Hi Olpea, thank you for the info! What would a test jar will tell me, whether they precipitate if mixed together?
I will plan to do more sprays every 10 days. It seems almost everyone is of the opinion two will not be enough. I don’t think we had curculio last year. No apples that looked like those in the pictures. I will try the Altacor this year and see if need to switch for next. I already purchased it…
Thank you!
Missed the boat in that one. I will add it to the schedule next year. Thank you!
Haha, looks like the husband wins this one. I may still pick the apples and chuck them into the forest for the deer.
It is possible that Altacor is adequate for your PC pressure, it is supposed to have some activity against it. Myclobutanil would likely control your scab issues if you put it in the tank when applying Altacor. A good spreader sticker might increase the Altacor’s efficacy- I don’t really know about it’s qualities or whether it is locally systemic, but it probably isn’t.
Myclo also is low toxic as are most fungicides, but even less because it it concentrated and sticks where it is when allowed to dry for about an hour.
Consider learning how to graft and changing over the trees that may be more trouble than they are worth- there are so many great apples and a range of susceptibility to pest pressure beyond what you usually see in the literature.
Hi Mroot.
Thank you for the recommendations. I will add dormant spray for next year. I we purchased the property with the orchard already in it, so most trees are mature, the apple trees specially. their trunks are between 11-15 inch diameter, gnarly. There are a few younger ones. The old ones have a lot of scab problems. I’ll try following Alan’s schedule next, thank you for sharing it.
My backyard orchard is big for me, but not very big in reality, we got around 2 acres backyard, containing 8 apple trees, two peaches, two of what I believe are plums (which have not flowered in the two years we have been here), a pear, and a sour cherry tree (Juliet). I was under the impression sweet cherries did not do well in central Illinois. Are your trees doing well? I’d like to plant a self-fertile one (Lapins maybe), but I got discouraged with all the things that may be a problem.
Thank you!
For a cherry tree I might order this instead of Lapins on G12, which is a semi-dwarf, usually self-standing rootstock that vastly accelerates bearing over something like Mazzard. You should contact the nursery now to reserve a tree for next spring- they always sell out very early for their cherries. Benton® — Adams County Nursery
Hello Mamuag,
We are in Champaign Co, Illinois. I’ll try this year with the Altacor since I already have it, but thinking on going for Captan for the fungicide.
Thank you!
Schedules are made to be broken. I know — at first — they seem to offer the kind of specificity the novice craves, but keeping an orchard is not like that. This is why you receive so much non-orthogonal advice from experienced growers.
Let us stipulate that prevailing weather changes from season to season, and the optimal times of application vary. Further, day-to-day weather trends (temperature, wind, and rain) may delay a single chemical application to the point that the whole schedule is hopelessly wrecked. It happens, but these considerations are obvious.
What is not so obvious is that insect pressure (conditioned by prevailing weather) varies from season to season. You’ll become more familiar with infestation patterns as time goes on. It’s goes without saying that you don’t want to treat problems you don’t have.
As for codling moth, you can measure the level of infestation and anticipate when to treat it. Please see my pages on Growing Degree Days, which I’ve drawn together from publications by several Land-Grant Colleges. You don’t need a backyard weather station to track Growing Degree Days unless you want a fully automated solution.
You will likely get much better results with Captan mixed with Myclo as Captan doesn’t protect as long in the best conditions and has no kickback once infection starts. It tends to wash off after heavy rains, myclo does not. It was a game changer for me in terms of developing a 2-spray schedule long before any extension advice suggested it. There are many sources. https://www.amazon.com/Specialty-Fungicide-Myclobutanil-Dollar-California/dp/B015BSOTIO/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=myclobutanil&qid=1650990309&sr=8-6
I wouldn’t recommend planting sweet cherries in central Illinois unless you are a really dedicated hobbyist. My sweet cherries are doing okay but I am having some problems with canker on some trees and insect pressure is pretty high (mainly plum curculio). I have been able to control brown rot with a combination of Captan and Indar.
