April Orchard Care

This is the part of the season where most all of the hard work is done. Pruning done and cleared, blooms are somewhere between open and fruit set (after petal fall).

During bloom, we only spray with fungicides and have to be very aware that bees are vulnerable and likely to be out, even if you cannot see them foraging in your blooms. Even after petal fall, they may be in the clover or other wild flowers growing beneath or around your trees.

Bees are typically out foraging as long as the temperature is above 45f, between sunrise and sunset. If you have a local honey farm, let them know when you plan to spray. We have been changing to spraying after sunset.

This month I have sprayed with Pristine with a surfactant, before petal fall, and Captan Gold 4L with surfactant and Imidan (a restricted insecticide). I will spray again 10 days after my last spray as it has been dry and the last spray will remain on the trees for a while.

The surfactant is important because it helps to spread the other chemicals on the leaves, which are very waxy.

We have a lot of stink bugs here in Tennessee so finding a non-restricted insecticide that is effective against stink bugs, which cause weird indentations in your fruit, is important at this time of year.

Managing the orchard floor, beneath and around your trees, will also significantly help to reduce the bug population. The ground under the tree, to the drip line, should be bare. You can do that with glyphosate but be sure to protect the tree as it can be damaged or killed by the glyphosate. The recommendation is to not use glyphosate near trees that are 2 years or younger. You can use 2,4D to spray between trees but again, 2,4D can be extremely damaging to the bark on peach trees.

Come back next month for another update.

God bless.