I started growing fruits five years ago. My experience is very limited. At the beginning, I fertilized the fruit trees with chicken manure in Spring. Then I heard it’s better to fertilize after leaves falling. Now I heard it’s best to fertilize after fruit picking. So I plan to fertilize my fruit trees with chicken manure now . Did any one fertilize fruit trees in Fall?
Fruit growers in CA claimed no spraying, but I found impossible at my location. I just did dormant spraying with lime sulfur in early spring. This year I added streptomycin to pear trees. I did bagging the fruits. My past experiences proved to be total failure. Now I want to follow your spraying schedule if it is proved to work great. Commercial and backyard fruit growers, please share your spraying schedules for apple, pear, peach, apricot, cherry, plum, and grape trees.
I mostly follow Alan’s spray schedule which is here Spray Schedule- Synthetic Materials
I spray my apples and pears usually 4 times per year and get pretty good results in zone 6a south east Michigan.
I used imidan (insecticide) in the past but will be switching to Avaunt next year.
I use Captan and Rally (myclobutinil) (fungicides)
Have fun
Thank you very much!
Sophia,
spraying is very regional. For our peaches we fertilize as recommended, early Spring and early Summer.
For spraying, being in the Mid west, we have heavy pressure for OFM. You can spray with a minimal approach and take your chances, or throw everything at it. The first 2 years, we did spray but not much and with out getting the timing right. This year being home during the Covid 19, we sprayed at petal fall and then about every 10- 14 days.
Our mix was Triaracide and Captan with a sticker. This year, not a single bug hit us and had a our fist bigish yield.
Thank you for your sharing!
I think you mostly want to feed potash after harvest, and maybe phosphorous. I would avoid nitrogen, since it may affect dormancy.
I found this very informative.
Growing Jonagold.pdf (317.7 KB)
Hello,
I am curious how many trees you have? I started using home orchard chemicals available at local stores but quickly realized that they cost a lot of money and are sometimes low concentration.
I switched to commercial chemicals quickly. It has worked well for me. If you don’t have a ton of trees you could consider splitting with a friend.
Yes. It is recommended to use natural fertilizer, such as compost, cow manure, Sheep manure, etc. I only have chicken manure. I am afraid too much nitrogen in chicken manure.
The article is very good. But I want to know what brand of spray they use. It is not mentioned in the article.
Not a lot. I can share with friends. The commercial chemicals seem to work better than Chemical in local store.
Do you have any recommendation to commercial chemicals?
Hello,
These are my recommendations for commercial chemicals.
- Avaunt (insecticide)
- Myclobutanil (Trade name Rally). Systemic fungicide
- Captan. Fungicide
I buy my products either locally at Nutrient Ag Solutions or online at Keystone Pest
@Sophia2017,
I use the Scott Smith’s low impact spray approach. You can find lot of good info under the Guide category.
Low-Impact Spray Schedule (2019 Edition) - #58 by scottfsmith.
Please read label (on the internet) before even making purchases of chemicals. Avaunt and Imidan are not to be used in residential settings, only commercial orchards.
Two abbreviations that you should know are REI, a Re-entry interval ( when you can re-enter your orchard/garden after spraying), and PHI, a pre-harvest interval (when you can harvest your fruit after spraying). This is to minimze risks to your health.
Re. Spraying, when to spray is as important as what to spray. Using the right material at a wrong time will not get you a result you want.
In my experience, low impact spraying is often more expensive, time consuming and not as effective.
Thanks Manuang for Scott’s Low Impact Spray link. I’ve finally printed it out for reference!
I thought I could manage the coddling moth by timing my sprays, but they just fly over from the neighbor’s yard. I had to bag my apples to save them. I am lucky that I do not have as much pest and disease pressure as many do. Once the rainy season is over, I pretty much just worry about coddling moth and fruit splitting. Your climate will largely determine what to spray and when.
It should be pointed out that Avaunt is registered for agricultural use only, meaning if you aren’t selling your fruit you aren’t supposed to use it. As far as I can tell, there is no legal qualification for how much money has to be collected so the restriction seems unenforceable. I don’t believe the issue is safety so much as the bureaucratic hurdles of registering a substance for home use.
I was aware of that and should have noted it. Personally I intend to sell fruit every year but no one seems to purchase any. For anyone worried about this, imidan is still available but seems to be getting more expensive and I have heard maybe banned.
Wondering if you have other recommendations for someone who has enough trees that home orchard products don’t make sense?
Thanks
DuPont says Avaunt “not to use for home plantings”.
If it means we can’t use just because we don’t sell our fruit, that is quite odd.
I mentioned about certain chemicals are not for home orchard use so people new to spraying are aware. What people will decide to use to spray after they are informed is another matter.
I find Assail useful for plant bugs and psyla on pears. It also has some kickback against PC so if used with Avaunt really helps keep things clean IME. I also like to use it for OFM and do very light sprays directed at new peach growth 3 times during the growing season to keep my nursery trees growing more and in a more trainable way.
I don’t believe “home plantings” has a legal definition. I think the legal term is “not for residential use” which means not within either 50 or 100 feet of a residence. I can’t remember which or whether that’s a state or federal definition.
Been a while since I took the test, I just do class credits these days to sustain my spray license.