Pife,

Merry christmas to you to. I have been growing fruit for a few years now and just started to keep bees this year, so I have similar concerns regarding pesticides.

Regarding books, for the complete beginner I would recommend the two books by Stella Otto, which I think are called The Backyard Orchard and the Backyard Berry Grower. There are other books that will be useful, but they can overwhelm the complete beginner. I would also recommend two other sources: the Penn State and Cornell University sites, both of which contain very good guides on home fruit growing. I would google Penn State fruit growing or Cornell fruit growing and you should be able to find them. I will try to get the links and post them later.

Regarding insecticides, to some extent you can avoid problems if you spray at the recommended times, which is after petal fall, a time when the bees should no longer be on the trees. But an even safer course is not to use insecticides at all. Many organic growers are now using a highly refined clay called Surround which irritates the insect pests making them leave the trees. It requires a bit more effort, but is much, much safer for both the bees and us. This can be combined with bagging fruit. Whether you wish to go this course depends on how much time you have or want to spend on it. If you search this forum, you should be able to find information on pretty much any issues regarding backyard fruit growing you can think of. I have found for my neck of the woods (Maryland) the postings by Scott Smith and Jellyman (Don Yellman) particularly helpful, but there are many others too with extensive experience in fruit growing.

Lee Reich's Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden is among my favorites, but this time of year I enjoy looking through the various offerings of nurseries (through their yearly catalogs).

~Chills

Pife, NAFEX has has a large donated liabrary that members can borrow from. You can borrow books from the library for a month for the cost of shipping. Many books and videos on Bees, organic growing and grafting etc.

Thanks for the suggestions. I was reading (re:dreaming about planting) Jung Seed catalog and found an organic product called Neem Oil 70%. Anyone know about or used this product. The description and very little research sounds promising for what I want. Pife

Pife, describe what varieties and size trees you are growing. What pests are on your trees. What do you spray now. Have you dormant sprayed yet? Going at the insects and disease with only organic spray is a totally losing battle in many areas. What spray to use should always be the least toxic way that works for you. The Japanese bag all their growing fruit and many folks here are trying it with success.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bagging Fruit

The cherry tree is about 6 feet, the pear trees are 4-5 feet, the peach are about 3 feet and the apple about 5 feet. If you need to know specific varieties I can go out and look at the bands on the trees. I got cherries last year and one apple. The peach trees are one year old. I have never sprayed ever. I had another peach tree that died about 2 years ago. It produced fruit that had many black spots and then the leaves fell off and it died. These are all the reasons I must research the topic. I don't know anything. The only pests that I have noted are what I call bagworms. Before I noticed them they took many of the leaves from the cherry tree. I took care of them with seven dust that I use sparingly in the garden. I do get powdery mildew here and now that i think about it I believe that I had some PM on one of the trees. I really had it on my honeysuckle and took care of it with daconil. It will be back.

I need educated. I know nothing about dormant spraying or really anything else.

Thanks for your interest in helping me. Regards, Pife

Pife,

Here's a link to the Penn state guide to fruit growing for backyard fruit growers. Unfortunately, it is not available on line as a PDF file that you can download, though you can buy a copy. Otherwise, you will need to click on each link and print off the material that interests you. I think that this guide is as good as anything you will find in a bookstore.

Regarding neem oil, I recall it's being discussed on this forum and the opinions were negative. Michael Phillips talks about it in his book The Apple Grower and thinks it may have some value, but he is talking only about the very expensive cold pressed oil, which is not what is available to the normal consumer. I would not waste my money on it. The Penn State guide should talk about dormant spraying and so forth.

Here is a link that might be useful: Penn State guide to fruit growing

"The Home Orchard" by C. Ingels, P. Geisel, M.Norton is about the best book I have in my fruit growing collection. It is a University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Publication 3485 from 2007. You can buy it on Amazon. I grow my fruit in Virginia and this book is from California, but there is not a better book in my estimate for the backyard fruit grower. I also have the Mid-Atlantic Orchard Monitoring Guide that is just too much for the backyard grower. I have about 50 assorted fruit trees, and this book is all I need. The Otto books are so-so.

In case you are considering adding more trees, or if you ever decide to replace what you have, a big step towards minimizing the need for sprays is to grow fruits that are not prone to pests and diseases. Among the ones you listed, pear is probably the least problematic. Others that are pretty much free of pest and disease problems are:

paw paw
Asian persimmon (there are a few asian persimmons that will work in zone 6)
American persimmon (can get to be a largish tree)
Asian pear
Jujube
blackberries

And, from what I've heard, hardy kiwi, which I'll be planting in the ground this spring. I believe most of these are in the Uncommon Fruits book.

Alex

Thanks to all of you for your advice. Now, I need to get one of two of these books and get busy. I wanted to get them at the local library in order to read and make sure that I like it before buying it. The library does not have anything mentioned.

While working on the fruit trees I am also planting about 2 acres of prairie and taking care of two and hopefully additional bee hives as well as all the other chores. The trees are a must starting this year. Regards, Pife

Pife,

Try inter-agency library lending. Your local library should be able to get the books on loan for your review. I had my local library here in the county local the book in California and they shipped it to my library for a mere $2. What a deal!