Apple trees

[ents]

I've got about 20 apple trees on the property that I have more or less neglected over the years. Crop has been mediocre at best. I thought this year I'd try spraying but I'm at a lose as to what specific product to use. I'm currently at bud swell (most) and blossom on some. Any suggestions??


Thanks in advance.

 

[Wood Scrounge]

Not sure about spray, but until I had a pro show me how to prune properly my crop was pretty poor.
Pruning properly made a HUGE difference, and all it took was a trip to the local orchard, buy a bag of apples strike up a conversation with the owner and 5 min latter I was in the field getting instructed.

 

[deerhunter1]

We were told the same thing. Pruning properly makes a big difference. We have a couple of old wild trees that were neglected and a couple of trees we planted a few years back. A friend of ours brought a buddy over who is very knowledgeable and showed us what to do. Hope to see an improvement in the coming years.

 

[ents]

The trees get a good pruning ever winter -- now if I'm doing it right is another matter. I try to follow the examples I see on the net and in books. These same books say to spray on a regular basis but never really mention a specific product. Biggest thing I'm worried about this year is the Jap. beetles. We have had a couple of years with only a few. Since there has been such a lull I'm now expecting a reversal on that. The first couple of years we picked off thousands of those pests. I've heard garlic spray is good for the jap. beetles but I'm afraid my apples will taste like garlic I think I'll make a stop a the extension and see what they can suggest.

Later and thanks,

 

[Wood Scrounge]

The trees get a good pruning ever winter -- now if I'm doing it right is another matter. I try to follow the examples I see on the net and in books. These same books say to spray on a regular basis but never really mention a specific product. Biggest thing I'm worried about this year is the Jap. beetles. We have had a couple of years with only a few. Since there has been such a lull I'm now expecting a reversal on that. The first couple of years we picked off thousands of those pests. I've heard garlic spray is good for the jap. beetles but I'm afraid my apples will taste like garlic I think I'll make a stop a the extension and see what they can suggest.

Later and thanks,

I use the Japanese beetle bag traps for my grapes, they don't seem to bother my apples. those bag traps work pretty well, I got 5 pounds of beetles last year.

 

[deerhunter1]

We were hit hard by japanese beetles last year. Mostly they attacked my vegetable garden and potted plants. Used something we have used for years and there are different names for it but its basically a white powder - Seven dust is one name - and you just shake it over the plants and the beetles will die and when the rest of their family members stop by during the week they also die. Just reapply as needed. But if you get a good rain then you know it will be washed off so I just try to make sure when I put it on we'll have some nice dry days for a while. I'll have to let the experts around here help you with what spray to use for your apple trees. We are going to try a liquid concentrate that I guess you could say is oil based once this snow stops its supposedly good for both bugs like japanese beetles and others and also disease and then for the summer we were told by friends to use another type of insecticide spray. I guess we're trying to learn like you, too. We've read books, searched the internet, taken advice here and as mentioned earlier your local town experts will be glad to discuss this with you and show you what they would recommend.

 

[CaveSaw]

Five pounds of bugs!

I use the Japanese beetle bag traps for my grapes, they don't seem to bother my apples. those bag traps work pretty well, I got 5 pounds of beetles last year.

Wow! Makes one wonder how many pounds of 'em were still munching the plants. Easy to see how they can do so much damage if your trap gets them by the pound.

 

[arbadacarba]

Methoxychlor works well for a pretty wide range of beetles (it may be banned now, I'm not sure). You are too late for dormant oil/lime-sulphur mix at this stage, but you can still use lime silphur or captan for leaf spot etc. Too late to prune too if you are at bud swell. BTK is great for a fairly wide range of pests and is benign.When you do prune take out two thirds of the new shoots leaving one third for the next year. This will slow down the development of new shoots and promote fruiting spurs on spur bearers. On tip bearers just reduce the shoots by about half as the tree will not be able to support decent size fruit on more than that. You can also thin the fruit by hand or use a chemical thinner to promote size. Two more esoteric ways of promoting fruiting on barren trees are girdling and root pruning, but you say your orchard is neglected only so I wouldn't bother.

It is well worth either bringing in a capable pruner ( they are hard to find!) or visiting a fruit growing area early next year to see how it is done. Figure two to three years of proper pruning to get your trees back into full production and properly scaffolded. After that things go quite fast as you'll know what you are doing. There's a huge resurgence in heritage apples right now so if you have some interesting ones it's well worth taking care of them.

