I assume you are comparing this year's drop of peaches to previous years. Climate
may be one factor, but I would be more suspicious of the tree being under stress,
either from pests or from lack of water, or too much water. If you have no visible

sign of damage to the leaves, branches, or fruit, it will be hard to diagnose the
cause.
Were the dropped fruit still unripe (a bad sign)? Hopefully, your tree is not
permanently effected and will return to normal for next season. I would apply a
generous amount of fertilizer (slow acting, like composted manure) and mulch to
keep the tree insulated and give it a kick start in the Spring.

Sherwin Dubren

EV wrote:

sherwindu wrote:

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.

The tree seems to be very healthy. It doesn't look sickly or damaged. The
leaves look good. The graft is good. Now, mind you, a little crown gall does
appear on some part of it every year. But I just cut it off.

I don't mind fruit with worms in it, actually. Provided there's not a lot of
frass, I just cut out the affected part and eat the rest. I wouldn't even be
freaked out if I ate a larva or two. In other parts of the world, stuff like
that is a source of protein ... and I'm not a vegetarian.

Is there any chance that the cold wet weather is contributing to the premature
fruit drop? Other than plum curculios and scale insects, is there any other bug
I should look out for?

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'd like to know more about them, if anyone has more information.

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.

I got the tree from White Rose, which is now out of business. They were an OK
nursery once upon a time.

Thanks for your comments.

EV





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

I assume you are comparing this year's drop of peaches to previous years. Climate
may be one factor, but I would be more suspicious of the tree being under stress,
either from pests or from lack of water, or too much water. If you have no visible

sign of damage to the leaves, branches, or fruit, it will be hard to diagnose the
cause.
Were the dropped fruit still unripe (a bad sign)? Hopefully, your tree is not
permanently effected and will return to normal for next season. I would apply a
generous amount of fertilizer (slow acting, like composted manure) and mulch to
keep the tree insulated and give it a kick start in the Spring.

Sherwin Dubren

EV wrote:

sherwindu wrote:

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.

The tree seems to be very healthy. It doesn't look sickly or damaged. The
leaves look good. The graft is good. Now, mind you, a little crown gall does
appear on some part of it every year. But I just cut it off.

I don't mind fruit with worms in it, actually. Provided there's not a lot of
frass, I just cut out the affected part and eat the rest. I wouldn't even be
freaked out if I ate a larva or two. In other parts of the world, stuff like
that is a source of protein ... and I'm not a vegetarian.

Is there any chance that the cold wet weather is contributing to the premature
fruit drop? Other than plum curculios and scale insects, is there any other bug
I should look out for?

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'd like to know more about them, if anyone has more information.

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.

I got the tree from White Rose, which is now out of business. They were an OK
nursery once upon a time.

Thanks for your comments.

EV





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

sherwindu wrote:

I assume you are comparing this year's drop of peaches to previous years.

I have the peach's cousin ... prune plums. :-)

Climate may be one factor, but I would be more suspicious of the tree being under
stress, either from pests or from lack of water, or too much water.

Cold wet spring, cold wet summer. Wet, wet, wet. It could easily be too much water.

If you have no visible sign of damage to the leaves, branches, or fruit, it will be
hard to diagnose the cause.

I think that the picture is complicated by multiple causes, and I'm not yet
experienced enough with fruit trees to recognize what's what. I took some pictures of
some of the fallen fruit and will put it up on my webpage within the next few days. It
might help to identify different causes. I did find the usual worm inside one of them.
The tiny white segmented one with the brown head frassing up the fruit. I took a
picture of it too. Hope I got it in focus. I've noticed that a few pests seem to have
similar looking larval stages. I need help with identification. I supect fruit moths.

Were the dropped fruit still unripe (a bad sign)?

Mostly unripe, yes. The tree has always done that. But this year, it's lost more than
usual, proportionally. I started out with hundreds of plums and now have a dozen or
two. Now the almost ripe ones, that ripen up in a day or two, are starting to fall.
I'll probably get a few good ones, and the squirrels will take the rest as they ripen
in the rain.

Hopefully, your tree is not
permanently effected and will return to normal for next season.

