I personally wouldn't spray if they aren't bearing, unless you are/or have been hit hard with something like cedar apple rust... another thing to watch for would be borers ...

Pests are localized, although i think Plum Curculio is everywhere east of roughly NE... For that you'll have to use Surround WP (clay) or Pyganic (??) I only sprayed Surround this year and had horrible results...but that is me and maybe i didn't get a good enough coverage. Research has shown its only marginally effective, but better then nothing.

Diseases? Who really knows..i think it changes yearly depending on what the weather does, plus just how a tree is pruned, located can determine if it gets something (like powdery mildew)...

Do a lot of research and be prepared for failures... I'm a pro at that!

I tried to attach a link for a spray schedule from UNH, but the message got rejected. Guessing links can't be to files. Google search for 'home orchard spray schedule unh' and it should be the first link that comes up. It should give a rough ballpark of what you'll face. A lot of us are in the same boat as you.

It matters a great deal what kind of fruits you have. Apples and plums have different issues, and grapes and raspberries are even more different. If you tell us what you have we can list the most likely problems you will run into.

As Frank states, you may not need to do much for the early years other than a bit of fertilizer.

In terms of the organic vs not, I generally use organic options only, and while it works it requires about double the effort, twice the likelihood of failure, and the fruit will have more spots and blemishes on it. I think I may have finally solved my peach scab problem with a sulphur spray a month or so ago -- the only peaches with scab now are ones deep inside the canopy that I missed spraying. Surround works well for me for curculio control.

Scott

Ooops! that is a vital piece of information I am lacking isn't it?

Bartlett pear (it isn't growing at ALL, not sure what's up with that I hope it isn't root bound...the directions said not to take it out of the burlap?)

Redhaven Peach doing great, growing lots, looks really healthy

Stanley Plum- also growing a ton. japanese beetles like it though. and a few of the leaves are curling under, not sure why?

Honeycrisp Apple- growing tons as well. looks really healthy jap beetles like this one too LOL! so do the aphids and ants but there is no damage from that at all.

Redfree Apple- this one isn't growing either. It has an orange spot on one of the leaves though.

It is interesting though, I mean... the three that are growing great are the ones that I got from the local orchard that does a group buy every spring. The pear I got from a store and the redfree I got from a co-op. those two aren't doing that great at all. just no new growth. where the others are doing great!

OK, I also purchased some blueberry 3 blue ray and 3 reka. and I also got some Polana and Autumn Britten raspberries. All are doing well for the most part, except for the rasp, some are not happy and some are dying and a few didn't come up. :( bare root canes.

so there you have it, that is what I have. and I hope I don't kill it and I hope I have much success. I'm trying to gather as much info as I possibly can so I can have super great success!

Are you in coastal Main? If so and you get that heavy dew you will probably have fungus issues. Blueberries and raspberries will probably require no spray but blues will likely have to be netted from birds.

If you don't have many weeds and they're growing in mulched areas circled by clean lawn, peaches and pear may be doable without any spray where you are. Redhaven is early enough to often escape brown rot pressure.

Stanley may also provide some fruit without spray but apples will probably be pretty deformed without Surround.

Every site, even within a region, has different pest issues and these issues will vary season to season. Fruit is more attractive to pests than vegetables in the northeast. I'm in southeastern NY.

Hi, thank you for your reply!!

We are about 30 min from the coast. You know, I'm not sure if we get heavy dew or not. My DH says we dont' get heavy dew LOL!

The trees are in the "lawn", but we don't have much of a lawn. Mostly moss and wild blueberry bushes grow there. I planted the trees in early May and there is still nothing growing where I dug around the tree, it is just dirt. I haven't mulched at all.

I will look into the Surround product, thank you! Do you have any idea if the moths are a problem in the southern maine area? and how do I control Japanese beetles because I think they will be my main issue. Does the surround product help towards that?

Surround does provide protection against Japanese beetles. You need to keep the leaves coated constantly, so if it rains and the Surround washes off you need to put more on. I expect you will have moth problems on your apples (codling moth) and peach/plum (oriental fruit moth). The pear should be OK. For the apples you can bag them with ziplocs, that is a good moth protection method. For peaches and plum you can use cotton drawstring bags for similar effect.

