I bought The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Insect and Disease Control but it does not give much spraying information... Maybe its outdated? I've also searched the Internet for information but unsuccessfully.

I'd hate to see these trees die and want to prepare now for next spring spraying. However, I have no idea what insecticides/ fungicides to buy that are OK for organic growing and what schedule to follow.

Any help would be hugely appreciated. THANK YOU!

Here are a few pointers, then I suggest you go to your local extension service and get specifics for your area.

The leaf diseases all start when the leaves are very small so Fungicides if you need them have to start just as the buds are fully swollen, through the time the leaves are about half grown.
Don't grow anything from the Juniperus family anywhere near apples.
BT can control the true caterpillar pests if used when the pest is young. Conserve (which is considered organic by most but not all organic gardeners) can control a wide variety of pests.
Kaolin clay is another organic, it makes the trees look terrible but is fairly effective for some fungi and insects.
Fall clean up of leaves is important for disease control.
Proper pruning is also important both for production and disease control.
You are a long time from fruit but you will have to decide how nice you want your fruit to be. You are unlikely to get perfect fruit if you go strictly organic. But very edible fruit is well within reach. As kids we ate apples from our orchard that was never sprayed, scab, worms and all and they were delicious.

I'd make friends with your local extension office. Who knows, there might be someone who majored in Pomology on staff! At the very least, they should be able to turn you on to some good LOCAL information regarding the culture of these plants. Local information is pretty important when it comes to the timing of spray treatments, that's for sure. I wouldn't be surprised if they had some pictorial guides to help you ID common insect and disease problems of fruit trees.

There's been LOTS of new research regarding bio-control, mechanical control, and other organic means of tree fruit production. I have that same book and now consider it almost useless (though mine might be older than yours).

2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains� too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell.

5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.

A good, reliable soil test from a good soil test lab might also be of some help if htat has not been done yet.

I am charging my camera and will post photos. Though I think my apple tree has cedar-apple rust.

It seems like all of my trees (except maybe my pear) have fungal diseases. The leaves all have brown spots. However, it looks like someone has been munching on them, too, since there are holes and some have chunks eaten off.

I also forgot to mention that we planted 5 blueberry bushes. One dried up completely after blooming and we destroyed it in order to prevent the spread of the disease. We had blueberries on the other four but now another one is drying up. Going by the book, I think it has fusicoccum canker. It has red spots all over the stems... I am afraid it's beyond being saved but want to prevent other bushes from dying.

We try to eat mostly organic foods and I thought what better way to go about than to plant our own fruit trees... Maybe it was a mistake since I don't know much about gardening. Yet I grew up in eastern Europe and we had about 10-12 apple trees there. We never sprayed for anything and though we had what we called worms (the kind that eat to the center), most apples were fine.

I wonder why it's so different here. I tested my soil with a store-bought kit. The soil was a bit alkaline but everywhere I read, it said to plant trees anyway. That their roots go so deep that the little modification that one does accomplish is not enough. For that same reason I thought I was not supposed to fertilize either. Is this wrong info? We have sandy soil and it drains well. I don't know about organic matter, though.

Thanks a lot for all the help. I am looking forward to learning more.

cherry tree

October 14, 2011

peach tree

October 14, 2011

blueberry bush

Garden

The photos are not as large as I have hoped and I don't know how to make them bigger. Hopefully the problems are visible from these. Thanks!

Kind of curious as to why you don't put your blueberries in a 15 gal pot instead of giving up. You can then have all the acid soil you need for the plants to thrive.

Would Actinovate work for my problems? The thing is, our blueberries grow in a little section of land near the house. It's about 5'x10' and I thought I would be able to amend the soil there enough, since it's a closed off section. I use tons of pine needles for mulch to help acidity... Don't know if it's working.

Did you try to ammend your soil with peat or pine bark fines? You can grow blueberries in pine bark fines alone which is an acid medium.

Well... if these bushes die, I might try planting more in large pots. Would they be still susceptible to diseases? Would they be healthier than now?

I watched my 2 supposedly CAR resistant trees (Freedom and Jonafree) get ravaged for their first 3 years causing very mature leaf fall each year before trying to spray for control. The praying has worked and the trees have been growing nicely since. Liberty is supposed to handle CAR pretty well as are some others whose names escape me at the moment. Keep in mind that my location experiences extreme CAR disease pressure every year, if your area only has light pressure, you may be able to get by with no controls.

As to peach, it is highly likely your trees will be susceptible to Peach Leaf Curl, it can be very hard on trees especially over years as it too will defoliate the trees. One remedy under mild to low pressure is a single application of copper in the fall to all of the trunk and branches. If in subsequent years that doesn't get the job done, a fall application followed by an early Spring application just before bud break should do the trick.

Fruit trees are tough, start while you are young.... wish I did :)

rootstock.....Avoid using M7 in sand
water.........irrigation will be required
nutrients.....since sandy soils have little organic
matter, fertilize often but lightly. Any
Nitrogen not taken up quickly by the tree
will leach out in short order. Ditto for
growing vegetables in sandy soil. I would
not fertilize too late in year. Stop by
August 1st?
micronutrients: sandy soils can have micronutrient
issues.
Yes I do agree easier to grow apples on a heavier soil
but it can and is being done on sandy sites.

Good luck.

Regarding your statement:"So pine needles make the soil more alkaline? I use pine needles as a mulch for my blueberries."

It's not the pine per se that makes soil alkaline. All organic material which turns to organic matter tends to raise the ph of soil.

My soil is 6.7 to 6.9. I raise blueberries and have for 15 years very successfully. I get lots and lots of fruit.
The link I've furnished will show pictures of my blueberries, tell you what I've done, and provide links to even more detail about my berries.

The only thing I do --and the only thing I ever have done --- is to add straw, leaves and/or pine needles as mulch around the plants.

Theresa