Hi Marcantonio, Did you apply the neem oil when the sun was still shining? I have been using neem oil for the last 3 years on my peach, plum and fruit cocktail trees and it works for me. However, I will not give those little pests the opportunity of building up a resistance to the oil so I am incorporating other solutions in my insecticide regime along with the neem oil-like home remedies; a mixture of cayenne pepper, garlic clove, mineral oil and a little dish detergent. When using most insecticides, you want to do it early in the morning before the sun comes up. Because I work until the evening, I do it in the evening although I try to make sure that it doesn't get too cool as to cause other problems like fungus, mold and mildew. I am in the deep south-georgia-and we have a lot of hot and humid weather here so I am always taking care to make sure that I dont spray anything during peak sunshine which is a lot in this location. You mentioned using spectricide as well-could it be that instead of the neem oil? I also allow the daddy long-legs to hang out on my fruit trees as well. I don't dismiss them until harvest time and then I just gently take them out of the trees along with their webs. I don't harm them, I just relocate them to my rose garden. LOL. They consume quite a lot of the little insects trying to make holes in my fruit and flowers as well. I have been gardening for about 8 years steadily and its been a lot of trial and error and it always will be-that comes with the occupation. LOL. However, if something doesn't work for me, I eliminate the product (provided I have done everything according to directions) and I go on to something else. You are in New York and the weather is very different than it is here in georgia so conditions will not be the same. I have always just used just 1 capful of neem oil to a gallon of water and I spray lightly above and under the leaves-within 1 week I saw a difference-that was 3 years ago and it has been a faithful product in my collection of insecticides, pesticides and fungicides since. Marcantonio, keep looking for products to take care of your specific concerns and you will find one-just don't give up because there is nothing like home-grown fruit and produce. It will be worth the effort in the long run! Schucks, a sun-ripened peach is simply indescribable but I guess you know this, thats why you are seeking help. Good Luck.

Thanks for the short review. My choice of Red Globe as it was mentioned as good by fruitnut. And also a local Nursery which makes the top 5 for hardy fruit trees is Grandpa's. It's a "Grandpa's Choice" there Although it is mentioned it is susceptible to bacterial spot and frost tender. It must have a really good flavor for Grandpa to still suggest it. His other choices are Redhaven and O'Henry. So 3 out of all the peaches they sell., which this year is 24 cultivars. So it's not my experience. I developed a list of good candidates for my yard and all three are on it. Now Redhaven and O'Henry will make it in my yard first. Redhaven because it was developed here, and is a really decent peach. O'Henry for it's exceptional taste. it does have some problems. But really what cultivar is perfect? Both are old cultivars reviewed many times all over the place. I believe Scott mentions it is was of his best (O'Henry). Redhaven is one of the better Michigan cultivars, I have to have it. Again too first come peaches that work here, then one that should work here but untested, then experimental. So peaches suggested by a top 5 nursery that is in MI, have huge weight on my list. My choice on Redskin was based your review and also a review from a radio interview I heard. The grower was an author, and mentioned the cultivar as being very good. I can't remember who the writer was though? Maybe Lee Reich? Anyway I think with any I mentioned Mrs.G would be happy. I would base choice on ripening time compared to what she has. So mentioned a few. I can mention more, but know less about them, but still on my list. Winblo, Carmen, Carolina Gold, and Clayton would be excellent choices too. Speaking of grafting my Indian free looks like it has a canker. I removed canker, but the tree may develop more so I took a couple scions to try my hand at grafting. I may spread the canker, I took it off a clean scaffold, and it doesn't matter anyway. I'm moving and will have to start over in 3 years. these are all experiments at this point so another reason to graft. to practice, and to experiment. I'm putting the scions on Arctic Glo Nectarine. or Lucky 13. I'm not sure what kind of graft to use? But have a lot of time to figure that out. I'm going to practice graft cutting on my maple tree. See if I can get good cuts, or at least practice my cuts on scrape wood first.

Thank all for the helpful advise. Martin, Thank you for confirming that my fig tree yellow leaves issue is not heat related, which allow me to narrow down to possible individual tree caring problem. It looks like that you are living in the same area as I do, I remember you have helped me in the past thread on how to winterize the trees. What type of mulch works the best according to your own experience? Frank, I will add some lime into the soil next spring, Thanks for remind me of this. In zone5, fig is not popular grown in ground. There are same people grow fig in the pots but still is not very popular plant except few people like members in this forum who really like to grow figs. John, Vinnie, Thanks for confirming the growing enviroment of the fig trees. You both are right. Hardy Chicago originally came from sicily Italy where is an island, growing climate should be very humid. It naturally should be able to take moist air without developing disease. I am looking into the overwater issue and on the caution side, spayed the fungicide which I try to use as seldom as possible. Currently, it appears the problem has stopped developing after few yellowed leave fell off. foolishpleasure, Thank you for the Spectracide info. I do have a small vegetable garden and occasionally have blosom rot on those large heirloom tomatoes.

I'm not finding the thread now where I wondered whether I should prune a particular branch on my 18-month-old Alphonso mango or not, just as a flush of growth was winding down during the summer--but I did prune it. I had pruned the rest of the tree awhile earlier and it was growing like crazy, a little too much so in this one spot--it was just one solitary branch going almost to the ground. And then it just sat there looking stumped. In October (!) the tree finally responded to that pruning with a flush of tender new growth, there and in one other random spot; slower than summer, but still, five new branches, and now there's budding. So cool. (Is it normal for it to be budding in November?) But why I most wanted to come back was to thank Stanofh for his help. For the advice that my Alphonso mango needed to be kept warmer than I'd been doing in order for it to bloom. This is a warmer fall than last year's, which helps, but I've been putting my two frost cover layers over the tree right at sundown rather than waiting for the temps to get down into the fifties--what I'd read previously was that it just had to stay above 40 for the inflorescence and that cold prompts it to start budding. That appears to have been incomplete information at best. And I reset the temp control attached to the incandescent Christmas lights to click on sooner. I went looking again for a book, any book, on how to grow them and found one by Lee Reich that had a short entry on mangoes. He said they have to stay above 55 consistently to flower. Which is pretty much what Stanofh had said. So I guess there's cold and there's its idea of what cold is supposed to mean. Stanofh, when I taste my first homegrown mango I will be thanking you for it.