I can't get them up here, but Cummins Nurseries in New York has some really interesting stuff. NAFEX is another good source for information.

Have fun!

 

[arbadacarba]

We were hit hard by japanese beetles last year. Mostly they attacked my vegetable garden and potted plants. Used something we have used for years and there are different names for it but its basically a white powder - Seven dust is one name - and you just shake it over the plants and the beetles will die and when the rest of their family members stop by during the week they also die. Just reapply as needed. But if you get a good rain then you know it will be washed off so I just try to make sure when I put it on we'll have some nice dry days for a while. I'll have to let the experts around here help you with what spray to use for your apple trees. We are going to try a liquid concentrate that I guess you could say is oil based once this snow stops its supposedly good for both bugs like japanese beetles and others and also disease and then for the summer we were told by friends to use another type of insecticide spray. I guess we're trying to learn like you, too. We've read books, searched the internet, taken advice here and as mentioned earlier your local town experts will be glad to discuss this with you and show you what they would recommend.

Its actually SEVIN, and is extremely useful for ants as well. Rotenone is also good around vegetables. Don't ignore things like ladybugs, predatory wasps etc. as they can do a lot of the same things as chemicals. I also found that predatory nematodes poured onto the soil worked way better than diazinon for vine weevils as the bugs were completely wiped out when they were still grubs. You'll have to find a similar company down in the states, but have a look at www.naturalinsectcontrol.com to see what type of things are available now. Its actually a lot of fun experimenting, and you will definitely be on the cutting edge!

 

[dingeryote]

The trees get a good pruning ever winter -- now if I'm doing it right is another matter. I try to follow the examples I see on the net and in books. These same books say to spray on a regular basis but never really mention a specific product. Biggest thing I'm worried about this year is the Jap. beetles. We have had a couple of years with only a few. Since there has been such a lull I'm now expecting a reversal on that. The first couple of years we picked off thousands of those pests. I've heard garlic spray is good for the jap. beetles but I'm afraid my apples will taste like garlic I think I'll make a stop a the extension and see what they can suggest.

Later and thanks,

ents,

"Spray" can be either insecticide or fungicides.

For Jap Beetles, Sevin XLR is not restricted and does a good job economicly but is not aphid predator friendly.
Pick it up at your local ag chem supplier.

If you are a lisc. applicator or have a friend that is, Immidan is the NUKE for Jap beetles, and anything else that has six legs and is irritating.Double verify label rates and approval in your states growers guides though..

Provado will do well on the beetles on application, and any sap sucking/chewing insect pests during and post application as Provdo works systemicly. Provado saves me big $$$ because of it's systemic action going all the way to the roots of the other foliage in the area. Thos egrubs gotta eat something before they hatch out. Again, double check the producers guide(Spray calendar) for approval and label rates etc.

While asking around your local ag extension let 'em know you're green at this, and ask if thier scout would be interested in a challenge?

Often times they will come out and look, and make recommendations just to stay out of the office and deal with the garbage there.

If you're pruning is in order, and you're getting good blossoms and set, you have other issues than Jap beetles and a scout can point you in the right direction and applicable fungicides needed.

Broad spectrum Fungicides are great, but shotgunning isn't always the most effective of economical.

Little hint on Jap Beetles though.
They have to crawl up out of the dirt and like edges of fields.

When you clean out your spray tank, field edges are good places to spray the rinse water,

While checking around the extension, ask about enrollment in any of the FSA/NRCS tutorial programs and seminars.
Most are free, or darn near free, come with lunch, and are good for meeting lots of good folks with a crapload of good info.
Heck, ya might just qualify for some of the NRCS cost share or grant programs..ya never know.




Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[Wood Scrounge]

Wow! Makes one wonder how many pounds of 'em were still munching the plants. Easy to see how they can do so much damage if your trap gets them by the pound.

one year they took every green leaf on 6 grape vines in just over a week. I set 10 traps up and had to change just about every bag 4 time last year. the things are very prolific here.
Fortunatly the only other things they seem to really attack other then the grapes is my roses.

 

[ents]

Thanks to all who have responded. The suggestions are greatly appreciated. I believe I'll be pretty busy with this little orchard this year. Love apple pie, shoot, anything with apples in it.

Later and have a great one,