Preparing Home Fruit Plantings for Spring

1. Preparing Home Fruit Plantings for Spring John Strang Department of Horticulture

2. Ordering Fruit Plants(It’s getting a little late) • Recommend disease resistant varieties for home growers • Apples • Fire blight, • Scab • Cedar apple rust • Powdery mildew • Pears • Fire blight • Peaches • Bacterial canker • Hardier cv. • Grapes • Black rot • Downy & Powdery mildew • Anthracnose • Botrytis • Phomopsis • Blackberries & Black raspberries • Orange rust • Anthracnose • Blueberries • Phytophthora • Strawberries • Red stele • Leaf diseases

3. Assess Tree Damage Vole Rabbit

4. Collection of Scion Wood • Collect when wood is completely dormant, Feb. -Mar. • Previous seasons growth • Disease free wood • Bundle up wood and label • Wrap in moist towel, sawdust etc. and place in a plastic bag • Store in refrigerator

5. Bridge Graft

6. Inarching

7. Cleft Graft

8. Prune All Fruit Plants

9. Types of Cuts

10. Pruning Fruit Trees • Remove dead wood • Put in branch spreaders (apples & pears) • Remove narrow angled or weak scaffold limbs • Remove a few larger limbs if needed back to another outwardly growing limb • Thin out branches and shoots leaving plenty of flower buds • 20% max. • Know the growth characteristics and where the flower buds are.

11. Pruning Videos • Fruit Tree Pruning • http://video.ca.uky.edu/videos/video/491/ • Pruning Apple Trees to a Central Leader • http://video.ca.uky.edu/videos/video/492/ • Grapevine Pruning Demonstration • Blackberry Pruning Demonstration • Blueberry Pruning Demonstration • http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL09F15FE61241AC38&feature=plcp

12. Extension Pruning Publications • Training and Culture of Dwarf Apples Using the Vertical Axis System (HortFact-3501) • http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Horticulture/appletraining.pdf • Kentucky Backyard Apple Integrated Pest Management (IPM-9) • http://www.uky.edu/Ag/IPM/manuals/ipm9hmap.pdf

13. Grower Questions Mushrooms – trees life is limited Yellow-bellied Sapsucker injury on apple Burr knot or adventitious roots on apple

14. Fire Blight on Apples & Pears • Prune out as much as possible • Prune out slightly before canker • Not transferred on pruners while dormant

15. Remove Black Knot on Plums

16. Avoid Leaving Branch Stubs

17. Removal of Larger Limbs

18. Remove Narrow Branch Angles Strong Weak

19. Opens tree up for sunlight and spray penetration Reduces shoot and limb vigor Encourages flowering Branch Spreading Not enough Excessive

20. Apple Tree TrainingCentral Leader System Second Growing Season Photos courtesy: Ohio State University

21. Central Leader Apple Tree

22. Multiple Leader or Modified Central Leader Apple Plum Cherry Pear

23. VasePeach & Some Plums Photo courtesy: Ohio State University Peach tree after 2 years growth before & after pruning

24. Peach Pruning

25. Grape – High Cordon • Rough prune to 3 – bud spurs • Prune to 4-5 buds/ft cordon on each side of high wire cordon Must have at least 1 lb of prunings to do this! Before After

26. Dormant Oil Spray • Tree Fruit • When temperatures are 45°F or higher for 2 days Complete thorough coverage San Jose Scale

27. Dormant Oil Spray Rosy apple aphid Two spot and European red mites Thorough complete coverage

28. Fixed Copper SprayApples & Pears for Fire Blight • Combine in dormant oil spray up to ¼ “ green stage • Kills fire blight bacteria on surface of trees * *

29. Fruit Insect & Disease Predictive Models http://weather.uky.edu/plant_disease.html

30. Fire Blight Model

31. Fire Blight Model - 4/10/12

32. Fire Blight Model 4/15/12 Spray Streptomycin Protected for 4 days

33. Winter Injury • All fruit crops still have the potential for a full crop • Peaches have some injury • Min. temp. Feb. 1 • UKREC 12.3 °F • 77% survival Contender • Lexington 6.6 °F • 65% survival Coral Star

34. Fruit Crop Fertilization • Fertilize with N based on plant growth • May not be needed on very fertile sites • Once the pre plant fertilizer is applied usually only annual applications of N are needed.

