21 Apple Trees, a Lake, and My Conscience

[webbmeister]

Well, being the staunch Republican that I am, I never thought I'd be asking for this kind of advice. Given the sensitive nature of our property though, i.e. water, wetlands, and lots of critters that share it with us, I can't see just indiscriminately spraying poison all over the place. I thought TBN might be a good place to find an acceptable alternative.

The new place has 21 assorted apple trees left after several that were not salvagable were removed when the place was cleared last fall. The remaining trees received radical prunings as a first step to bringing them back to some level of productivity.

I've read an awful lot about organic orcharding during the cold months, and it is about time - by most schedules - to begin a pest and disease management routine. There sure seems to be a lot of disagreement in the organic world about what works and what doesn't, what's good or accptable to spray and what isn't, etc.Clearly, 21 trees is not a production setup. I'm not interested in a 90% yield of grocery store beautiful apples. I'd be happy to get a 50% yield of apples that would make us feel that saving the trees was worth it and make friends look forward to picking their fill each fall.

So - here's what I'm looking for:

1. A reasonable spray schedule
2. Recommendations for what to spray (I don't want to go into debt here, or come up with a collection of 13 substances that need to be sprayed every night and twice on Sundays with a full moon)

3. Some pointers on where to buy the substances. I live in Northern Illinois.

Anybody out there having any luck with something this small without spraying toxic-to-friendly-critters-and-environment stuff? I've heard of NEEM and dormant oil sprays. Don't know if they work or where to get them.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[DFB]

How about here <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.gardensalive.com/quicklist.asp?PROG_NBR=8&SUB_PROG_NBR=0>www.gardensalive.com</A>

I've been getting my rotenone/ pyrethrin and liquid copper fungicide for the garden from there.

You might investigate using their Surround crop protectant, Eco-Oil or Oil-Away insecticidal and/or a liquid sulfur fungicide on your trees and fruit. All depends what your needs are.

Check 'em out

DFB

 

[DaveNH]

Jim,
You may also want to think about bring in some bees to pollinate. Most if not all feral colonies have died off as a result of the varroa mite infestation. You'd only need them around for the bloom. Trust me on this, the yield will be much greater if you bring them in as opposed to not. In fact the bees are so efficent that folks have to cull some of the apples.

Dave

 

[DFB]

Dave,

Could you tell me how far the honeybees might travel out from where they're kept?

DFB

 

[DaveNH]

Bees will fly about a 2 to 3 mile radius from their hive.

 

[DFB]

Dave, thanks for that info. A local beekeeper keeps hives over at the in-law's farm.

It's about 2mi as the crow flies from my place. I've often wondered about needing my own too.

DFB

 

[AndyR]

Used to be that being a Republican and a conservationist were not so different. Nowadays with all of these repugnicans about the party seems to have lost its way. That's why I'm an independent and proud of it.

Anyway, as to the apple trees, there has been talk of a clay based spray that is supposed to perform pretty well. Check with your local extension agent or your state Ag. dept. Dormant oil sprays can have some light sensitivity issues - don't know that they will be the right thing for all the critters and blights. Please keep us informed - I suspect there are more then a few of us in similar circumstances.

 

[webbmeister]

"there has been talk of a clay based spray that is supposed to perform pretty well"

Yes, indeed. This product, trade name "Surround" and mentioned earlier in this thread, is available via mail order. I've sent a list of questions to the vendor and will write here about the answers as soon as I get them.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[PhilNH5]

Jim,
You can raise apples organically. Back in MD we had 5 apple trees and 2 peach trees. All semi-dwarf varities. I fed them compost each spring via a top dressing. Most fruit trees are heavy feeders. Just as the buds appeared I sprayed with a lightweight horticultural oil mixed up for summer weight. I had lots of cedar trees with those orange masses of cedar rust. I planted resistant cultivars and never had trouble with rust.

Once the tree leafed out I sprayed a copper based fungicide every 2 weeks. I got both the fungicide and the oil from Gardens Alive. Just as I was getting fruit I hung sticky traps. I bought the Tangelfoot sticky stuff at the Agway. But I didn't buy the red spheres to smear it on. Instead I used a real apple. I read this tip in Organic Gardening magazine. As the trees were still small I only hung one sticky apple per tree. They did seem to collect a lot of bugs. I don't know if any of the trapped bugs were the apple maggots the traps were designed to catch. I was suprised to find that one of the worst pests were wasps and yellow jackets. Especially in the late fall producing varieties. The wasps and yellow jackets never seemed to get caught in the sticky traps. I could usually outwit the wasps and yellow jacketrs by picking the fruit a little early.

Once the fruit was set I sprayed the fruit with a home made all purpose spray. I used 1 onion diced. Some hot pepper flakes. 1 diced garlic head and a squirt of dish soap all in a quart of water. Let steep over night, strain through a paper towel or coffee filter. Then mix one cup to a gallon of water and spray. I used this on my veggie garden too if needed. I think the premise is that bugs don't like the taste or the onion,garlic pepper masks the smell of the fruit or veggie you spray.

I used the homemade spray only as needed. Due to the soap it will kill beneficial insects as well as bad bugs it comes in contact with. We got a fair amount of fruit. Like you say; there were blemishes. And they weren't supermarket perfect. But they tasted good. And no annoying waxy film to deal with like on grocery apples.

My favorite part was riding by on the gardentractor while cutting the grass and snagging a fresh apple. One of those little joys in life.

The first thing we planted when we moved to NH 3 years ago were 2 apple trees. My site is heavily wooded and I don't have may sunny spots. We planted Stayman winesaps which are a heritage or antigue variety. This means no inbred disease resistance. So I don't know how things will turn out. Trees are still two young for fruit yet. If I can't get fruit organically I will just let them go and the deer can have whatever yield there is. Then I will put in resistant varieties.

Good Luck,
Phil

 

[cedarranch]

On my last property we had 6 apple trees, 5 peach trees, 2 pear trees, two plumb trees, among others. We found that hanging the store bought yellow jacket traps worked VERY well. One on smaller trees and two or three on the larger trees. I also used real fruit and the color balls for the sticky stuff. The real fruit did seem to attract more bugs. We did have a problem with hornets. They would built a hive in one of the peach trees every year.