I think dormant oil is just the first step. Unfortunately, if you want
clean fruit and a
healthy tree, you have to go on a regular spray schedule of insecticides and
fungicides. I have had no luck with the organic sprays, but I'm sure I'll
get arguements from people that it works for them.

I also wish people would identify their sources of supply when they get the
wrong
tree. I can almost understand getting the wrong rootstock, but even that is
unforgivable. We should hold these nurseries and suppliers to account to
clean up
their act. Lets publish their names, please.

Sherwin Dubren

EV wrote:

I was totally blown away by the performance of a new Tehranivee
self-pollinating cherry that I planted in April of this year (zone 6).
It's a dwarf tree, and was only about 5 ft. tall when I planted it. I
was surprised when it flowered profusely in May, and shocked when
cherries began to develop. Some of them withered up and fell off, but
the little tree still managed to produce a bumper crop, several bowls
full, of juicy, sweet, crunchy, flavourful cherries. I don't know if I
just lucked out with this one tree, or if they're all this good. It's
supposed to be susceptible to cracking, but that didn't happen ... at
least not this year.

The prune plum is a whole other story. It was mislabelled as being an
apricot when I bought it in '96, and I didn't know that it wasn't an
apricot till it fruited a few years ago, so I don't know which cultivar
it is.

Last year it bore heavily, but dropped about a third of it's fruit
before it ripened. I lost half of what was left to various bugs in
various stages. And some of the fruit had what looked like crystallized
loops and nubs and dribbles of sap on them. What is that?

Last fall I pruned off all the water spouts that had grown and cut the
tree back to a manageable size, trying to recognize the fruit spurs.

This year the tree fruited even more heavily, but has dropped about 2/3
of its fruit, either green and shrivelled, purple and shrivelled, or
purple and hard. The crystallized stuff is on many of them too, and I
can see bumps and punctures on much of the fruit. If I get a dozen
edible plums, I'll be lucky. So much for the plum jam and the galettes.

I'm not big on pesticides and such, but will definitely be using dormant
oil this fall and next spring. Any comments, insights or suggestions on
the plum problems would be appreciated.

Thanks!

EV

There are pictures of the cherry tree in various stages, and some of the
other edibles in my garden, he
http://www3.sympatico.ca/great/tempee.html