When and what to spray on apple trees

Hi,
I bought my place a few years ago and it had a bunch of fruit trees. I didn't spray the apple trees 2 years ago and last year had ice storms that took care of the blossoms. I have tried looking online and can not really find the right answer. So the question is when do I spray the apple trees and what do I spray them with?
The first year I was here I had a huge apple harvest, but allot of the fruit had worm holes. Hopefully this year we won't have ice after the blossoms are out. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. BTW I am located in Northern Kansas.

Thanks

[Nimrod]

It depends on your situation. I don't want to spray fruit trees unless I absolutely have to. Who wants to eat the spray and it doesn't wash off.

It sounds like you might have apple maggots.

http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublicatio...928/EB1928.pdf

The link has pictures of infected apples. Check and see if this is what you have. I had them on my apple tree in the city. There were infected apple trees in the neighborhood so it just got reinfected no matter what I did.

If your trees are far enough away from other apple trees, you can eliminate the infection by picking up the apples every day in the fall for a few years. Then the maggots won't have a chance to crawl out of the apple and get into the ground. This breaks the life cycle because the maggots won't hatch out as flies in the spring and lay eggs in the new apples.

You can cut down on the flies by hanging red painted pop cans covered with Tangelfoot to simulate apples on the branches.

http://www.casa.com/p/tanglefoot-300...la&cagpspn=pla

The flies land on the pop can to lay their eggs and get stuck so they can't lay them in the apples.

I finally went radical on them and covered each blossum with a clear plastic sandwich bag. I did this after the blossums had been pollinated but before the flies could lay their eggs.

Spray as a last resort.

Nimrod thanks for the reply. I might just have maggots. This property sat vacant for 7 years and I'm sure all the apples just fell on the ground and rotted. Since I didn't have an apple crop last year due to 2 ice storms maybe that will break the cycle? I have heard people spraying on dormant oil. Do you know anything about that?

Thanks Again

[MoonRiver]

The pdf is great, but if you don't want to chance downloading it, the info is also available as html.

http://www.shonnards.com/resources/s...dule-fruit-nut

Thanks . That was very helpful. It also covered cherry and apricot trees which I also have.

Originally Posted by MoonRiver

The pdf is great, but if you don't want to chance downloading it, the info is also available as html.

http://www.shonnards.com/resources/s...dule-fruit-nut

If you don't want to use an insecticide for bugs, worms, etc, try using Surround, basically a coat of kaolin clay. You need to determine if you have had, or are susceptible to any fungi, brown rot is particularly destructive to stone fruits. Lastly, learn what you can about pruning and thinning fruit.

Originally Posted by zong

Lastly, learn what you can about pruning and thinning fruit.

The old guy that lived here for 40 or 50 years had trees planted everywhere. He planted to close together and they grew into each other. When I bought the place I bet the trees had been neglected for at least a decade. I had to cut down many apple,pear,apricot, and nectarine trees. I have been pruning for the last 2 years and things are looking better. I will probably try some copper based spray later this month.

Thanks for your advice

[gweny]

I want to try kaolin on my trees this year but my local feed store only carries a 50lb bag... Way more than I need! I found some spray bottles of the stuff on amazon but it is overpriced and shipping costs makes that option absurd. Where do you get it? I had a rough time last year with a cicada/ fungus/ worm attack that took out my apples but spared the stone fruits. I'm a novice at organic gardening but am not crazy about using copper (this stuff is polluting our water and preliminary research suggests it may be as bad as lead!) or the like. I plan to have bees on my property, hopefully soon and want to create a happy home for them without all the pesticides.

[Use Less]

Check in with the Co-operative Extension. They can help you know what is prevalent in your area, and set up a spray schedule that will help the trees and the fruits. You can tell them about your desires re safety for land, family and helpful insects. If your area has lots of wild apple/crabapple trees or commercial orchards, you need to treat more often & more aggressively.

[TRAILRIDER]

I second, check with your county cooperative extension office. I do spray most every year with dormant oil. But you DO NOT spray the "Delicious" varieties with it. I spray my other apple trees. Then I only spray them when dormant and with NO chance of freezing soon after. So that's like one day a year! I swear. Early March we will have freezing weather then one day of non freezing weather and every things dormant and the next day there are buds ! So I sometimes miss the day : /

[Badger]

Check with your local extention agent or look them up online - they should have a fact sheet for home orchard production with spray dates and recommendations for your specific location. They are usually free to download or very inexpensive ( .25 to .50) if picked up at their office. Also ask about their master gardener program and get advice from them locally.

[bja105]

I bought the "fruit tree spray', poison, toxic, kills everything. Directions said spray every 14 days. I sprayed once after blossoms and once in the summer, and got a bumper crop. It killed enough of the bugs that the fruit didn't drop. Many of the apples were imperfect, but most were good enough. A few were perfect. I didn't like spraying that much poison on food, and where the kids play. I figure those apples were better than the ones we eat from the store. The two years since, I didn't spray at all and got no crop.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will stop in to my local extension office next week. I really don't want to spray ,but it is a shame to see the fruit go to waste. The first year here there were allot of apples most of them had some kind of insect damage. Maybe due to codling moths?

[Badger]

Welcome to the world of homesteader education. Your journey is just beginning, enjoy the ride!