Phisherman wrote:
On Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:37:13 -0700, "Zootal"
wrote:

Here is yet another apple tree question. My old apple tree has a bazillion
apples on it. Question: Exactly what do I do to it to keep worms from eating
the apples? Every year, almost every apple has one or more worms in it. Is
there a spray that can be safely used? And - here is the important question
that I haven't found an answer to - exactly how do I go about applying it,
IE what equipment do I need? This tree is 30-40 feet tall, and 30+ feet
across, it's quite large. My wife bought me a hand sprayer (bless her soul
LOL), but it isn't quite up to the task. How do I spray a huge apple tree?


There are larger sprayers for larger tasks. Apples is at the top of
the list for having pesticide content. Certainly, there must be
methods to worm-free apples labeled as "organic" or "organically
grown."


I made a sprayer out of a stainless steel fire extinguisher when I lived
in Texas and had a small orchard. (it would spray a 30' tree pretty
easily.) Your little sprayer can probably handle 20 feet; give it a try
and it might surprise you. Your tree also might need a good pruning
this winter to make it easier to deal with next year.

Keeping a small flock of chickens under the tree would be a natural way
to reduce worms in your apples. :-)

There are red sticky traps you can use to catch apple maggot flies
before they infect the apples.

Here, you can skip most of the spraying and get away with it, but the
July and early August sprays are very important. I spray with diazanon
in July and then stop, and put up with a few worms.

Bob