternating the two. Anyway, the reason I say don’t get too excited is that I’ve used captan quite a bit and I still have a good deal of black knot. In fact, I have a few trees that are just completely infested with it. Now, we will never know how much more I would have in other trees if I wasn’t using Captan, but I;m somewhat doubtful it it would make that much difference. You’ve probably seen me say this before, but my experience with Black knot is that highly susceptible trees are going to get it no matter how hard you fight it with sprays and pruning, and trees that aren’t susceptible aren’t going to get it. over the years I’ve used several fungicides pretty aggressively and yet the trees that have it have always continued to get more of it, while those that don;t do not. My other experience with black knot is that it just isn’t that devastating to a tree. Yes, eventually I supposse it will kill a tree. But I have plumtrees that have had it for 7 years, are absolutely COVERED with it, and continue to produce good fruit. I’m saying you should ignore it, and I understand that conventional wisdom says remove it as much and as fast as possible to prevent spread, but those heavily infested trees I have are all just feet away from other plums and pluots that never get it. Again, it seems to mostly be about whether the tree is susceptible or not much more than the ways you try to stop it. At least thats my experience. Good luck!