I just got my first fruit tree, combo asian pear, and I am going to put a ceramic owl on my shed, near my pear tree, to keep the doves and other birds away. I have bird attracting trees, and a dozen nests in my yard, so I want to make sure they are eating bugs, and not my fruit.

On my yard, we had a peach tree a long time ago, that no one took care of. It was basically invaded by ear wigs, and so we only got to eat a few each year! Ever since my yard has always had ear wigs up till last season. I took out a foot of bark 2-3 inches deep from my willow, cause earwigs were burrowed up in it like crazy..

I just used sevin spray on it from Lowes that hooks up to the hose. I rinsed the tree after to make sure they all fell out, and to keep the spray off my tree. It was a good method. I got them good, but I had to really get up in there to get the nursery of earwigs.

Obviously they say you "can" use this Sevin Stuff on vegetables and fruit trees, but I don't think I want to go that route. I did use it on my vegetable garden 2 times last summer when I was spraying my trees, but I did it only on vegetables that you didn't eat the outer layer, like pumpkins and watermelon. Not that any of them needed it.
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I am also researching more organic ways to spray a fruit tree. I have used other methods for other types of edible plants, like planting certain types of herbs or plants around things to keep bugs out. Like my pepper plants really kept bugs out of my bed, I swear I didn't have 1 invader in my garden outside my lettuce crops. And I think my catnip and bay leaf plants in my willow tree bed helped out a lot after the sevin sprayings. I also have very little of new bugs, because my "bird" attracting trees, are filled with bug eating birds. Birds are your best friends. It is about containment of the bug populations and getting less of them each season. No way to keep "all" bugs out of yard over night, or for good.

I also wanted to note, that I have found simple methods in other parts of yard/house. Like putting ammonium sulfate all over my grass instead of fertilizer, cause I have kitties, and a dozen kids who live in circle in front of my house. I have also used salt to help kill stumps, cause kids love to play on the one in my front yard, so no stump killer.

I have also used viniger based cleaning solution for all sorts of things. It keeps away bacteria and organisms, big or small. If you didn't know, you can clean your fruit off with viniger rather than water to get bacteria off. I bet there is a vegetable oil and viniger mix that would work for a spray, that keeps fruit natural and bug resistant.

I am looking to find something like that, some house hold item that can used that isn't poison or dangerous to cats, kids or the fruit itself. If I find something I will let you, cause I am also a first timer fruit tree planter/owner. I would suggest, a "scarecrow" by the tree, and maybe some plants or herbs around the tree. Bay leafs have multiple uses. Birds and bees are what I attract to my yard, which can be flowers, trees, etc. A little flower can help out a lot more than you would think.

The tree probably won't need any immediate spraying.
In my area and a lot of others,one of the main things that affects Peaches and Nectarines is Peach Leaf Curl.The spraying for that is done in Fall and late Winter/early Spring.Possibly check around your area,asking neighbors or friends who grow them or nearby nurseries to see if that occurs.
Like RyanStorm experiences,there are earwigs here and they can go after fruit.I put about 3-4 inches of masking tape with the sticky side facing out,about two feet from the ground,around the trunk and then cover it with Tanglefoot.They and ants cannot crawl up into the tree then.
Another problem is Peach Tree Borers,which hasn't happened to my trees yet,knock on wood. Brady

I wonder if maybe just a coat of dormant oil would be in order. After all the tree will be dormant when it arrives?

Ad,

You are in SC where it's hot and humid. The condition which fungal and bacterial diseases on stone fruit seem to prosper.

Glad that you read up some info here. The problems you are likely to encounter this year are Peach Leave Curl, borer, canker and bacterial leave spot (shot hole). Insects like OFM and PC will come when fruit appear.

If your tree arrives dormant, spraying dormant oil should be fine. Some tree (this late of the year) will arrive with green tips. If so, you can just take note of what problem your tree will encounter this year and get ready to treat it next year.

PLC - If you have it after leaves come out, just let it be this year. The tree will drop infected leaves and grow new ones. Like Brady say, wait till late fall or early spring to spray copper. Some people spary at both times or more. I use copper hydroxide called Kocide 3000. You need to mail-order it.

Bacterial leave spot/shot hole - Just like the name, leaves will have yellowish spots and holes develop. Leaves will drop early. Copper in dormant season will work.

Borer - you can kills them now with a coat hanger wire. Usually around the base of the tree where jelly-like sustance is. Some spray Triazicide Once and Done by Spectracide to prevent further borer attack. You can find the product at Lowe, Home Depot, etc.

Canker - not much you can do. Try to keep the tree healthy. Water strees (too much or too little) will weaken the tree and make it susceptible for the disease. A healthy tree will heal itself.

