sherwindu wrote:
I don't know what part of the planet you live in, but in the Midwest
here, the yellow jackets can sometimes be a big problem. Haven't
seen many this year, but previously, they went after my peaches. I
had one good sting when I tried to pick up a fallen peach on the
ground, and it took a lot of antihistamine to quiet that one down.

EV also doesn't seem to be growing fruit, or she would not be so
complacent about apple maggots, plum curcullio's, etc. The only time
I stop spraying is when the blossoms are out, since I don't want to
kill my pollinators (bees).

Sherwin


I didn't spray the cherry tree at all this year and the insect and brown
rot loss wasn't that bad -- less than what I lost to the robins.

I live in Southern Minnesota (there's an oxymoron for ya) and the
curcullios and apple maggots are awful here. I don't spray anything
until after 100% petal drop out of respect for the bees; they're having
a tough time here with the mites. I didn't spray any fungicides this
year and it shows, but a little scab on the apples doesn't hurt
anything. I stopped spraying in July (out of laziness) and was afraid
the apple maggots would ruin everything, but diligent clean-up of fallen
apples last year seems to have paid off. In the past, some years even
with spraying the apple maggots have totally destroyed my crop.

I would love to get to where insects and disease could be controlled
with just a dormant oil spray before the buds break, followed by
Integrated Pest Management (with a sprayer of malathion standing by,
unused, just in case of emergency.) I don't know if IPM works here or
if the insect load is just too high. I think proper orchard hygiene,
traps, and minimal spraying whenever the traps show a high insect
population might be more effective and more ecological than prophylactic
spraying every 10 days and every time it rains.

Bob