However, if you have a strong interest in sweet cherries you could try WhiteGold or BlackGold which are both self-fertile and are good choices for our area. But I would read this thread- it explains the problems you would face.
Your orchard is actually good sized with fairly large trees. I have more trees but most are dwarfs with some semi-dwarfs and one standard size tree.
In central Illinois apples and tart cherries will do well. It does help to have varieties that are disease resistant.
If the test jar doesn’t mix well, either globs together, or precipitates, then you’ll know it’s incompatible.
I doubt you will have any issues, but if you are worried a test jar will answer your question.
I’ve sprayed some herbicides which don’t mix well with each other, but so far I’ve not mixed any fungicides or insecticides which don’t mix with each other. It’s pretty rare you have issues mixing fungicides and insecticides. If there are issues, the precautions will likely be on the label.
what amount of chemicals do you use for a test? just kinda eyeball 3oz per gallon into half a pint?
I’ve actually never mixed a test jar because all the insecticides and fungicides I’ve used readily mix with each other, so far. If I was suspicious about incompatibility, I would use a test jar, which is recommended on several chemical labels.
For liquid measurements, a good set of measuring spoons will measure some pretty small amounts. Here is a set which goes down to 1/8 teaspoon, which is 0.02 ounces. My wife won’t let me take these out of the kitchen, so I have a cheap set to measure small amounts of pesticides. 
For dry measurements, I use a digital scale, which goes to a couple decimal points on ounces.
That kind of accuracy isn’t generally needed, but I have sprayed Sandea before in a pump up sprayer. It’s labeled at 1 ounce per acre. It requires a very small amount in a pump up sprayer.
Thank you for the info!
Well, that does confirm my initial take that sweet cherries may be more trouble than I need. I think my husband will object to having even more effort and money put in the garden. I’ll rethink the possibility a few years down the road once we have more experience.
Alan, thank you for the suggestions. If I decide to go for a sweet cherry, I will definitely look at Benton. Why do you prefer it to Lapins? quality or disease resistance?
After all the researching to protect the fruit, I may not have much to protect after all. the apple trees put like 5 groups of blossoms between them. Last year they were covered and set so much fruit we lost branches to the weight. Newbie mistake, now I know I should have thin the fruit, but we were so excited for our bounty. I have another questions, not sure if I should start a new topic. Can you get a apple tree back to an annual schedule of production after it has gone biannual?
Hi Alen, I 100% agree with this. The fruit of the older trees got completely destroyed by the fungus (cracker, brown, rotted), while some of the younger trees had no other problem other than the sooty film. I wish I knew what varieties those are.
Do you have suggestions on what varieties are scab resistant? I can go by the descriptions on the web, but I would rather hear from growers that have experience on what varieties perform well. Is the rootstock a consideration for scab resistance? my older trees seem healthy besides the fruit issue, If I graft a disease-resistant scion on them, will the resulting grafted tree be less resistant because of the susceptible rootstock?
Thank you!
This is from Tom Burfords list, who probably has more experience with unprotected trees. Ark. Black, Ash. Kernel, Black Twig, Bramley’s Seedling, all the known DR’s from Goldrush (very cedar apple rust suscetible) to Liberty (not), Golden Russet, Hudson’s Golden Gem, Jefferis, King David, Limbertwig, Mother, Roxbury Russet, Saint Edmonds Pippin, Spartan, Stayman (old strain), Summer Rambo, Tompkins King, Tydeman’s Early, Williams Pride, Wolf River, Yates.
I only know about half of those and consider Ark Black, King David, Goldrush, Golden Russet, William’s Pride (for an early apple), Roxbury Russet (for culinary use), St. Edmonds, Stayman, T. King all well worth growing in my climate.
Yes, their genetic tendencies don’t change, it is all based on cropload the season prior, so it can become a cycle if you don’t break it. As long as trees don’t runt out and become spur bound- meaning new growth is not at all vigorous and all energy is going into an excess of knotty spur wood (where all the flowers are). In that case you have to remove lots of that spur wood and leave all the new vegetative shoots and encourage them. The spur removal from branches they are on does that.
