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| I have just recently (2 years now) started growing fruit trees. I have not yet sprayed any of my trees (40 or so)( I know I'm an addict).
Question is do I really need to? Does growing trees in my area need to be sprayed? I live in Norco, Ca, some say zone 9B and some say 9. I am inland a wee bit, about 40 miles east of Long Beach, Ca. We have wind, heat and very little rain. I do not required perfect fruit but would like healthy trees that produce well and will last many years. Does anyone in my neck of the woods have experience without spraying that could give an idea of what to expect or what I should be prepared for? I have peaches, nectarines, cherries, apricots, pluots, apriums, plums, pears and apples. This year is my first mini fruiting year all trees are doing good, except for my butchering (some call pruning). It is gonna take me forever to feel at ease with that! Jennifer |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I am sure no one enjoys spraying fruit trees. If I did not spray my apples, every apple would contain a worm. Some people can live with that, not me. My peach tree would defoliate from peach leaf curl, and any peaches produced would likely be seriously blemished or deformed. Most years the apples would be seriously scabby. Plum foliage would be badly curled with aphids and most years shot hole fungus would be a problem on most of my fruit trees. I guess only time will tell how much disease and pests you can tolerate. Al |
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| I don't live too far from Calistoga and I never spray. If I have peach leaf curl I pick those leaves off and send them to the recycling. The peaches come out beautifully I do get scale on one of my apple trees but I scrape them off. and bait for ants. The problem with spraying beside the work in cold winter is if it rains you need to do it again. I just cut around the worms in apples, although last year they were fine. |
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| Peaches probably yes, but a couple of dormant sprays in the dormant season isn't bad at all. We had a Santa Rosa plum for 30 years (it finally died of old age--they don't live that long) and never ever sprayed it and got perfect fruit every year. (Dogs that kept the birds away made that possible). If you keep them small, they are a lot easier to spray! |
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| Depends on the type of fruit. Loquat, pomegranate, fig, mulberry, persimmon, che: almost never. Grape (Labruscas, like Jupiter, Mars, Glenora, Price, Steuben), apple (control fruit borers with chickens), peach (particularly "Frost" variety): rarely, but you suffer some losses. Cherries, plums, citrus: you're gonna spray something, it's just a matter of when. |
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