I guess I'm an optimist. I think it will come back better than ever. A few years ago
one of the neighbour's big trees got cut down and it started getting the full sunlight
it should have had all along. It's grown quite the trunk since then. It does seem to
be doing well aside from the falling plums. I had a bit of some of the fruit that
wasn't badly damaged, and it's sweet and flavourful as can be. I would love to have a
bumper crop. Sigh.

I would apply a
generous amount of fertilizer (slow acting, like composted manure) and mulch to
keep the tree insulated and give it a kick start in the Spring.

Can't hurt. I will definitely amend the soil. Thanks,
EV





EV wrote:

sherwindu wrote:

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.

The tree seems to be very healthy. It doesn't look sickly or damaged. The
leaves look good. The graft is good. Now, mind you, a little crown gall does
appear on some part of it every year. But I just cut it off.

I don't mind fruit with worms in it, actually. Provided there's not a lot of
frass, I just cut out the affected part and eat the rest. I wouldn't even be
freaked out if I ate a larva or two. In other parts of the world, stuff like
that is a source of protein ... and I'm not a vegetarian.

Is there any chance that the cold wet weather is contributing to the premature
fruit drop? Other than plum curculios and scale insects, is there any other bug
I should look out for?

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'd like to know more about them, if anyone has more information.

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.

I got the tree from White Rose, which is now out of business. They were an OK
nursery once upon a time.

Thanks for your comments.

EV





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

sherwindu wrote:

I assume you are comparing this year's drop of peaches to previous years.

I have the peach's cousin ... prune plums. :-)

Climate may be one factor, but I would be more suspicious of the tree being under
stress, either from pests or from lack of water, or too much water.

Cold wet spring, cold wet summer. Wet, wet, wet. It could easily be too much water.

If you have no visible sign of damage to the leaves, branches, or fruit, it will be
hard to diagnose the cause.

I think that the picture is complicated by multiple causes, and I'm not yet
experienced enough with fruit trees to recognize what's what. I took some pictures of
some of the fallen fruit and will put it up on my webpage within the next few days. It
might help to identify different causes. I did find the usual worm inside one of them.
The tiny white segmented one with the brown head frassing up the fruit. I took a
picture of it too. Hope I got it in focus. I've noticed that a few pests seem to have
similar looking larval stages. I need help with identification. I supect fruit moths.

Were the dropped fruit still unripe (a bad sign)?

Mostly unripe, yes. The tree has always done that. But this year, it's lost more than
usual, proportionally. I started out with hundreds of plums and now have a dozen or
two. Now the almost ripe ones, that ripen up in a day or two, are starting to fall.
I'll probably get a few good ones, and the squirrels will take the rest as they ripen
in the rain.

Hopefully, your tree is not
permanently effected and will return to normal for next season.

I guess I'm an optimist. I think it will come back better than ever. A few years ago
one of the neighbour's big trees got cut down and it started getting the full sunlight
it should have had all along. It's grown quite the trunk since then. It does seem to
be doing well aside from the falling plums. I had a bit of some of the fruit that
wasn't badly damaged, and it's sweet and flavourful as can be. I would love to have a
bumper crop. Sigh.

I would apply a
generous amount of fertilizer (slow acting, like composted manure) and mulch to
keep the tree insulated and give it a kick start in the Spring.

Can't hurt. I will definitely amend the soil. Thanks,
EV





EV wrote:

sherwindu wrote:

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.

The tree seems to be very healthy. It doesn't look sickly or damaged. The
leaves look good. The graft is good. Now, mind you, a little crown gall does
appear on some part of it every year. But I just cut it off.

I don't mind fruit with worms in it, actually. Provided there's not a lot of
frass, I just cut out the affected part and eat the rest. I wouldn't even be
freaked out if I ate a larva or two. In other parts of the world, stuff like
that is a source of protein ... and I'm not a vegetarian.

Is there any chance that the cold wet weather is contributing to the premature
fruit drop? Other than plum curculios and scale insects, is there any other bug
I should look out for?

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'd like to know more about them, if anyone has more information.

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.

I got the tree from White Rose, which is now out of business. They were an OK
nursery once upon a time.

Thanks for your comments.

EV





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