Borer's

[George Shirley]

On 5/24/2013 2:00 PM, bigwheel wrote:

> Ten bucks a half pint sounds like a fair price to me. I also have a big
> weakness for apricot pies..cobblers..fried pies are especially nice in
> that flavor. I had an apricot tree and it got big making a nice tree but
> I guess the boers got it since it up and died. About the only way to
> grow fruit around here is to hit it early and often with nasty old
> pesticides.
>
>
>
>
If it is the same borer as the peach borer you can plant onion chives in
a foot-wide band around the tree and the borer's won't come near the
tree. We lost two peach trees to borer's before someone told me the trick.

George

[bigwheel]

'George Shirley[_3_ Wrote:
> ;1836521']On 5/24/2013 2:00 PM, bigwheel wrote:
> -

> Ten bucks a half pint sounds like a fair price to me. I also have a
> big
> weakness for apricot pies..cobblers..fried pies are especially nice
> in
> that flavor. I had an apricot tree and it got big making a nice tree
> but
> I guess the boers got it since it up and died. About the only way to
> grow fruit around here is to hit it early and often with nasty old
> pesticides.
>
>
>

> -

> If it is the same borer as the peach borer you can plant onion chives
> in
> a foot-wide band around the tree and the borer's won't come near the
> tree. We lost two peach trees to borer's before someone told me the
> trick.
>
> George

Thanks for the chive tip. Will put that on the agenda for the peach and
plum trees we have left. What do you do for the Plum Carrillo moths?
Those things are highly nasty and give a maggot in the middle of the
fruit.




--
bigwheel

[zxcvbob]

Plum curculio is a weevil rather than a moth (maybe you are thinking
codling moths) Spray with malathion at petal drop to control curculios.
I'm not sure what the spray schedule is for codling moths, but Sevin
is probably the insecticide of choice for them. And sticky traps?

I have an apple tree, and I'm really trying to spray it properly this
year. (Curculios and apple maggots and Asian Ladybugs usually get all
mine.) It's in full bloom right now so I can't spray.

At least by thinning the fruit last year the tree bloomed good two years
in a row instead of its usual every-other-year cycle. And I got a few
good fruit last year. I really need to get a cider press; wormy apples
make perfectly good cider, especially hard cider.

Bob

[songbird]

i wonder if garlic, onions, garlic chives or leeks
would also work?

chives are certainly easy. they have nice purple
flowers the bees love. spread easily from seeds
so they can be a challenge to contain if you let
the flower heads go too long.

for some reason chives get a really strong gag
reaction from me when i dig them up that others
from the onion family don't. probably why they'd
make a good border. :)


songbird

[gloria p]

On 5/25/2013 10:19 PM, zxcvbob wrote:

I really need to get a cider press; wormy apples
> make perfectly good cider, especially hard cider.
>
> Bob

Eeeuuuw. Because the worms add protein?

gloria p

[George Shirley]

The worms taste just like apples Gloria, don't ask me how I know though.
Had a friend in the Navy who was from Vermont, his Dad made hard cider,
put it in a barrel, then let it freeze during the winter. Don't remember
what the alcohol content was or what they called it but there's nothing
more pitiful than three grown men laying around the barn skunk drunk and
stinking of apples.

George

[gloria p]

On 5/27/2013 3:21 PM, George Shirley wrote:

> The worms taste just like apples Gloria, don't ask me how I know though.
> Had a friend in the Navy who was from Vermont, his Dad made hard cider,
> put it in a barrel, then let it freeze during the winter. Don't remember
> what the alcohol content was or what they called it but there's nothing
> more pitiful than three grown men laying around the barn skunk drunk and
> stinking of apples.
>
> George

I don't doubt it, George. I can tell you from experience that fresh
apple cider tastes MUCH better after the apples have been touched by the
first frost. It's the difference in flavor between apple juice and
apple cider, that little bit of acid. FWIW, Brussels sprouts are much
sweeter after a frost.

gloria p

[bigwheel]

zxcvbob;1836835 Wrote:
> bigwheel wrote:-
> 'George Shirley[_3_ Wrote: -

> ;1836521']On 5/24/2013 2:00 PM, bigwheel wrote:
> -
> Ten bucks a half pint sounds like a fair price to me. I also have a
> big
> weakness for apricot pies..cobblers..fried pies are especially nice
> in
> that flavor. I had an apricot tree and it got big making a nice tree
> but
> I guess the boers got it since it up and died. About the only way to
> grow fruit around here is to hit it early and often with nasty old
> pesticides.
>
>
>
> -
> If it is the same borer as the peach borer you can plant onion chives
> in
> a foot-wide band around the tree and the borer's won't come near the
> tree. We lost two peach trees to borer's before someone told me the
> trick.
>

> George-

>
> Thanks for the chive tip. Will put that on the agenda for the peach
> and
> plum trees we have left. What do you do for the Plum Carrillo moths?
> Those things are highly nasty and give a maggot in the middle of the

> fruit.-

>
> Plum curculio is a weevil rather than a moth (maybe you are thinking
> codling moths) Spray with malathion at petal drop to control curculios.
>
> I'm not sure what the spray schedule is for codling moths, but Sevin
> is probably the insecticide of choice for them. And sticky traps?
>
> I have an apple tree, and I'm really trying to spray it properly this
> year. (Curculios and apple maggots and Asian Ladybugs usually get all
> mine.) It's in full bloom right now so I can't spray.
>
> At least by thinning the fruit last year the tree bloomed good two years
>
> in a row instead of its usual every-other-year cycle. And I got a few
> good fruit last year. I really need to get a cider press; wormy apples
>
> make perfectly good cider, especially hard cider.
>
> Bob

Ok winged weevils. They look a lot like moths. They cut into the skin on
stone fruit leaving a smiley face pattern and lay an egg inside which
turns into a maggot looking critter which eats it from the inside. Never
had an issue with them on the apples trees. The theory being the apple
fruit is too tightly packed for the little bug to survive in the fruit.
Malathion will surely control them but was sorta trying to get away from
chemical pestcides. My horticulture guru say to start a spray sechedule
before petal drop. Just make sure the bees arent working..with the
preferred method being to spray at night while the bees are snoozing.




--
bigwheel

[zxcvbob]

bigwheel wrote:
>
> Ok winged weevils. They look a lot like moths. They cut into the skin on
> stone fruit leaving a smiley face pattern and lay an egg inside which
> turns into a maggot looking critter which eats it from the inside. Never
> had an issue with them on the apples trees. The theory being the apple
> fruit is too tightly packed for the little bug to survive in the fruit.
> Malathion will surely control them but was sorta trying to get away from
> chemical pestcides. My horticulture guru say to start a spray sechedule
> before petal drop. Just make sure the bees arent working..with the
> preferred method being to spray at night while the bees are snoozing.
>

I've sprayed twice with fungicide. Waiting for the petals to drop
(which they started doing today) so I can spray the first time with
insecticide. Unfortunately it is supposed to rain every day for the
next week; not sure how you keep the tree sprayed in the rain. I guess
I'll spray it every other day for a while when it's not raining, then go
back to every 10 days when the weather settles down.

They leave little smiley face scars on apples here too, but I'm not sure
how much damage they actually do. Might be the codling moths that
really screw things up.

Bob