Organic fruit tree spraying

I'm being told that I must spray my apple, pear and peach trees in order to get good fruit. Well, is there a way to do this without wiping out the entire benficial insect population, to say nothing of the world ? :) I haven't used any chemical sprays since I moved here two years ago, and have kept my veggies organic, but haven't a clue what to do with these inherited trees. Advice on fertilizers (and just basic care) would probably be good, too.
Anyone now a good website that will hold my hand thru the ordeal??
Thanks!

I am no expert, but we planted a small orchard a couple years ago. Spraying and pruning "official" advice is a little overwhelming as fruit trees produce best if kept in certain shapes. They are subject to a wide array of insect, fungus, and bacterial problems. There are whole books on pruning fruits. Culture and fertilizing are important too. Try this link for some good general info.

Cornell Guide to Growing Fruit at Home (click on “Tree Fruits” – there is info on rejuvenating old orchards near the bottom of “Tree Fruits”)
http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/fruit/homefruit.html

The pruning is a bit daunting, but we don’t go crazy. I just prune the obvious – diseased or damaged twiglet here and there, and just try to maintain the general shape. I do wipe the blades with alcohol after each cut so I don’t spread disease.

I highly recommend: 1) get a loop or magnifying glass to identify diseases and pests – not everybody gets everything, so it’s best to only spray when you have to, 2) Use “Surround” or other such product which is just clay that you mix with water and then spray – it’s great for preventing many insect and disease problems and is totally harmless to the environment, 3) never spray anything during blossom period, 4) walk the orchard frequently to keep on top of things, 5) Use a dormant oil spray – a lot of them are petroleum-based, but there are some that use vegetable oils, 6) keep grass down and mulch around the trees in as wide as area as you can so the roots can live well.

We sprinkle on a bit of dried blood as fertilizer once a year or so.

I could talk about our particular problems, but I don’t know that would be of much help to you. Our Georgia Bell peach, for instance, gets fire blight – I just prune off the dead “crooks” and have no more problem that year. For bagworms, I just remove the cases or spray with Bt if I absolutely have to. Use of Surround prevents and lot of stuff like Japanese Beetle damage. If I get cedar apple rust, it’s usually not severe.

Well, good luck – our orchard is just a "baby" one - it's really exciting you have an old orchard to play with! Do you know what varieties you have?


This message was edited Apr 9, 2008 2:22 PM

Wonderful advice, thank you so much for taking the time to write all that! I'm printing it out:).
I think I misled you a bit. There were two apple trees here when i got here, as well as a crabappl and lots of chokecherries (I think). The rest I've planted, two apples last year, and the pear and peaches last week. So, most of my Orchard is even "babier" than yours! One of the apple trees seems to be quite old, the other is fairly new, I think. The old tree seems to be similar to a macintosh, but has been neglected. I hope to help with that.
Thanks again!!
Margo

I'm glad you asked, catmad. We planted 6 apple trees - this is their fourth year - and I'm totally confused when it comes to spraying and pruning, even watering. Ours are espaliered and it seems all we do is cut branches off - crossing ones, water sprouts, etc. Not much left!

We have heirloom varieties; Cox's Orange Pippin, White Pearmain, Newtown Pippin and Spigold.

CompostR, your info is helpful, thanks for posting it.

Great, catmad - a crabapple is wonderful for pollination. Chokecherry is a good native tree (the cherries are good and edible - it's the leaves that are toxic).

I have a Honeysweet and Seckle pear (love these small sweet crunchy pears!).

They are all beautiful when in bloom.

kaperc - Wow - I'm impressed by your hierloom choices. I have a Roxbury Russett, a Westfield-Seek-No-Further, and a Winter Banana - no apples yet. They say Roxbury and Westfield have Pippin-like flavor. When I was researching apples I was amazed at how many old varieties there are. It was a difficult decision.

We bought our apples from Trees of Antiquity. I called and emailed them, discussing the flavors we liked, etc., and they recommended these apples for our climate. Time will tell, but I've been told they are a good combination for both eating and cooking. We eat a lot of apples, so we're looking forward to having our own.

Now I'm working on having a few citrus trees. :-)

What a good idea! Duh - i never thought of calling and asking.

For citrus here, we'd need a year-round greenhouse. Lucky you!

There is a wonderful organic approach to fruit tree care: http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_question.php?id=327. You want to be sure the tree is not planted too deep, either. You should see a good flare. When buying a tree, be aware that it is already planted too deep whether in a pot or ball and burlap. If there are any circling or girdling roots, cut them away or they will choke the tree.

Be careful with the Cox oragne pippin. It is very suseptable to fire blight. I lost mine and replaced it with another " antique. I've got 14, most of which are old, a coupel are "newer". I've been really bad about spraying. Including the dormant oil. This year I plan on using neem on the peach and nectarine. Last year was the first year for the necatrine to produce. It had alot of fruit. I went out one day to check it, reached up and got a hand full of Japanese Beetles. THis year I'm going to start spraying with neem when I see the first one.

Our biggest concern right now is a gopher that is digging around the trees. grrrr....

mscheinost - The clay spray, "Surround," is totally harmless and does an excellent job of repelling Japanese Beetles. One year our fruit trees were rendered leafless by these pests. I honestly thought the trees were dead and beyond help, but they leafed out the next year and we used Surround. We had plenty of beetles around, but they do not like to land on this clay and the trees did great.