Does anyone else have fruit trees mixed in with their flower beds? I only have a few trees and a small property so don’t have the luxury of keeping the fruit trees away from other flowering plants. My peach has leaf curl and probably OFM. I will spray when the tree is dormant this winter/next spring, but I am finding it difficult to spray once things are in bloom because I do not want to kill the many pollinators that visit my yard. Does anyone else have a similar situation? Or advice?
i have little spray experience. But from what i understood the spray against leaf curl only works until the leaf buds are breaking. This is usually before your flowers open and bee’s are around.
It gets more complicated when not spraying in dormant season against fungus. But when spraying around flower petal fall against insects.
You could maybe use tarps draped over your flower beds when spraying. And of course learn best practices and only spray when necessary.
Where are you located? That will tell how much pest and disease pressure you have.
I do spray some chemicals so I do not plants flowering plants under or close to my fruit trees for the reason you mention.
If you want, you can do the low impact approach Scott Smith uses.
Low-Impact Spray Schedule (2019 Edition).
Don’t be discouraged by it. Familiarize yourself with Surround and how it work. You can learn how bagging works.
Another thought. Do not plant spring flowers that bloom the same time your fruit trees bloom. Plant summer flowers or thing like hostas instead. By the time your flowers bloom, may be you have bagged all your fruit and there is no need to spray.
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Coastal MA, Zone 6b. I’ll review Scott’s spraying schedule again. If I can’t make it work I’ll just have to live with the pests I guess.
I am in central MA. Surround can help discouraging pests PC but the timing is important. Other organic spray like Spinosad will kill beneficials insects, too, so flowering plants under fruit trees are a death trap.
If you have peaches or plums, you will need to look into fungicides. After 4 years, my peaches were totally covered with brown rot. Not to discourage you. Growing peaches and plums with no spray is a pipe dream, at least, for me here.
I am not as experienced as many people here, and I only have one peach tree, but so far I have been able to limit peach leaf curl by picking and disposing of affected leaves. (I am also in MA but the western part of the state.)
Perhaps you could cover the flowers with plastic and then spray the trees? Or, cut all the flowers that are blooming…for a big bouquet…and then spray since there are no blooms on the flowers?
Either those options work?
Another option may be to pick flowers that bloom much later than your fruit trees. For example my orienpet lilies haven’t bloomed yet but all of my spraying is done for the year.
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Thanks all! Some good suggestions here for me to try.