On Sun, 06 Mar 2005 15:20:41 -0500, Mike Sousa
wrote:

John Bachman wrote:
On Sun, 06 Mar 2005 14:15:58 -0500, Mike Sousa
wrote:


John Bachman wrote:

How about a little more information on your problems, Mike? Are fruit
developing at all? If not you could have a pollination problem that
has to be solved before anything else.

John in NH

Hi John,

The fruit trees are 5 to 6 years old.

The Peach trees have had fruit for the past two years, but they fall off
before maturing and they have the leaf curl disease.

The nectarine trees had fruit for the first time last year but they all
dried up before they matured. The same thing with the apple trees.

The cherry tree has never had fruit, but it's only 3 years old.

The plum trees has had fruit for the past three years but last year they
got the biggest and appeared to be ready to deliver. All the fruit then
shriveled up in a two week span -- after research, I determined it was
brown rot.

I did spray a generic fungicide early in the year but that was advice

from a friend of a friend. I figured before I would dig in and research

this fully on the net, I would see if anyone living in the Northeast had
simple advice, etc...


I am not convinced that you do not have a pollination problem. Do you
know of honeybees in your area? Have seen any on the flowers?

Some of the trees are self-pollinating. Does that make a difference?
(pardon my ignorance...


Self pollinating means that they do not need a different variety in
the area for pollination. It does not mean that they do not need
pollinators, i.e. honeybees or bumble bees.

Even self pollinators benefit from cross pollination with another
variety. Toka is a great plum pollinizer but you still need
pollinators to carry the pollen from tree to tree.

Wild honeybees are nearly non-existant in New England due to the mite
problem. Other pollinators are around but are far less effective.
Fruit fall is a common symptom of poor pollination.

However, you can deal with problems like leaf curl and brown rot with
Captan. Follow the label instructions carefully, especially the
personal protective equipment descriptions. Captan can cause
irreversible eye damage so eye protection is a must. The first
application is before leafout.

Thanks for the tip -- I'll check out Captan. I'm guessing you can
purchase that stuff at a local brick & mortar or do I have to purchase
this online? Also, I'm assuming that when I get the Captan, it'll have
directions for frequency of use (timing), etc?

Yes, the label is very complete and very specific - BE SURE TO FOLLOW
THE LABEL. That is the credo of all licensed pesticide applicators,
heed our lead.



Plum curculio has been a big problem in New England lately.
Unfortunately, there is no pesticide remedy available to homeowners.
General fruit tree spray used to include an ingredient for plum
curculio but that ended two years ago. Many of the New England
homeowner apples and plums suffer from curculio infestation. A small
sicle shaped spot on fruit is a sign that the adult layed her eggs in
the fruit. The fruit will wither and drop off as the grub munches
away.

John

That's exactly what is happening. Very frustrating...