In looking at what you are growing, your pear will need a pollinator.

Scott

thank you :)

my neighbor has pear trees as well and I'm hoping that my tree is close enough to hers that I can use it as the pollinator. we shall see if it is close enough or not when things bloom :)

we will def do some bagging I think esp when the trees are a manageable size. do you bag it as soon as you see the fruit form or petal fall or what?

Scott, I can't understand why after all this time you automatically suggest Surround AND bagging for the northeast. As I've explained here many times, and you apparently can't believe, in the northeast if you protect the trees for the 3 or 4 weeks following petal fall of latest blooming apples it is quite likely that bagging or subsequent sprays will be unnecessary.

The orchards I manage cover a fairly wide swath of territory and direct fruit pest insects haven't been an issue for me after the above mentioned time in my part of the northeast. I think it a reasonable assumption that as you go further north there will be less pressure rather than more.

Apple fly maggot is the only big question mark, in my opinion, as to whether further protection will be necessary. That and indirect pests like JB's which can't be bagged out.

The one exception I've had in my own orchard and not the ones I manage is later plum curculio damage on Euro plums, but out of all the trees I manage I consider this an aberration.

She, on pest issues, you should know that the closer the advice comes from your region the more likely the relevancy. I manage orchards from coastal Greenwich up to Canaan CT and from Kingston down to Ossining NY and areas in between.

Harvest-

I totally agree, once i'm past PC, i think most of my fruit would be fine without much or no protection, especially the plums, apples and peaches... What ANNOYS me so much about PC is that the fruit is toast once it lays its egg(s), whereas a beetle may do some feeding damage to the fruit, it can still be salvageable (i'll take a half damaged fruit over no fruit!).

I would say PC does 80% of the fruit damage here, with the other 20% caused by Chafer beetles, caterpillars....

I'm looking into a chemical solution for PC and i'm leaning towards a Pyganic type product.

Franktank, I think you should stick with Scotts advice and use Surround. MSU has done a lot of research on organic production as have others in the northeast and I don't believe Pyganic is an answer for the evil weevil. All the researched programs I've seen including MSU's recommend Surround.

OK, so pretty much then I have to worry only about the moths and once those are sprayed for then I don't need bagging unless I get the fly maggot? is that something that I would be able to notice before it is too late? any warning signs so that I can bag them before it is too late?

I really appreciate all of this wonderful advice btw :) Thank you so much. :)

one more question, I was reading something about the hormones that the trees put off and if you prune a certain end of a branch then it will encourage new growth elsewhere. but I'm not sure what branch it is. anyone know? I have an apple tree with loads of little buds all up the trunk but they just won't leaf out at all. if I knew which to prune if it is the top of the central leader or what then I could perhaps get it to leaf out this year and harden off before fall...

You can monitor for AFM and even trap them out with fake apples smeared with tanglefoot or tangletrap.

I just read an article by Van Ende about pruning branches with no lower shoots to stimulate growth further back on the branch and I'm embarassed to say I can't remember his method. It was in Good Fruit.

You can always temporarily pull the tip of the branch below horizontal and buds further back will come to life. You can also score the branch outside of buds you want to grow. by cutting the cambium slightly you interrupt the flow of those hormones coming further upbranch. Just cut through green to the start of the sap wood with a knife if it's too small a branch to use a pruning saw. The cut should not encircle the branch- you just want a small notch.

Ok, so before I do this let me explain the tree a little further... there is one branch down low about 3 feet from the ground perhaps. then there are no branches for 18" and then one little branch and then the central leader coming out from the top about 3" or so higher than that branch. those 18" inches or so between the two branches is where there are tons of little buds that just won't leaf out. so which branch am I pulling to lower than horizontal? the bottom one or the top one? the top one isn't very long, maybe 4" long of a branch? or is this for buds that are on the actual branch itself?

can I do the cutting thing up the trunk near those buds? so is the cutting you are referring to right where the bud is? I'm not sure I know what a cambium is. I'm still learning.

thank you again :)