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 Early blooming plants such as apricots and peaches may have been
the most heavily damaged among fruit bearing plants. Exposed
blooms were undoubtedly damaged. Those with swollen flower buds
will be able to tell shortly, as damage will be seen as brown
portions of the flowers. For now, I would continue on a regular
spray schedule and see what develops.
Shade trees and ornamental shrubs will also be affected. Many
trees and shrubs had some exposed leaf tissue. Evergreens may
also experience dead areas on tips of branches. A freeze may
also lead to misshapen leaves as the dead areas limit expansion
of good tissue. It’s not a bust, but things may not look picture
perfect going into the spring.
Home Fruit Tree Spray Schedules
The first regular spray of the year is applied when the green
tissue is ½ inch out of the bud. This spray for homeowners
usually consists of a multipurpose fruit spray (and sulfur if
needed for powdery mildew). Multipurpose fruit spray has been
re-formulated to include malathion, captan, and carbaryl (methoxychlor
was eliminated from the mixture several years ago). This same
mixture would be used when the fruit buds are in the pink stage
(when fruit buds show color). After that, persistence and
consistence pays off as you spray with the same mixture about
every 10 days until we get to within two weeks of harvest. In
our area, we need to continue spraying this late because of
apple maggot and sooty mold.
This spray schedule will also control borers on apples and
pears, if you also thoroughly spray the trunk and main limbs of
the trees. On non-bearing, young fruit trees where borers have
attacked, you can spray the trunks every two weeks during June
and July with a multipurpose fruit spray.
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The spray schedule for peaches, nectarines, apricots, and plums
varies a little bit. The dormant spray for them uses captan
fungicide. This is the only spray that controls leaf curl and
plum pockets. The next spray is when fruit buds show color with
captan, followed by captan at bloom. When the husks begin to
pull away from the base of the fruit we would then spray with
sulfur, captan, and malathion. This mix would then be used every
10 days or so to within a week of harvest.
For borers on the peach group, you can spray or paint the
trunk only with carbaryl (Sevin) on June 15, July 15, and August
15. We walk a tightrope with the loss of some of the
insecticides since carbaryl can cause fruit drop or thinning on
the peach group and some apples.
Fire blight has also been prevalent the past few years. Spray
programs to combat this bacteria usually include spraying fixed
copper as a dormant spray - or when green material is visible,
but before a half inch out of the bud, and then a follow-up of
streptomycin beginning at bloom (and on a four day schedule for
no more than four sprays total). And, this is after you did a
great job of pruning out material infected by fire blight to
begin with.
[By JOHN FULTON, COUNTY EXTENSION
DIRECTOR SERVING LOGAN, MENARD, AND SANGAMON COUNTIES]
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