35. Tree Fruit Fertilization *1-3 year-old trees may double this amount of growth May substitute SS Superkicker 33% N fertilizer for ammonium nitrate (Ammonium sulfate + Urea) (½ lb granular fertilizer is equal to approximately 1 cup)

36. Small Fruit Fertilization

37. Check for Borers • Peach & Plum • Peachtree borers • Apple • Dogwood borers

38. Soil test and adjust P, K, Mg & pH Soil not too wet Large hole Soak roots overnight Do not put fertilizer in the hole! Put top soil back in bottom of hole Tree Planting

39. Cut off broken roots Set tree with graft union 2-4 inches above soil line Spread roots out well Place top soil in around roots…Do not bring in good soil to fill hole Firm soil around tree May make an above ground basin – don’t leave over winter Water in well to settle soil around roots immediately after planting Tree Planting

40. Prune fruit crops in the spring, not fall Rodent guard Gravel to reduce wallowing Weed control Planting Planted on raised ridge with rodent guards Figure courtesy: T. Roper & G. Frank, Univ. WI

41. Weed Control • Increases tree growth & fruit size • Mulching • Glyphosate • Keep off of tree • Peaches particularly sensitive • Use generics • Weed eater

42. Apple & Pear Thin early Larger fruit higher sugar content Slightly lower yield ~ every 6-7” Sevin at insecticide rate from bloom to 30 days after bloom Fruit Thinning

43. Bagging Apples • Manage early season diseases and insects • Thin fruit to one/cluster • Apply bags at .5-.75” fruit diam. • Japanese bags • 3-lb paper bags, 6” in length, with 1.5” slit cut at opening • Bags must cover fruit and be tied shut over branch

44. Bagging Apples • Improves fruit finish • Pesticide sprays not needed after bagging • Controls • Codling moth • Plum curculio • San Jose scale • Rosy apple aphid • Sooty blotch & flyspeck • Apple scab • Cork spot http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef218.asp http://video.ca.uky.edu/search/?q=bagging+apples&x=8&y=4

45. Grapes • Rough prune when dormant • Finish prune at 4” new growth • Delays growth • Frost protection • Anthracnose • Dormant period on susceptible varieties • Sulforix • Flea beetle • Bud break if found • Sevin • Black rot • 4” new growth • Mancozeb, Captanor Fixed copper • 10” new growth • Mancozeb, Captan or Fixed copper + myclolbutanil Bagging when grapes are pea size

46. Blackberries & Raspberries • Prune out dead canes • Remove Redneckedcane borer • Look for Raspberry crown borer at cane bases - Blackberries • Spray with liquid-lime sulfur or Sulforix at ½ inch new growth Redneckedcane borer Raspberry crown borer

47. Blueberries • Mulch with sawdust or wood chips • Leafroller & Plum curculio • Petal fall • Malathion or Permethrin

48. Strawberries • Remove straw mulch when new growth becomes a little yellow • Cover with straw or cloth when freeze predicted • Botrytis fruit rot • Bloom • Captan weekly

49. Brown Marmorated Stink Bug • 17 counties • Boyd, Lewis, Greenup, Carter, Rowan, Lawrence • Pike, Floyd, Magoffin, Johnson • Letcher, Bell, Whitley • Jefferson, Henry, Oldham • Fayette • Feeds on a very wide range of fruit vegetable & ornamental crops • Takes 2-3 years to become a production problem • Overwinters in houses • Difficult to control • Malathion Photo courtesy: Bugwood UGA

50. Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD)Drosophila suzukii • Found all across IL this summer • Captured in KY traps in late summer • Bowling Green • Owensboro • Female can puncture fruit and lay eggs • Serious problem in soft fruit particularly later in season Photo courtesy Patty Lucas Photo courtesy G. Arakelian Los Angelis county Ag. Commissioner Photo courtesy Martin Hauser, UC IPM