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Calcium uptake, herbal fermentation, liquid fish, pure neem oil, pest options, the mineral fungicides, impact of same on microbes ... from timing and tank mixing to sourcing spray materials and evaluating effectiveness.
Favorite picking bucket - 3 years ago
What do folks recommend for a picking bucket? Will it serve for picking peaches as well as apples and pears, or is there a different style that works better for peaches? I would not be letting peaches roll out the bottom, I shouldn't think, but taking them out and placing them gently in lugs.by Peter Fisher - Sensible Equipment
Re: Japanese Beetle Strategies - 3 years ago
The beetles arrived here in Iowa on schedule, July 1, in substantially larger numbers than last year, but last year we had very few. Glad to hear about other solutions. I am also past the point where I can knock them into a pail. I spray the beetles themselves every evening with Pyganic. They are on Aronia berries, hazelnuts, cherries and certain varieties of peaches, none on pears, only a few onby Peter Fisher - Bug by Bug
Surround: beading and surface tension solutions - 3 years ago
I feel like I could get much better Surround coverage if it didn't bead up so much on the waxy apple surface. (I do not have an air blast sprayer; I am using a wand.) Beading up is due in part to surface tension. Apparently warm water has lower surface tension than cold, so I will try to let the sun warm the water first next time (sitting in pails, and in my 200' of hose). I could not dby Peter Fisher - Spray Nuance
Re: Mystery bug - 3 years ago
The view of a couple of entomologists is that it is probably a click beetle. Not sure why it was attracted to a tufted apple bud moth lure. And it was probably not chewing on the apple, since click beetles apparently only go for the foliage. So, one pest I can probably ignore.by Peter Fisher - Bug by Bug
Mystery bug - 3 years ago
We found the bug pictured below feeding on a fruitlet. I have been monitoring for a variety of leafrollers, as well as the tufted apple bud moth, because the damage to the fruit that is pictured in the Tree Fruit Field Guide to Insects, .. etc.(particularly from the latter, or the obliquebanded leafroller) matches what we saw on our apples last year. Yesterday, the pheromone trap for the tufted aby Peter Fisher - Bug by Bug
Peach thinning and tree physiology - 3 years ago
In the midst of thinning peaches, I once again wish I had taken notes when harvesting last summer, so I would better understand where the biggest peaches grow. Absent that, it would be nice to know the theory behind the 6" rule -- that peaches should end up about that far apart, or more. When thinning I start with the obvious criteria -- peaches too small, or deformed or buggy, or so closeby Peter Fisher - Organic Thinning
Re: jet agitation kit for sprayer - 3 years ago
I am going to answer my own question. There is a simple "agitation kit" available for sprayers of this size. I got it for $20 from Northern Tool and Equipment. It consists mostly of stock parts you could pick up at the hardware store, except for the plastic tube that runs through a hole you drill in the top of the tank and that connects to a Y fitting with controls to regulate how muchby Peter Fisher - Sensible Equipment
A sticker for Surround - 3 years ago
I have a note that says Michael recommends adding a little neem oil to the first Surround spray to get it to adhere better. What about using Therm-X instead? Or something else less expensive than neem? Or adding Surround to Spring Holistic Spray #3?by Peter Fisher - Spray Nuance
Re: Neem, cold weather, and hard water - 3 years ago
Today I sprayed with Neem (the spring holistic spray number 3, at petal fall) with hard well water. The water had sat overnight indoors so it was probably around 65 degrees, as was the air temperature. I added a cup of lemon juice in 25 gallons. There was still some floating undissolved neem, and some residue to be cleaned at the end, but not anything like what I had been dealing with earlier. Thby Peter Fisher - Spray Nuance
Re: A prolific pest in every apple.. what to do? - 3 years ago
If you do not have a copy already, I would suggest getting the Tree Fruit Field Guide to Insect, Mite and Disease Pests of Eastern North America. Pictures of the pests, the larvae, and the damage they inflict, as well as what trees they attack and when, and approaches to control. It's published by NRAES, in Ithaca NY. If you want to monitor them Great Lakes IPM has the traps and pheromoneby Peter Fisher - Bug by Bug
Re: Tow-Behind Sprayer (half acre) - 4 years ago
Does the sprayer come with jet agitation? I should think you would want that. And the agitation line probably shares pressure with the sprayer wand--the more you adjust for higher pressure for spraying, the less is left over for agitation. Which argues for having a lot of pressure. However, I seem to recall that diaphragm pumps (which is what I have, and have used for a few years with surround anby Peter Fisher - Sensible Equipment
Re: Neem, cold weather, and hard water - 4 years ago
Needed to do a trunk and ground saturation with 2% neem for greater and lesser peach tree borers yesterday so I went ahead and used softened warm tap water which worked well. So maybe that will become my early spring cold weather solution. Unless someone tells me that's not a good idea.by Peter Fisher - Spray Nuance
Neem, cold weather, and hard water - 4 years ago
I have been using neem for a few years, but this year had an unpleasant experience. Last week, when I went to clean out my tank after spraying my orchard with neem and liquid fish, at double strength, I discovered most of the neem oil in granular sticky form clinging to the side of my tank. It was in the upper 40s outside, and my usual preparations (letting well water in 5 gallon pails warm indooby Peter Fisher - Spray Nuance
Re: Power pruner options - 4 years ago
That must have been the SCA3. I see it online for around $800. Can you tell me how quickly it makes a cut and returns to the open position?by Peter Fisher - Sensible Equipment
Power pruner options - 4 years ago
I would like to hear about experience with/ recommendations for battery-powered or pneumatic pruning shears. With recurring back trouble and arthritis in my hands, pruning is the one task that is physically a challenge, and not getting better with the years. But we have a small diversified orchard (apples, peaches, Eurooean and Asian pears, 145 trees) so the prices of the battery-powered ones areby Peter Fisher - Sensible Equipment
