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#1
06-03-2005, 04:31 PM
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Stone fruit fungicides (Northeast US)
Howdy,
I'm having difficulty getting my stone fruit trees to bear some fruit at harvest time. Did some research and it appears that Brown Rot and Curled Leaf are two diseases that just won't go away. I have peach, nectarine, plum, cherry & apple trees. I live in New England. Was hoping one of you kind folks would share some wisdom so that I can at least see what a home grown plum tastes like.  Thanks, -- Mike |
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#2
06-03-2005, 05:52 PM
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On Sun, 06 Mar 2005 11:31:23 -0500, Mike Sousa
wrote: Howdy, I'm having difficulty getting my stone fruit trees to bear some fruit at harvest time. Did some research and it appears that Brown Rot and Curled Leaf are two diseases that just won't go away. I have peach, nectarine, plum, cherry & apple trees. I live in New England. Was hoping one of you kind folks would share some wisdom so that I can at least see what a home grown plum tastes like. 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 |
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#3
06-03-2005, 07:15 PM
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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... Thanks, -- Mike |
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#4
06-03-2005, 07:55 PM
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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? 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. 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 |
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#5
06-03-2005, 08:20 PM
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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... 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? 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... Thanks for your help, John! -- Mike |
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#6
06-03-2005, 10:16 PM
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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... |
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#7
06-03-2005, 10:23 PM
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"Mike Sousa" wrote in message
... Also, I'm assuming that when I get the Captan, it'll have directions for frequency of use (timing), etc? The use of any fungicide or pesticide on fruit trees is highly dependent upon your local weather conditions. In general tree sprays are applied when the tree goes through certain phases (i.e. dormant, buds showing, pink buds, leaf opening, first signs of fruit, etc). You also don't want to just be spraying "just-in-case". Look up some IPM techniques for your fruit and your area to use the least amount of material possible. Captan is available in almost any garden center including the Walmarts of the world. It's pretty expensive. You really don't want to spend more on sprays than the fruit itself is worth. -al sung Hopkinton, MA (Zone 6a) |
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#8
07-03-2005, 04:11 PM
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Mike Sousa wrote:
Howdy, I'm having difficulty getting my stone fruit trees to bear some fruit at harvest time. Did some research and it appears that Brown Rot and Curled Leaf are two diseases that just won't go away. I have peach, nectarine, plum, cherry & apple trees. I live in New England. Was hoping one of you kind folks would share some wisdom so that I can at least see what a home grown plum tastes like. Thanks, -- Mike I live in Oklahoma and "Brown Rot" is really a problem here. I have tried "Captan" and it seems to have very little effect on the "Rot". Nectarines seem to be the worst but now peaches are hit hard every year even to the extent that some of the trees have died. I'm sure that there must be a fungicide out there that would control this but I don't think that they are available to the home gardener. I've heard that "Spectracide" is more effective than Captan and plan to use it this year but I'm not setting my hopes too high. Most advice I've read on the Rot problem involves "sanitation" by making sure that all the mummified fruit is cleaned from beneath the trees, but with the lesions that I find on the twigs and bark seem to be a worse source of rot spores then the mummified fruit. Any way, I've got a couple of nice stumps to sit on now. Take a look at the following link: http://pmo.umext.maine.edu/factsht/brwnrot.htm |
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#9
08-03-2005, 02:20 AM
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First, how old are you trees? If they aren't mature enough -- usually @ 3 -
4 years -- they won't bear fruit. However, since you mention apple trees along with the stone fruits, I'm thinking you either have more than one problem going on or that having no fruit on different types of plants is caused by something like spraying for insects in spring when the trees are ready to be pollinated and the bees are being killed. Do you see fruit start to form on any of your trees? If not, something is likely going on to prevent pollination. See insecticide spraying above. If none of this gets you closer to getting an idea of why you're not getting fruit, give your County Extension a call. Here's a link to Extension offices by state: http://www.scottsprohort.com/grower_solutions/links.cfm Good luck. Hope this helps! Suzy O Milwaukee, WI "Mike Sousa" wrote in message ... Howdy, I'm having difficulty getting my stone fruit trees to bear some fruit at harvest time. Did some research and it appears that Brown Rot and Curled Leaf are two diseases that just won't go away. I have peach, nectarine, plum, cherry & apple trees. I live in New England. Was hoping one of you kind folks would share some wisdom so that I can at least see what a home grown plum tastes like. Thanks, -- Mike |
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