My Red Haven and CoralStar peaches are now five and four years old this month and they have been teaching me about the importance of figuring out a good spray program for the humid Midwest (I grew up in the arid West where my mother never sprayed and got decent fruit). I’ve been slow to learn …
Year 1 and 2: Good growth and picked off flowers hoping for fruit later;
Year 2/3: Some mild peach leaf curl and only one peach, which a kid who was visiting picked green! I didn’t know what to do about peach leaf curl, but started researching and learned about copper and bought some. That winter I got busy and then couldn’t quite figure out when to apply the copper because it was always snowing, raining or freezing and I didn’t understand if it would work to just throw the powder over the trees. I do spray some multi-fruit spray, but not sure how much good it did.
Year 3/4: I applied some All Seasons Horticultural dormant oil to my trees, but possibly not timed perfectly because of all the rain in spring. … another problem was I did that the day I’d planned to do copper and then realized that you can’t use copper for some time after oil… I never got the copper done because of some other commitments that came up and weeks of rain. Terrible peach leaf curl and most leaves died back and all blossoms died back and then wilting on tips that got gummy later in the year. My extension agent said the gummy tips was probably Oriental Fruit Moth. Then I realized that the white plastic covering the trunks had gotten too tight and damaged the trunk and now I have borers. I figure out more about spraying and started wondering if peaches were not meant for southeast Michigan or ME (my other fruit trees are currently pretty healthy and have given me some fruit), but I’m feeling determined to figure this out! I hate non-organic pesticide, but went and bought some Sevin and jabbed inside the gaping holes in the trees with something sharp and sprayed inside and dug around the bark below the tree and found more signs of borers.
THIS YEAR: I’ve done more research and bought Daconil and sprayed the peaches twice for peach leaf curl (never used the copper). I’ve also sprayed with horticultural oil, but then there was a rainstorm… will spray again today probably. I keep looking at spray schedules and read about mating disruption/traps/beneficial insects/planting sunflowers to bring in predators/etc./etc. I’m thoroughly overwhelmed. I have two peaches, two apples, an Asian and a European plum, a sour cherry, a sweet cherry and need some kind of spray schedule that is not hugely different for each of them! I guess I was overly optimistic because I grew up in a dry climate with less disease pressure.
Anyway, so far I haven’t tasted a single peach. I’m feeling more optimistic this year since the flower buds that are starting don’t look like they’re all dried up. Maybe Daconil is helping with the peach leaf curl, which hopefully strengthens the trees to better fight other pests/diseases. Assuming that is the case, I need to continue those sprays each winter while doing something to address the Oriental Fruit Moths and borers. I think I need a home spraying guide for Dummies! The advice I read for larger growers doesn’t make as much sense for me (mating disruption for Oriental Fruit moths, for instance, is not supposed to work for small growers). I’m also planning to build up better soil quality and will put aged manure around the base of each tree in the next week, and maybe plant onions in the area nearby (read that borers don’t like them and my friend who is an avid organic grower talks about how prevention through good soil, natural solutions is key). I definitely lean toward natural controls if available/possible, but again am seeing the need for a more solid spray schedule. Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you!