Re: Pears in the MidAtlantic - 4 years ago
I have been using the "full Michael" spray program on my pears for a couple of years, leaving out the neem oil, but including liquid fish, compost tea, fermented herbal teas, and EM. I haven't had any issues with phytotoxicity except for the one time I forgot where I was in the orchard and used the holistic spray with neem on the pears.by Peter Fisher - Fungal Pathogens
Summer pruning and fire blight - 4 years ago
I have have been dealing with a small outbreak of fire blight on 3 pear trees (2 Concorde and a red Bartlet). I read a lot about what to do next season to minimize the spread, but nothing about measures I should be taking now to avoid spreading to other trees, other than pruning off infected branches and burning them. I have avoided summer pruning of water sprouts and root suckers on all my pearby Peter Fisher - Bacterial Opportunists
jet agitation kit for sprayer - 4 years ago
I have a 25 gallon sprayer that has a bypass that does little or nothing to help keep solutions mixed. I see jet agitation kits for sale for about $45 and I am wondering if anyone has experience adding these to a sprayer. It looks like you would need to put a Y or T fiitting where the sprayer hose is now attached and then add the agitation hose there (with the sprayer hose) and run it to a hole yby Peter Fisher - Sensible Equipment
Re: Lesser Peach Tree Borer - 4 years ago
I am battling them again, with neem oil trunk spray and whitewash, in the midst of the first moth flight. But I am wondering if it is possible to trap them out in a small orchard like ours. We have about 30 bearing peach trees.by Peter Fisher - Bug by Bug
Re: Valerian for frost protection - 5 years ago
There has been a recent discussion of frost protection recipes in the Spray Nuance forum, not on the topic of Valerian, but some of the folks following the Valerian thread may have something to contribute to the other discussion -- home made sprays, assessing freeze damage (20 degrees here last night).by Peter Fisher - Biodynamic Orcharding
Re: Frost protection, potassium sulfate & apricots - 5 years ago
It got down to 20 degrees here in Iowa briefly last night, below 24 for several hours. I assume the apricots are toast, since they are in full bloom. Cutting open a blossom revealed a brownish color at the base of the pistil. The Asian and Eurpean pears were all at tight cluster. So I expected damage there, but cutting into a number of buds revealed just the same light green color throughout.by Peter Fisher - Spray Nuance
Frost protection, potassium sulfate & apricots - 5 years ago
Expecting a low of 21-23 tonight with apples and pears at 1/4" green and apricots blooming. My frost protection recipe (source forgotten) calls for potassium sulfate, but I am wondering if the prohibition against lime sulfur or elemental sulfur on apricots extends to potassium sulfate. My understanding is that I am looking mostly for potassium and calcium. So the molasses and the milk inby Peter Fisher - Spray Nuance
Re: Best irrigation system ? - 5 years ago
We also have a small orchard (150 trees in 9 200' rows on a slope). We often need to irrigate in the dry period, usually August, and I purchased 1/2" polyethylene tubing from Dripworks and punched holes and inserted emitters. This lets you put the emitters where the trees are instead of watering the entire row. So its really economical in terms of water (we have to use well water.)by Peter Fisher - Sensible Equipment
Re: fermented plant extracts - 5 years ago
We have a small orchard (150 trees). I made a first attempt at using the fermented herbal teas this past season. Since the first three sprays according to your timetable combine the silica and calcium teas, I just made one brew combining the ingredients in the two teas to simplify the task. I purchased azomite, basalt dust, humic acids, and gypsum; plenty of nettles growing here, garlic scapes frby Peter Fisher - Tree Fruit Nutrition
Small scale apple washer - 5 years ago
We have a very small orchard (about 145 trees) but it is getting to the point where we need a way to wash Surround off the apples; the kitchen sink isn't going to cut it. The only washers I have been able to find are for a much larger orchard and cost way more than we could justify. Does anyone know of a small washer that is available, or has anyone built one? It wouldn't have to move tby Peter Fisher - Sensible Equipment
Lesser Peach Tree Borer - 5 years ago
I have an infestation of lesser peach tree borers LPTB which I misdiagnosed this spring as bacterial canker, due to the gummosis in all the likely places -- cracks in the trunk, crotches of scaffold limbs and branches up to a height of about 4'. When I learned from talking with our extension agent in August that it was much more likely to be LPTB I sprayed all the cracks in the trunk and brby Peter Fisher - Bug by Bug
Re: Tangle Trap - 5 years ago
Here's what I heard back from Great Lakes IPM. No help coming this year, but sounds like it should be available for next season. "We are pretty much all out of the brush on tangle. Right now it does not look like it will get back into production until spring of 2016. Sorry, the new owners of the company are still in the organization stage for all the companies they purchased thisby Peter Fisher - Bug by Bug
Tangle Trap - 5 years ago
I have about run out of Tangle Trap to replenish the red sticky cups for AFM and discovered that it is no longer available. Seems like a few places have Tanglefoot Insect Barrier paste, but not the paintable or sprayable Tangle Trap. I can't really see troweling the stuff on a plastic cup hanging from a tree. But something I read indicated that the Tangle Trap may be simply a less viscous paby Peter Fisher - Bug by Bug
Re: effectiveness of vinegar jug trap - 5 years ago
I thought I had replied to this before but I don't see it. We tried vinegar and a banana peel in a gallon milk jug a couple of years ago and ended up with lots of yellow jackets and some bees so we quit doing it.by Peter Fisher - Bug by Bug
Re: codling moth management - 5 years ago
How long can Madex be stored and what is the concentration you used? I am trying to figure out an annual cost in our small orchard.by Peter Fisher - Bug by Bug