| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| slreece |
Posted - Sep 18 2010 : 06:40:21 AM
I have an orchard with about 30-40 trees ranging from 2-6 years growth. Even with all the wonderful rain we received, I had less of a harvest this year than last and I am really discouraged. Two main culprits are trying my sanity.
Japanese Beetles - UUUGGHHH!!! These little intruders ate all the leaves off of my 2 plum trees and ate most all of my peaches before they ripened. I have heard the bag-a-bug works, but I had SOOOO many it would have filled a bag an hour - no kidding. Truly there were hundreds of peaches and each and every one once it wasn't pure green was covered in a black bugs.
Then, I guess it was due to all the rain we had this spring/summer, but I now have fire blight on most of my apple trees and my lone surviving pear tree. All the trees with the blight are 4-6 years old and I fear pruning to severly. What is the best way to treat the problem?
Any suggestions are appreciated!
Thanks,
Sherri
Farmgirl #2090
Keepin on the SONny side! |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Miss Bee Haven |
Posted - Sep 30 2010 : 2:39:38 PM
Sherri - We have apple trees and the bugs usually appear in June. We started spraying usually late May or early June. The stuff is called Garlic Barrier and my dh thinks they have a website. We didn't spray this year or last year, since there weren't enough beetles, so he doesn't clearly remember if any fruit was on the trees, but it seems that the beetles may have been on the wane before our trees set any fruit. Not sure about peach trees. I know it doesn't remain on the trees a long time, since we were spraying about every two weeks(rain washes it off, too).
Farmgirl Sister #50
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?"
'Br.Dave Gardner' |
| slreece |
Posted - Sep 30 2010 : 07:50:07 AM
Janice,
Thanks for the information. I hate to ask, but the liquid garlic spray - do you do this when the tree blooms or after the peaches are half-size or both? Do you do it right up until they ripen? Does it change the taste of the peaches? I ask because my husband will curl his nose and tell me that will ruin his peaches - believe it or not he hates garlic. Crazy I know, I love the stuff!
Thanks,
Sherri
Farmgirl #2090
Keepin on the SONny side! |
| Miss Bee Haven |
Posted - Sep 30 2010 : 05:55:17 AM
I forgot to mention spraying with a liquid garlic and water mixture. We would start that before the beasties came out in the summer. We bought a large plastic tank thing with a big spray nozzle and just filled it up and sat it in the front loader bucket of the Kubota and rode around spraying everything in sight, pretty much. We bought the liquid garlic from a restaurant supply place 100 pounds at a time and mixed it when we needed it. It helped a lot. Just made me crave italian food and breadsticks! LOL! :)
Farmgirl Sister #50
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?"
'Br.Dave Gardner' |
| Miss Bee Haven |
Posted - Sep 29 2010 : 5:31:34 PM
Sherri- I have used Milky Spore to get rid of Japanese beetles. I think Gardens Alive still sells it. You broadcast it in the area where the beetles are. They kill the beetle larvae. It wasn't cheap, but it rid my city yard of the little bums. At our farm, since we have 23 acres, it was too expensive to do that. So we did use Bag a bug. I figured at least we did kill thousands(if not millions) that did not reproduce. Yes, the bags filled up in an hour in the early days of the beetle wars. At one point, I started using plastic grocery bags, b/c they held more bugs. I kept emptying them into garbage bags and getting rid of the whole shebang. Maybe if the area where they were worst for you isn't too big, you could use milky spore just in that area. We had some beetles this year, but I just had one beetle trap and nothing was eaten 'to the bone' by any means.
Farmgirl Sister #50
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?"
'Br.Dave Gardner' |
| JoyIowa |
Posted - Sep 29 2010 : 07:49:24 AM
Be sure to keep watering them well right up until frost. They'll have a better chance of making it through.
If it's not illegal, unsafe, or immoral, why not try anything once? Who knows? You may come back for a second helping! |
| kristin sherrill |
Posted - Sep 19 2010 : 06:02:29 AM
Sherri, I have 3 pear trees I planted about 3 years ago. This past spring they were loaded with blossoms and I was so excited. I thought I'd be in pear heaven this fall. But I started noticing it looked like they had gotten frost bit. I asked the ladies here about it and they said it was fire blight. So I did the pruning and used bleach in between each cut. I had to do it a few times. They are looking good now despite the lack of rain we've had. So now I am trying to think of what to do for them so this won't happen again. I am organic here but this calls for desperate measures! I want pears! So I will have to spray them with something but I don't know when to do it.
If you find a good spray please let me know. Thanks. And I hope you get all yours treated and better.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
| slreece |
Posted - Sep 18 2010 : 08:10:40 AM
Thanks Amy. I really hate to but I know if I don't the trees are gone anyway. They are so young and out of maybe 8 solid branches there are 4-5 affected on some of them. Breaks my heart. This is a lesson learned. Now I know to plant fire blight restitant trees from now on.
Sherri
Farmgirl #2090
Keepin on the SONny side! |
| MrsRooster |
Posted - Sep 18 2010 : 07:12:35 AM
You must cut the affected area off at least 2 inches from the blight. You also must clean your cutters with alchol between cuttings. Burn the affected limbs. Don't compost.
Good luck.
www.mrsrooster.blogspot.com
Farmgirl #1259
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