Make it out of wood instead of pipe. They need something to cling to with their feet and talons.
The Ortho product I ordered after I read acetamiprid is much better on bees than the Imidacloprid I used this season is:
So that’s a homeowner one that has that ingredient.
I had no idea acetamiprid was available for the homeowner - again thanks! 
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Does anyone know if Redhaven peaches do a biennial type fruit production?
I have one Redhaven peach tree that had a lot of peaches on it last year. It was the first year of fruit production. This year it has only a few peaches on it. I have two Contender peach trees that were planted at the same time and right next to the Redhaven peach. The Contender peach trees have a lot of peaches on them. Just as they had last year.
I’m not sure of this is a fluke year for the Redhaven or if this is perhaps normal for this variety.
Has anyone else noticed this or have had the same situation happen?
Most of the time fig trees are rooted cuttings, so they are on their own roots.
Mike,
Peaches do not really go biennial like other fruit trees. I think what you see is the result of either winter kill or early spring freeze of Red Haven flower buds. You are in zone 5, a chance of that happening is high.
Contender is one of varieties that is known for bud hardiness. Other varieties that are often mentioned are Reliance, Madison, Veteran, to name a few. i think many varieties are still up to debate. Here’s one of several threads about peach bud hardiness.
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I haven’t used any of the above mentioned sprays other than surround for the last 20 years. When I did I applied it just before bloom and just after petal fall. After that it was applied on a seven day interval unless it rained. The sprays as I remember worked well as long as I didn’t extend the time intervals. Just my opinion that the intervals by manufactures are the longest periods with ideal conditions but as we all know perfect conditions seldom exist. These are just a few of my thoughts and opinions.
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Spud,
“On Sunday before I left I sprayed my large Elberta drenching it with Imidan/Captan. My other trees had been sprayed two to three days prior.”.
My guess about what went wrong in your case was the timing. If you sprayed Elberta a few days earlier like you did other trees, you may have had it covered. Don’t forget, even a day late is too late. These pests can ruin a lot of your fruit in an overnight. It is not an exaggeration. I have experienced it. I have had several “I should have, could have sprayed yesterday” moments.
As they say, timing is everything. Right spray, wrong time, it won’t work. That’s why people suggest monitoring PC/OFM/CM’s emergence so you can time you spraying better.
No - Ortho has a homeowner version - Flower, Fruit and Vegetable insect killer
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Guys, how often are you spraying in the early season? PC is a real bugger to control (as you have seen). The commercial spray guides all say to spray every 7 days early in the season, which is what I do.
There is generally a lot of rain to wash things off, and the PC pressure is so ridiculously high here, I get a spray on once a week. If it’s windy, I wait till it’s dark to spray when the wind dies down (or spray when the sun comes up). Obviously you can’t spray in the rain, but if there is a break in the rain (long enough to let the spray dry/set) I spray with a good sticker to hold it on as best as possible.
Even if heavy rains wash the spray off a day or two later, at least the contact insecticide you are using will kill all the PC on the trees, so at a minimum at least more PC will have to move in to damage fruit.
I can’t afford to lose a whole peach crop I’ve worked so hard for, so the spray gets on once a week. Even with intense spray schedule, I still sometimes get a few PC scars on plums (PC’s favorite fruit).
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When the damage occurred (while I was gone) all trees had been sprayed within 7 days.
Spud,
Did you add an acidifier to the imidan? What was the rate you were mixing at? And, you mixed a fresh batch of imidan every time you sprayed, right?
Hi Olpea,
I used Brandt 5 as an acidifier and spreader.
I just put the chemical in until the water turns purple (per instructions).
I used NuFilm 17 as the sticker, 1 teaspoon per gallon.
For Imidan I used 1 Tablespoon per gallon.
I have been rotating fungicides. This time I used Captan 50 2 Tablespoons per gallon.
I use a 4 gallon Chapin sprayer to spray. For my large Elberta I sprayed late Sunday afternoon, using 2 gallons of mix (more than I normally spray) to drench the tree.
My other trees were sprayed on Friday (5/11).
We have been getting heavy rains since Tuesday evening. I had been spraying every 6 to 7 days.
Spud
I don’t think you are using enough. From memory (check the label) I think the rate is 5 lbs./ac.
If that’s the case, assuming a full dilute spray of 200 gal./acre, that would mean you would be using 0.4 ounces of imidan per gallon of water.
I don’t know the density of Imidan, but generally powders are considerably less dense than water (like almost 1/2 as dense). If that’s the case, you are only spraying at 60% of the labeled rate.
I’ve not ever used Imdian, but have talked with many commercial growers who have had good results with it. If the rate is correct, and it sounds like the frequency is correct, and sounds like you are mixing a fresh batch each time, if you are still having problems, there could possibly be some resistance issue.
Hi Olpea,
I just bought a scale to measure small weights, i will actually measure the amount and see what it equates to volume wise.
The University of Kentucky recommends a lower dose:
Doesn’t mean the university is right.
I always mix a fresh batch, I am paranoid about spills, leakage. As far as resistance goes this is my first year spraying Imidan, so i don’t think I would be the culprit, unless resistance can happen after 3 to 4 sprays. There are no orchards close by, some of my neighbors have fruit trees but I seriously doubt they are spraying anything not available at Lowes or HomeDepot.
Thanks - Olpea!
Spud,
They show a rate of 2.5 tablespoons of Imidan per gallon and you are using less than half that. Plus they are assuming 400 gal. per acre for a full dilute spray.
400 gal./acre is fine if you are spraying 25’+ tall apple trees, but for peach trees that’s waaaay too much for a full dilute. If I tried spraying peach trees with that much spray per acre, I’d have pesticide running down the terraces.
You’ll get all kinds of answers of how much it takes to spray to the point of run-off (full dilute) depending on tree size, but for peaches about 200 gal./acre is full dilute. I spray at 100 gal./acre and it gets the trees pretty wet.
If you are using a 200 gal.acre for full dilute, you would double the amount of pesticide per gallon (since you are spraying 1/2 the amount of spray per acre.
I’m not saying to double what the U of K shows, I haven’t run their calculations, but I would at least use what their table shows, 2.5 Tablespoons per gallon.
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thanks Stan!
Hi Olpea,
I went back and reread the UKY doc again, it says 2.5 TSP - isn’t TSP Teaspoon? I have no problem using more, just want to make sure we are seeing the same thing .
Spud
Oh yeah. I saw the capital T and thought they were talking about Tablespoons.
Let me look at their calculations and see how they arrive at that. I suspect they are low because they are using such high gallon rates.
If you think about it at a traditional 100 peach tree per acre planting, you’d have to spray each tree with 4 gallons at the 400 gallon/acre rate. That would be extremely wasteful. After the first two gallons, the rest would be just running on the ground.
I really think they are using old apple orchard numbers.
Of course you can always figure the square footage of your tree’s footprints and calculate that way, vs. gallonage/acre extrapolations, but they should be about the same.