You won't have any peach this year so no worry about insects. Next year if you tree have flowers, spray with Triazicide at shuck split.

There are ways to do it organically but it may not be as effective and you may need more sprays (of kaolin clay), more work.

Hope you plant your tree in full sun. It will help lessen diseases and ripen peaches to its full potential.

Good luck. Please read more posts. This time of the year, new peach growers have similar questions about peaches.

Good to info mamuang. One follow up. Will the Bonide Fruit tree and plant guard work for controlling borers or will I have to use the spectracide as well?

I used Bonide Fruit Tree spray when I first started 5-6 years ago. It was ineffective. The chemical in it was mild and not disease-specific. It's all purpose spray that was useless to me and several others on this forum. If you can return it, return it and get Triazicide Once and Done.

However, I do not know if Bonide has new, more effective spray recently. The only Bonide product I've used is called Turbo Sticker/Spreader. It's sticky liquid that helps chemical we spray sticks to leaves/tree longer. You can mix it with Triazicide and with most chemicals.

Plant guard does not protect against borer. It's protected against rabbits eating the bark of your tree and against sun scald.

Some people paint their tree white with latex paint mix with water half and half to prevent sun scald and borers. I am not sure how effective it is against borers. Spraying Triazicide is probably more effective.

If I were you, I'd hesitant to use a plant guard in your hot, humid area. I'm afriad that it could create too much moisture inside the guard against the tree trunk and cause more fungal disease. I'd rather paint the tree. I don't have sun scald problem so I've never gotten around to paint the trunk of my trees.

I have so many trees in my small backyard. My neighbors think I'm a bit nuts. If they see me painting the trees white, they may try to have me commited!!

http://www.bonide.com/products/product.php?category_id=2011

Have a look at that link from Bonide. The "fruit tree & plant guard" has a completely different set of active ingredients than their "fruit tree spray". As understand its not a coating in the way you describe but simple a sprayed combination of insecticide and fungicide. Supposedly its very new and uses better active ingredients than there other spray. There was another thread on the product in the forum here that lead me to believe it would be a decent place to start.

Like I said I'm very new to this and needed to at least get something to start off with. My research into what would be the best spray schedule continues to be more overwhelming than informative and rather than spend a fortune buying dozens of product I don't know how to use I started off going the easy route and getting a combination spray. I figure this in combination with a dormant oil should get me through my first year or so as I continue to learn.

I still would love to find a basic spray schedule for general preventative maintenance for my region. I know that certain pest and diseases require special treatment when they are encountered and you deal with them as they appear. But aside from that I know there has to be a simple and basic preventative maintenance schedule that I will need to follow every year in order to avoid the most common issues for my area. Unfortunately i have struggled badly to find such a thing.

My local nursery has been very helpful on other issues and carries an array of products for maintaining fruit trees but its not their main business. They suggested the plain old Bonide Fruit Spray you mentioned and that's it. I've seen enough reviews of it to know it wasn't the best approach and that is need some guidance from more experienced home fruit growers.

I think my plan at this point is to buy an oil and give it a spray right after planting while its still dormant and then follow the the label recommendations for the Bonide spray I got for the remainder of the summer once it leafs out.

I think that should get me to the fall with a healthy start. Then and I can put tree to bed with another application of dormant oil and hopefully have time to readjust my approach for next year.

You're very late in planting a bare root tree in SC. This should have been done back in january, while it was dormant. That would have given it time to develop feeder roots. I'd forget about a spray program and I'd concentrate on making sure the tree survives the heat we're fixing to have. To illustrate how late you are, I'll be harvesting my first peaches next month, and yours isn't even in the ground and has no root ball. I think youre about to learn an expensive lesson.

I'm curious too, what's the shape of your bare root peach will be in when it shows up. Where did you order it from?

I ordered my from TN. They shipped since early March when my soil was frozen solid.

The basis maintenance schedule for me is:
- Spray Kocide before bud break
- feed it some fertilzer when a tree starts to push buds
- prune off dead branches and straight up branches to open up a tree in early spring
- spray pesticide or Surround at shuck split and as needed
- Check for sign of borers throughout the season
- Spray Kocide after leaves drop in late fall

I do not have brown rot that bad yet. If I do, I'll spray with Monterey Fungi Fighter.

My area is not as hot and humid as yours. You may have a tougher time than me.

I still feel that you don't have much to worry about the first year. Observe your tree and take notes. Nothing will kill your tree this year except for borers (or too wet/too dry).

Anyway, combo spray has advantage of convenience and disadvantage of spraying for things that you may not need to. You'll be one of the first ones who use the new Bonide Spray. I'd like to hear your report.

And, I forgot about bigger pests like squirrels, deer, groundhogs, birds. They will come.