chemical damage mitigation

john volkman

5 year old buck +
i have been growing , spraying fruit trees for over 10 years and somehow on my last spraying i damaged some of my apple trees , some of them severely. Im not sure how, since i use a dedicated sprayer , and follow the label etc. Somehow im guessing i put one of the chemical on to heavy and some of my apple trees are very stressed, does anyone have any advice on how i can help them pull thru ? im not sure if ill lose them but that is my biggest concern, we are also in the middle of very hot dry spell (at least for wi) i attached some pics , when i noticed them this morning i wantedto puke. The odd thing is i sprayed cherries at the same time and they were unaffected, cherry trees are typically much more susceptible to damage but they look perfect. The mix was pristine fungicide and imidan insecticide.FF94D9FD-CEB8-45E2-A88B-82BFE03AC456.jpeg
 
Did you apply the chemicals in the heat of the day?
 
Did you apply the chemicals in the heat of the day?
no it was early morning , the day i applied had a high in low 70's, 2-3 days later we hit 90 and have been at 90 for 5 days now which is very unusual for my area especially in june
 
Did you happen to put a bunch of fertilizer on them right before, specifically N?
 
Can you give it a few gallons of water?
 
yes most of them i can get a hose to
 
These rogue dry spells and high temperatures are tough. Maybe calling the chemical companies and asking their advice might yield a solution path. Hope you get them thru this and keep us updated. With nothing to go by for the time being, I'd water the heck out of a few trees to see how they respond.
 
I would water the heck out of them and hope for the best.
 
I bet they survive with a good watering.
 
I bet they survive with a good watering.
thanks , some i can easily get a hose to others im goign to need ot haul water, we are in the middle of very hot and dry weather for this part of wi, we rarely break 90 in most years and we are on day 5 with more to come , very shallow soil here since we are on limestone so it dries out quick. im sure the lack of moisture is adding to the stress.
 
I’m not an expect on those chemicals, but I’d also bet that the hot, dry weather with shallow soil is to blame for most of the stress. We’re burning up in SW WI and we can’t buy a rain. I’ve been watering all of my young trees all spring. If it stays like this, I won’t be able to water enough! Good luck, but I think with some heavy watering they will turn around. Good luck John!
 
Drill a slightly bigger than 1/8 inch in side of bucket down low and fill them up,helps prevent runoff,good luck
 
Did you happen to put a bunch of fertilizer on them right before, specifically N?
I'm curious about this question. I (we) moved four trees from what ended up being the middle of a foodplot after a timber harvest. When they were planted they were on the northern edge of a smaller plot but after the timber harvest and the removal of an island of woods they ended being in the middle of the field. Anyway, we dug them up last October with a backhoe on a cool wet day and transplanted them into the NW corner of the field. Good morning sun but shaded from the hot late day sun. Soil is quite sandy. They all looked good going into Winter. This Spring the best looking crab apple appears to be dead. It looks like it wanted to push buds but then stopped. Now to your question....two of the apple trees leafed out well and were looking good but a couple weeks after I tossed some 12-12-12 around them they have gone brown and look like goners. One crab is doing well still(it was also fertilized). This is in NE lower Michigan and it is VERY dry right now.
I have to haul water to them but last night put 10 gallons on the crab that is doing good still and about 6 gallons each on the apples that have gone brown. Did the fertilizer kill them or just bad timing with drought and lack of established root system? These were in their original spot for 5 years before we had to move them.
 
The move stressed them, and with the lack of the small feeder roots, the lack of rain kick there but, and with the nitrogen, that made them more thirsty.
 
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