This week, a question about fruit trees! We love fresh fruit growing in our backyards, but critters and pests love them too.
Q: I have a peach tree in my back yard that’s five years old, and last year, my crop looked like it was doing well – until the bugs came. Fruits with worms, pocked skin, and rot was all I ended up with. How do I do better this year?
A: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, in this case.
Spraying starts now! Apply a copper-based fungicide to the dormant branches of your peach tree right now to prevent peach leaf curl. Once the tree comes into bloom, count the days. Five days after the peach comes into full bloom, the petals will begin dropping, and it’s time to spray with Bonide Fruit Tree Spray. Two weeks after that spraying, hit the tree once more with the same pesticide.
Those three sprays will prevent the worst of your pest damage. Later sprays are normal in orchard production, but just these three will make a serious difference.