Tidy up and dose fruit trees to kill pests
Q: I had a bumper crop of fruit from all of my trees this year. I did lose lots of apples and peaches, some dropped early and lots had worms in the fruit. What can I do now to prepare for next year’s growing season and hopefully avoid the overabundance of wormy fruit I had this year? I don’t like to use things that might harm butterflies, birds and bees. What should I do and/ or use to keep all of the fruit more bug free? — G.W., Rio Rancho
A: The first project on your to-do list is tidying up your orchard. Any discarded fruit and the leaves, as they drop, need to be raked up and disposed of. This litter could harbor many a pest comfortably throughout the winter months and be the beginning of a re-infestation next year. So tidy needs to be your mantra this dormant season.
Once your trees have completed their annual leaf drop consider applying dormant oil to all of your deciduous trees. The dormant oil is a very, very refined grade of petroleum, that when applied following label instruction faithfully, coats bugs and eggs, suffocating them. That gives your fruit trees a great leg up on a healthier growing season next year. You’ll want to re-apply the dormant oil a couple of times during dormancy and most importantly just at bud push next spring. That way, you interrupt more bugs that tend to attack the new growth just as the trees are waking back up in the spring.
Another preventive measure will be traps that are hung within the trees to capture the moths that lay the eggs that turn into worms that invade the fruit. The trap hanging is a timely event and perhaps your county extension agent will assist you, giving info as to when the moths are most active — that being the time to have the traps hung in your trees. Extension agents are wealth of information.
During the winter months, it’s a great time to consider painting the trunks of your trees white. At most fullservice nurseries you can find “tree paint.” The paint could also be white outdoor latex paint, too. Just be sure you don’t apply any sort of oil-based paint as that could maim the trees.
The painting offers twofold protection. First, it helps protect the tree trunks against sunscald. Since we are blessed with multiple glorious days of mild, sunny weather during the winter, sometimes tree trunks heat up and there is a bit of sap moving. Then, inevitably, it gets wicked cold again causing that sap to freeze. That freeze-flow movement within the trunk can cause fractures or fissures to eventually occur, which can create major troubles for the trees. Being white, the sunlight is deflected and the trunks don’t suffer as dreadfully from the warm-up, cool-down issue.
The next advantage the paint offers is a coat of armor, so to speak. It effectively fills in all the nooks and crannies that bugs look for as an entrance into the trees. If you can prevent bugs that would make the trunks a home, you are so ahead of the game keeping your fruit trees healthier.
If you decide to paint you’ll first want to get down at ground level and gently scrape away the soil surrounding the trunk, exposing it another 3 to 4 inches below soil level. Paint the exposed trunk starting at what would be below ground all the way up to the first branches that come off the trunk. Once the paint is dry, be sure to scooch the soil you moved away back around the trunk. It should not stay exposed.
Remember, too, that your trees will benefit from water during the dormant months. Granted you’re not out watering like you do during growing season, but you do want the root mass dampened periodically. Know that dry frost kills and ice insulates.
That’s all I can think of as far as creating a healthier crop next year, and hope it helps. Get the space tidied, keep it tidy, and remember for the time being to water every so often.