Apple tree spraying?

4wanderingeyes

5 year old buck +
How many people just plant their apple trees and dont spray them afterwards? My trees are there for the deer mostly. I like apples, and would more then likely eat a few as I am passing by, but I wouldnt harvest many for myself. I have about 20 apple trees, and none have produced yet, but I have high hopes for this season, or just wishful thinking. But if I do get apples, is it needed to spray them if you are just planting them for the deer? I have been planting mostly DR trees, because my plan is to just let them grow, and not maintain them all the time.

I guess my question is, should I be doing some sort of spray to them? Or just let them go? If I should be doing a spray, what do I spray, and when?
 
Depends on the varieties you have and what you plan to do with them.
 
I do not plan long term spraying. I have an orchard of young trees that are for deer, eating, and cider. I am doing some spraying for insect pests to get everything off to a good start. I have tried to choose for disease resistance but many varieties you just don't know how they will do. If I find a tree has too much disease trouble, I will just topwork graft it to a different variety. I would rather get a problem removed then have to spray. If just for deer, I would leave a tree as long as it produced apples.
 
Here's an axiom if you plan on eating......NO SPRAY, NO APPLES! It doesn't fit everyone's scenario. Generally there are very few people that will just chow into a miss-shapened, scabby and sooty apple regularly. Deer will but your peeps won't. So you go to all this trouble and have nasty ole' trees out there? My scenario is such that I can walk out my back door to my waiting 42 trees that get sprayed with dormant oil and after petal fall Captan and Imidan every 10 days to 2 weeks until a month or so before harvest (this is variety dependent). Here's to pristine trees and pristine apples!
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Jhoss, sorry if this is to much of a rookie question, but my trees havent produced any apples yet. So do I wait until they have small apples on the trees before spraying? Do I spray before they break buds? I dont know what to spray, or when. With a little research on the web, all I come up with is about 30 different recommendations on what to spray, but I have no idea what is needed, and when to spray it. Since my trees still havent produces, am I fine with not spraying until they do? I suspect I will be getting apples this year, unless we get another late frost.

I have a couple trees that will be 5 this year, most are 3-4 years, I have been planting about 5-7 a year for the past 5 years. But I have had a few die, and had some deer wipe out a few before I caged them. Thinking they would be fine for a couple weeks, because I ran out of fence.
 
General consensus is the most important spray you can do is dormant oil. You can get it at Tractor Supply or HomeDepot garden. Mix 3 oz per gallon of water. Go soak 'em down. Do it twice in the dormant season, more if you can. Windless days are best. Try not to ingest but its pretty inert benign stuff - no special precautions with dormant oil, also called horticultural oil. It highly refined mineral oil. It smothers anything over wintering on your trees..fungal/bacterial and insect eggs. Then Google keystone pest supply for the Captan and Imidan and bite the bullet on the cost. The commonly found, bs, Bonide "fruit tree spray" is in-effectual, I've never found it to work. Its a lot of effort to spray then find rust, scab, flyspeck and sooty blotch just takes over in spite of your Bonide Fruit Tree spray regimen. Not to mention insects, Curculio and Apple fly maggot. Have one of your sweet your things (females) find one of these "prizes" in one of your apples and they will never smile at you again. Japanese Beetles are my nemesis here in SE Mich. But they dont seem to be as bad as they used to be. I've seen them absolutely defoliate a sassafrass patch. They seem to love my honeycrisp leaves but generally are just a cosmetic problem.
 
I'm certainly no expert ( only been planting " newer " apples and crabs for 5 years ), but we planted mainly for deer at camp. We'll certainly eat some of our apples, but we aren't crazy fussy and selling to grocery stores. Our trees are mostly DR varieties to minimize spraying needs. But no tree is insect - proof. Dormant oil and Sevin have been our 2 spray selections. Japanese beetles seem to be our biggest enemy, with aphids showing on a few trees. Our plan is to keep spraying these " newer " trees for the first 5 or 6ars so they get a good start and become established, then back off the spraying unless we get a severe problem. I've had apple experts tell me that the early years are the most important for spraying ( in our case - for deer use ), and that as the trees get bigger, they can better fend off insect attacks. ( I got this info from experienced apple growers - it's not my expertise !!! ).

I believe for eating " pretty " apples, you need much more care and babying of the trees.
 
When does one apply dormant oil, and sevin? My trees haven't produced yet, do I still spray them?


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I will spray dormant oil on my trees this weekend. Hoping to smother mites and any other overwintering pests.

I will spray sevin when I notice aphids. Don't use while the trees are blooming to avoid killing bees.
 
What would you spray for ants? Tiny ones. I noticed them taking over one tree last year. Sprayed 7 at least 4 times but didn't seem to do the trick. There is no evidence of an ant hill close but they are coming out of the ground right at the base of the trunk. Maybe go with a specific ant killer like Torro?
 
Then Google keystone pest supply for the Captan and Imidan and bite the bullet on the cost.

Keystone no longer sells Imidan due to it now requiring "hazardous shipping" charges.
 
I'm not big on using dormant oil for several reasons. Oil is not compatible with Captan and Sulfur. There is usually a 2 week interval between using oil and captan to reduce phytoxicity. I find in my commercial orchard insects like the European red mite do not reach a threshold of concern in my orchard because local populations of beneficial predatory mites like T. PYRI keep populations at acceptable numbers. Dormant oils are most often recommended for large commercial operations where a broad use of harsher chemicals kill off predatory mites that often feed on leaf sucking ERM. I would recommend monitoring ERM populations which are easy to find and only take action if you feel they are having an impact on the health of the tree.
 
What would you spray for ants? Tiny ones. I noticed them taking over one tree last year. Sprayed 7 at least 4 times but didn't seem to do the trick. There is no evidence of an ant hill close but they are coming out of the ground right at the base of the trunk. Maybe go with a specific ant killer like Torro?

Ants are usually mining the apple aphid, thats most likely why you see ants.


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I'm far from an Apple expert, but IMO, if you don't spray and care for the trees, you can't expect great results when they start producing. One of the apple experts on here said before that spraying accordingly at the right times with the correct sprays early on in the trees life , will make a huge difference later on. I'll take his advice as I enjoy keeping them healthy .
 
I am 4 hours away. I may be able to do a monthly spraying.


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