Plum curculio. Orchard spray only makes them angry, hungrier and hornier.

You really didn't give enough information other than you're spraying with something that is not effective on much of anything.

Donn, mykl is almost surely correct but the way you can be completely sure you have curculio is look at the dropped fruit for a scar outside and then a worm inside when cut open.

Scott

PC... I have Superior/Aldermann... Kept Surround on the Superior, nothing on the other. Every single fruit on the Aldermann had to come off, while i've counted 4 so far that have fallen on the Superior. All had larvae in them and crescent shaped marks.

If you can get past these little beasts, i don't have too many other issues with plums other then the beetles feeding on the foilage.

Where can I purchase Surround spray?

Donn, since you dont mind spraying orchard spray go with spectracide triazicide labeled for fruit trees. Spray at petal fall and 10-14 days later and that should control PC. (you can get it at walmart for like $10)

I get away with 2 sprays here in N IL

Yeah, shipping is a killer on Surround if you can't get it local.

Joe-

Did you have any PC damage? I found one today in one of my bagged apples. A big one! I squished him, but was shocked to see one this late. I haven't used any pesticides and i'm paying for it! Fruit took a huge hit.

Surround is a clay product for coating trees/fruit.

I used Imidan this year. Last year used spectracide and worked really really well. I have 1 tree that is clean another with a few hits because its by my trap tree . I dont spray right a petal fall , usually a few day later. This year it was a week due to 40+ mph winds that we had every day. My trees are 30 ft tall 30 +_ years old, so I can afford to lose a lot of apples and still have too many.

2 pesticide sprays and pc is just a bad memory! Sounds good dont it? and the $10 price tag compared to the $50 makes it even better. eh? :)

My apples were bagged BEFORE the PC were able to hit them (cold weather). Bagging is a big FART sound in my book after this year. Almost every bag had PC damage. Those things need very little gap to get in. I guess i've never read if PC is stopped by bagging and this year leads me to believe that is a negative. Started with over 200 apples and am probably down to about 30!!! That is how many bags i've had to pick off the ground. What a joke. Really i think a very light spray program would work best here, but its too late. After this year many trees are getting chainsawed!

What is funny is that the peaches seem the least affected by pests. They have very little PC damage and i've noticed the same in past years. Plums are at the other end of the spectrum. If your willing to wait until as late as possible to thin, you can have a big peach crop and not spray a drop.

Frank what peaches are you growing? Thinking about giving it a try next year.

What trees are not working out?

I have seedlings of Reliance and a few nectarines (Red Gold being one). I also have some unknown seedlings from store bought peaches (from Michigan). I don't have many this year because the trees are only 3 years old. I have a total of around 10 trees.

The biggest problem i see with them is borer (i've had trees die from them) and canker (which doesn't kill the tree from what i've seen).

Trees that are getting chopped are the sweet cherries (Lapins, Black Gold, and Kristin), 3 sour cherry (in a really bad spot) (1 Meteor and 2 Evans Bali) and my wife really doesn't like them, an Imperial Epineuse plum (bad spot/not pollinator) and possibly a couple apple trees (bad spot, can buy them for almost nothing here in the fall because they grow 1000's of acres right across the river). Might chop the Aldermann plum, but its a very big tree now and really nice looking, but the fruit isn't that great..i'd like to replace with a second Superior. That plum is just fantastic.

I'm going to either give them away (most are small enough to dig and replant) or burn them. Depends on my mood!

I'm tempted to replace the apples with pears. I love pears (more then apples) and they seem to be very pest free, plus they store almost as well as apples.

That leaves me with all the peaches, 5 apricots, and a couple pears. Plus i have raspberries, blackerries, 1 grape, blueberries and a huge bed of strawberries. I also have a big veggie garden (about 30 tomatoes) along with everything to make a very nice spaghetti sauce...

Really for the space i have/money i could save, small berries would be my best bet. They aren't cheap to buy, freeze well and are full of nutrition.