what amount of chemicals do you use for a test? just kinda eyeball 3oz per gallon into half a pint?
Iâve actually never mixed a test jar because all the insecticides and fungicides Iâve 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 wonât 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 isnât generally needed, but I have sprayed Sandea before in a pump up sprayer. Itâs labeled at 1 ounce per acre. It requires a very small amount in a pump up sprayer.
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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. Iâll rethink the possibility a few years down the road once we have more experience.
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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!
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This is from Tom Burfords list, who probably has more experience with unprotected trees. Ark. Black, Ash. Kernel, Black Twig, Bramleyâs Seedling, all the known DRâs from Goldrush (very cedar apple rust suscetible) to Liberty (not), Golden Russet, Hudsonâs Golden Gem, Jefferis, King David, Limbertwig, Mother, Roxbury Russet, Saint Edmonds Pippin, Spartan, Stayman (old strain), Summer Rambo, Tompkins King, Tydemanâs Early, Williams Pride, Wolf River, Yates.
I only know about half of those and consider Ark Black, King David, Goldrush, Golden Russet, Williamâs Pride (for an early apple), Roxbury Russet (for culinary use), St. Edmonds, Stayman, T. King all well worth growing in my climate.
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Yes, their genetic tendencies donât change, it is all based on cropload the season prior, so it can become a cycle if you donât break it. As long as trees donât 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.
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