Asked February 17, 2024, 3:27 PM EST
I am seeking a recommendation for a backyard orchard spray schedule for 3 apple, 3 peach, 3 pear, 3 cherry, and 2 plum trees of mixed variety. Located in Washington County near Cearfoss.
Our property also has asparagus, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, a large garden, and a variety of young native trees, which have some issues of their own, but are relatively easy to handle or mostly unaffected.
There has been a considerable problem with pests and diseases plaguing the growth of the orchard and the quality and production of fruit. I have tried to stay as hands off and organic as possible, but I have used orchard spray either containing sulfur or neem oil, and fruit tree soil drench containing imidacloprid. One problem with the "fruit tree spray" from Tractor Supply or Home Depot is that the label indicates a very limited amount of applications per year, which just cannot keep up.
The issues I have identified so far are: cedar apple rust, powdery mildew (plums and raspberry), aphids (plums and river birch), bag worms (apple and river birch), leaf chewing insects (beetles, caterpillar, etc), spotted lantern fly (on everything but unknown damage), and ants. I have started wrapping all of the fruit trees with paper tape covered in tanglefoot to protect the fruit from ants, especially problematic with the peaches. There are unidentified issues with the pear leaves spotting and turning brown and the apple fruit being severely damaged by insects (internal browning, rot, deformation, and stunting).
I have been using a pump sprayer, but with the quantity and size of the trees at this point, I will be using a electric pump on a 15 gallon tank and a spray wand that can properly atomize the spray for the trees from now on.
The orchard trees have been getting fertilized by a broadcast application of 19-19-19 in the fall (along with the lawn) and each tree is mulched with the bedding from our chickens. I am developing a plant specific fertilizer plan to be implemented across all of my fruit trees and plants moving forward. The orchard has been watered weekly during the growing season by tree gator bags, but this year I will be moving to a drip irrigation system to decrease my labor.
I have a few years experience as a plant healthcare tech running a spray truck and performing routine spraying services mostly for ornamental plants and trees. I held a pesticide applicators license back then, so I am familiar with spraying commercial grade horticultural oil, fungicides, pesticides, systemic applications, etc. I am also aware of most basic application things like temperature limits, spacing requirements between oils and sulfur fungicides, etc.
I am less familiar with when and what I need to spray orchard trees to prevent the majority of the pests and diseases I am dealing with. I think it would be more beneficial to be proactively spraying on a schedule, however, I am not a commercial orchard so I need a plan that is on the level of a homesteader with a busy family and job. (I have seen and read the really intensive IPM spray schedules that have dozens of different fungicide and pesticide options)
Any recommendations or resources that would help me would be greatly appreciated.
Washington County Maryland
