Subject: Re: Organic Pest Control

From: Avi <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 01 May 1996 13:52:32 +0300

Ifyou want a REAl Solution - Use nets
Call meteor Nets in Israel and use the Multi-Protect Anti-Insect net.
Fax: +972-3-9244614

Charla McGuire wrote:
> 
> I have an older semi dwarf Red Delicious apple tree, and two cherry trees;
> one is a sour pie cherry and one a sweet yellow cherry. Is there anyone
> out there who could give me some advice on organic methods of pest control
> for these trees? Last year we had a bumper crop of apples, but many of
> them were affected with apple scab and some had dark "tunnels" running
> through them, (though I didn't find worms in the tunnels). The pie
> cherries weren't bad, but the sweet cherries were almost all wormy. All
> the trees were pruned last fall to remove dead wood and branches growing
> toward the tree's center. The trees are already in bloom...is there
> anything I could spray with that would help? I really would prefer not to
> use any chemical sprays...and the fruit doesn't have to be "perfect." (It
> is for our own family use, not for sale.) Is it too late to treat the
> trees with a horticultural oil spray, such as Sunspray?  Also, I've seen a
> post or two on here recommending that fruit trees be ordered from other
> sources than Stark. Could anyone recommend another source of mail order
> that would be better? I am in Zone 5, Central Illinois. Any advice would
> be greatly appreciated, as I am a total fruit tree novice!
> 
> Thanks!
> Charla

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From: [email-masked] (Ingrid K. Buxton)
Date: Wed, 01 May 1996 03:27:10 GMT

[email-masked] (Charla McGuire) wrote:

>anything I could spray with that would help?
.. I have heard that the super light oils are OK, but would wait until just
after blossom drop.. which is when most pests get into the act... 
>  Is it too late to treat the trees with a horticultural oil spray, such as >Sunspray?  Also, I've seen a post or two on here recommending that fruit t
>trees be ordered from other sources than Stark.
... I couldnt say about their cherries, I only know their apple rootstock
isnt good for Wisconsin zone 5, clay soil... 
> Could anyone recommend another source of mail order
>that would be better? I am in Zone 5, Central Illinois. 
.. seems you should be warmer than us up here... 
>Charla
I have included what I have gleaned from gardening mags.. 

CHERRIES:
Mahaleb should not be grafted to sweet scions-is incompatible/is winter
hardy tho Mazzard is good for sweet scions/ best is MxM2 or MxM60

1. most dwarfs grown on rootstock "Colt"
1. ***STELLA-LARGE DARK RED FRUITS

I dont know if they all sell cherries..
*** where I got cherries from: Adams County Nursery Box 108 Aspers, PA
17304 free cat fruit/trees/apricots
Bear Creek Nursery P.O. Box 41175 Northport, WA 99157
($1/509-732-6219)fruits & nuts/asian pears
C&O Nursery P.O. Box 116 Wenatchee, Wash. 98807-0116 free cat/apricots
Cumberland Valley Nurseries P.O. Box 471 McMinnville, Tenn 37110 free price
list/peaches
Edible Landscaping Route 2, Box 77 Afton, VA 22920 free/ fruit trees
Henry Leuthardt Nurseries Montauk Hwy, Box 666-G East Moriches, NY 11940
fruit & nuts
Hilltop (Newark) Nurseries P.O. Box 578 60397 CR 681 Hartford, Mich. 49057
616-621-3135 free cat? 
Lawler Nursery 950 Hwy, 200 West Plains, MT 59859 406-826-3881 ($150
minimum) fruits & nuts
Northwoods Nursery Box NG92 S. Cramer Rd. Molalla, OR 503-651-3737 free?
fruit & nuts/asian pears
Rocky Meadow Orchard and Nursery 360 Rocky Meadow Rd, NW New Salisbury, IN
47161 $1 P22 rootstock
Turkey Hollow Nursery HCR, Box 860 Cumberland, KY 40823 SASE/P22 rootstock
Woodlanders 1128 Colleton Ave. Aiken, SC 29801 $1 fruit trees

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From: [email-masked] (BRateaver)
Date: 3 May 1996 14:21:02 -0400

I am glad to hear of a new source of nets.  Once I got a black, silky
feeling net, which seems superior to all others, but I had forgotten the
source and now I cannot find it anywhere.

BUT, important! ! !

If you have that much trouble, your real solution is not nets of any kind,
because that is just keeping out the pest.  What you really need to do is
to improve the soil, so you DON'T HAVE THE PESTS.

There must be at least one thing missing in your soil, but probably
several items. It is much cheaper, always, in the long run, to make your
soil adequate.

While you should add amendments, even now, by drilling hols at the drip
line and inserting the amendments, you can also use a foliar spray, which
might temporarily solve your problems.

The best thing, the fastest and easiest to do, right away, is to spray the
plants with the most complete fertilizer, seaweed spray. The oldest,
original, best. and provided by the conscientious company, Maxicrop USA.
For about $15 you can get a can holding enough for at least a year.  It is
very easy to do. Get a hose end spray attachment for your hose, and if it
has a QUART bottle attached, figure that 20 gallons of water will go thru
the nozzle by the time the bottle is empty. So you multiply 20 by 1/4
teaspoon and put that amount of soluble powdered Maxicrop in the jar. It
is instantly soluble.

Then just point the spray nozzle to your trees and spray. It is fast and
easy.

There is no other fertilizer that is itself a plant. Since seaweed grows
where it has access to every possible nutrient, and picks up just exactly
what is right for a plant, it is the single best item you can offer your
trees.

If you write me, with your snail mail address, I can send you a 2 page
explanation of how seaweed acts, and why.  I have given thousands of those
to people who have been overjoyed to get a simple, good answer to many
problems.

However, nothing beats the need for good, real soil, loaded with humus and
nutrients that hold out for years.

Over the many decades of my experience, now at 80 I feel sad that it has
been, and apparently still is, hard to get people to understand that it is
the SOIL: that counts, and that should be home to so many soil organisms.

We should not try to feed plants, but to feed the soil in which plants
grow, where the soil organisms feed the roots.

A foliar spray is valuable, and often an excellent emergency aid, and even
a fine regular extra aid, but nothing replaces good soil.  

One reason seaweed is so good, even just as a foliar spray, is that it is
so rapidly absorbed by the leaf, and is also rapidly spread throughout the
plant, and even aids movement of nutrients to the roots.  Then some of its
components even end up in the root exudates, where they feed the soil
organisms in the mucigel that surrounds all the absorbing root hairs.

I always add seaweed meal to the planting soil, but also spread it every
year, on the soil, especially at the drip line.

You can probably salvage much of your inadequate soil problem with a
seaweed foliar spray. It really, truly does work.

B. Rateaver

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From: [email-masked] (Wes McCarver)
Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 13:39:24

I read that you can use garlic spray.  Use a blender to "liquify" 
the garlic, adding water.  I don't remember the ratio exactly of 
garlic to water - I believe it was a about 10 liters to a full 
"sprig" (?) of garlic.
>>--Wes---->