Preparing Home Fruit
Plantings for Spring
John Strang
Department of Horticulture
Ordering Fruit Plants
(It’s getting a little late)
• Recommend disease
resistant varieties for
home growers
• Apples
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Fire blight,
Scab
Cedar apple rust
Powdery mildew
• Pears
– Fire blight
• Peaches
– Bacterial canker
– Hardier cv.
• Grapes
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Black rot
Downy & Powdery mildew
Anthracnose
Botrytis
Phomopsis
• Blackberries & Black
raspberries
– Orange rust
– Anthracnose
• Blueberries
– Phytophthora
• Strawberries
– Red stele
– Leaf diseases
Assess Tree Damage
Vole
Rabbit
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
Bridge Graft
Inarching
Cleft Graft
Prune All Fruit Plants
Types of Cuts
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.
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=PL09F15FE6
1241AC38&feature=plcp
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
Grower Questions
Mushrooms – trees life is limited
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
injury on apple
Burr knot or adventitious roots on apple
Fire Blight on Apples & Pears
• Prune out as much as
possible
• Prune out slightly before
canker
• Not transferred on
pruners while dormant
Remove Black Knot on Plums
Avoid Leaving Branch Stubs
Removal of Larger Limbs
Remove Narrow Branch Angles
Strong
Weak
Branch Spreading
Not
enough
Excessive
• Opens tree up for
sunlight and spray
penetration
• Reduces shoot and
limb vigor
• Encourages
flowering
Apple Tree Training
Central Leader System
Second Growing Season
Photos courtesy: Ohio State University
Central Leader Apple Tree
Multiple Leader or
Modified Central Leader
Apple
Plum
Pear
Cherry
Vase
Peach & Some Plums
Photo courtesy: Ohio State University
Peach tree after 2 years growth
before & after pruning
Peach Pruning
Grape – High Cordon
1. Rough prune to 3 – bud spurs
2. 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
Dormant Oil Spray
• Tree Fruit
• When temperatures
are 45°F or higher
for 2 days
San Jose Scale
Complete
thorough
coverage
Dormant Oil Spray
Rosy apple
aphid
Thorough complete
coverage
Two spot and
European red mites
Fixed Copper Spray
Apples & Pears for Fire Blight
• Combine in
dormant oil spray
up to ¼ “ green
stage
• Kills fire blight
bacteria on
surface of trees
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*
Fruit Insect & Disease
Predictive Models
http://weather.uky.edu/plant_disease.html
Fire Blight Model
Fire Blight Model - 4/10/12
Fire Blight Model 4/15/12
Spray
Streptomycin
Protected for 4
days
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
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.
Tree Fruit Fertilization
Desired New Terminal
Growth (mature trees)*
Rate
(Applied in Feb.)
Apples
12-15”
Peaches &
Plums
Tart Cherries
14-20”
¼ lb ammonium
nitrate/yr of age
1/6 lb ammonium
nitrate/yr of age
1/6 lb ammonium
nitrate/yr of age
1/8 lb ammonium
nitrate/yr of age
Fruit
Pears
8”
Less than 12”
*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)
Small Fruit Fertilization
Fruit
Strawberries
Desired
Growth
Dark green,
avoid leggy
growth
Blackberries & Dark green
Raspberries
Grapes
Rate
5 lb 10-10-10/100’ row,
L. Jun. after renovation
.75-1.5 lb ammonium
nitrate/ 100 ft. row, Feb.
Dark brown,
0.2 lb 33-0-0/vine, Apr 1
3/8” diam.
0.2 lb 33-0-0/vine, Fruit set
current
seasons canes
Check for Borers
• Peach & Plum
– Peachtree borers
• Apple
– Dogwood borers
Tree Planting
• 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
• 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
Planting
• Prune fruit crops in
the spring, not fall
• Rodent guard
• Gravel to reduce
wallowing
• Weed control
Planted on raised ridge with
rodent guards
Figure courtesy: T. Roper & G. Frank, Univ. WI
Weed Control
• Increases tree
growth & fruit size
• Mulching
• Glyphosate
– Keep off of tree
– Peaches particularly
sensitive
– Use generics
• Weed eater
Fruit Thinning
• 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
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
Bagging Apples
• Improves fruit finish
• Pesticide sprays not
needed after bagging
• Controls
http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef218.asp
http://video.ca.uky.edu/search/?q=bagging+apples&x=8&y=4
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Codling moth
Plum curculio
San Jose scale
Rosy apple aphid
Sooty blotch & flyspeck
Apple scab
Cork spot
• Rough prune when dormant
• Finish prune at 4” new
growth
Grapes
– Delays growth
– Frost protection
• Anthracnose
– Dormant period on
susceptible varieties
– Sulforix
• Flea beetle
– Bud break if found
– Sevin
• Black rot
– 4” new growth
• Mancozeb, Captan or
Fixed copper
– 10” new growth
• Mancozeb, Captan or
Fixed copper +
myclolbutanil
Bagging when grapes are pea
size
Blackberries & Raspberries
Rednecked cane borer
Raspberry crown borer
• Prune out dead
canes
• Remove Rednecked
cane borer
• Look for Raspberry
crown borer at cane
bases - Blackberries
• Spray with liquidlime sulfur or
Sulforix at ½ inch
new growth
Blueberries
• Mulch with
sawdust or wood
chips
• Leafroller & Plum
curculio
– Petal fall
– Malathion or
Permethrin
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
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
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
Spotted winged Drosophila
• Attack as fruits turn color
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Raspberry
Blackberry
Blueberry
Cherry
Strawberry
Grape
Peach
Plum
Tomato (GH,
Heirloom)
• Control with Entrust on
some crops
Meetings
• Specifics - Fruit Facts Newsletter
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Fruit Tree Grafting
Fruit Tree Pruning
Blueberry Production
Fruit Grower Orchard Tour
• Apr. 11, Shelbyville
– Small Fruit Production & IPM Short Course
• Apr. 24, Ashland
• Agent Training & Pesticide CEU credit
– KY Nut Growers Assoc. Meeting
• Apr. 27, Elizabethtown