Re-wilding

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When your apple trees are immature is the time to prune them to shape.

Have you closely checked the peach trees for insects and disease? Sometimes, it might not be glaringly obvious. A few tiny holes here and there from peachtree borers, or a wilted appearance at the base of a few leaves signaling the earliest infection of leaf curl fungus is all that it takes to wreak havoc on their production. Once they start putting on fruit, you have to keep a close watch for curculio bugs, which you already certainly have around because of your pecan and oak trees.

Plums trees are highly susceptible to fungal infections, and for some reason plum trees and rosebushes are aphids' favorite food. They require a close eye.

If you do backyard barbecuing, all your fruit tree prunings are great for grilling or smoking chicken, pork loin and pork chops. Apple is earthy and very slightly sweet, peach and plum are sweet, mild and very subtle. That is, if your personal tastes so align. I myself use only hickory for everything, except occasionally mesquite for grilling burgers and chicken. But, many prefer the milder flavor of fruitwood smoke over the much more potent nutwoods.
 
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I have multiple immature fruit trees.

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this is my free Johnathan apple... 2 of 3 apples still on it growing larger.

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This is the remaining granny smith apple tree... I have pruned it a bunch already but it probably needs more.

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This is the peach tree, while shape is little lopsided, it looks healthier than expected. I didn't see any insects other than a few wasps who I think may lay eggs inside other undesirable insects. A few years back I brought in a bunch of ladybugs who stuck around for years, I may need more (supposedly ladybugs eat aphids).

In the past I have sprayed copper on the peach trees, these days my insecticide of choice is Neem oil, with a bactericide to spank tent caterpillars on my taller pecan trees.

Behind the Peach tree are my two plum trees they all have pretty similar ugly lean (to the left), perhaps related to how sun hits them? Or not.

JR
 
cyrano said:
Jonathan is one of the best apples I've ever tasted. Small but delicious.
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birds have sampled all three of my Johnathan apple crop. Ants were already established in the bigger one with a peck hole, but I trimmed away the bird peck, and concur, the small johnathan was quite good...

JR
 
We picked some unknown pears at my late grabdparents' house yesterday. A bit small, green with a red blush on the ones starting to ripen. Two loaded trees. Deer had taken all the ripe ones below 5-6 feet.
 
It has been a bad summer for my garden... only the jalapeno pepper plant is making more than I can consume... I suspect the unusually hot weather as affected the squash and tomatoes negatively.

==

I am disappointed in the bird netting's inability to keep them from trashing my figs, apples, etc.

JR
 
JohnRoberts said:
birds have sampled all three of my Johnathan apple crop. Ants were already established in the bigger one with a peck hole, but I trimmed away the bird peck, and concur, the small johnathan was quite good...

JR
Click to expand...

A Jonathan tree should have hundreds of small apples, even on a small tree. Extreme drought or late frost?
 
cyrano said:
A Jonathan tree should have hundreds of small apples, even on a small tree. Extreme drought or late frost?
Click to expand...
It is a young tree.... last year it tried to make one apple, this year three, so it appears to be maturing nicely. I generally don't shoot birds, but if they keep messing with my figs and apples I may start. I have some fake rubber snakes but they don't work completely. So far the only thing the bird netting did was kill two birds. I don't feel as bad about that as I did at first.

I have one young peach and two plum trees that have yet to bear any fruit. They try but drop the undersized fruits early, maybe next year i'll get some.

My granny smith apple tree is also pretty young and did some self pruning... skinny tree limbs were bent under the weight of more apples than they could support. At least two branches broke off in the wind due to the extra weight. Its like the apple production has gotten ahead of the branch development, but what doesn't break them should make them stronger. There are still several granny smith's maturing with and without bird peck holes. I try to prune off the pecks so ants don't get established.

JR
 
Today I pruned off one of my granny smith apples with a bird peck hole in it. For chuckles I peeled off the skin, trimmed the fouled parts, and sampled my first ever home grown granny smith. It was spectacular... tart and tasty, much better than store bought grannies. :cool:

I expect these are still immature so will likely get better after me waiting longer.

JR
 
There is a plastic bird of prey decoy you can get , some buildings use it to scare off sea gulls and stop them making a shitty mess of the roof tiles .
Its just a molded plastic figure of Peregrin that sits on the gable ends of the building ,
The lidl store near me had a persistant problem with the gulls before, hundreds of them would alight on the roof every evening , once they had the decoys put in nothing lands there any more . Even the silhouette of a bird of prey is enough to send the smaller birds running for cover , if you internet search '21 inch flying falcon decoy' , my guess is that will be much more effective deterent than the air gun , shooting birds is more or less the same as shooting drug dealers , theres always going to be another ready to take its place ,its an un-winable war ,the only upside is you keep your marksmanship upto scratch. An outdoor speaker that periodically or via a remote button emits the screach of a bird of prey would be awesome along with a few of the decoys , you wont beat nature , what you can do is use nature to play a trick , having a number of different decoys and moving them around different spots helps keep the illusion real in the little birds minds . Also remember even though the birds are helping themselves to your fruit they are also helping with polenation and seed scattering .
 
I moved one of my rubber snakes back over to the granny smith tree to protect the dozen remaining...

I am thinking a laser discharge weapon might be nice. ;)

JR
 
It will work equally for your use and wont cost as much as a laser .
I cant understand the need for lethal force when other options are likely much more effective without harming anything .
 
Tubetec said:
It will work equally for your use and wont cost as much as a laser .
I cant understand the need for lethal force when other options are likely much more effective without harming anything .
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Unlikely to work for two reasons. First, JR has a nice large yard. His fruit trees may not be near his house. Second, jays, crows, and other birds who sample fruit aren't watching house windows for birds of prey.

Also, those kinds of deterrents, if they work, scare away all the nice songbirds, too. I have feeders and birdbaths in my yard, but, like JR, will do what's necessary to keep pests out of my garden plants and fruit & nut trees. If you've ever had an orchard or garden in a rural or semi-rural setting you'd understand better what it's like to work hard to produce something and keep nature from destroying it.
 
Tubetec said:
It will work equally for your use and wont cost as much as a laser .
I cant understand the need for lethal force when other options are likely much more effective without harming anything .
Click to expand...
;) I used the "wink" emoticon to infer that I was kidding...

I have an air pellet rifle that could effectively dispatch birds if that was my intent. I haven't made that sentiment shift yet. The two birds this year who died from getting tangled up my bird netting was not my intent either. I've used bird netting before, but this was the first year that birds died in my netting (bird brains?).

I moved one of my rubber snakes over to the granny smith tree with about a dozen apples still growing, in addition to the netting. I've used the fake snakes for years with little effect.

The only pests that I actively pursue with lethal intent are the squirrels, that I some history with.

JR

PS: My neighbor with too many cats (he feeds strays) woke up one morning this week to find three dead cats in his yard, killed by loose dogs.:cry: It wouldn't be smart for any loose dogs to linger in his yard. He is armed and dangerous.
 
I've seen non-functional cd-r's and dvd-r's tied to trees and garden fences around here, but don't know if they work. Rubber snakes and plastic owls worthless. Saw the deer stading up on their hind legs last week eating the apples- between them and the ground squirrels and pack rats none left, same with peaches and pears. Quail peck the tomatoes, but only the ripe ones so I pick them before they're completely red and let them ripen on the counter.
 
I've seen people try to use cd/dvd to scare away pests, too.. Usually hanging loose from a tree on a string, so they can rotate in the breeze. I suspect the strategy is to reflect sunlight off the shiny disc.

maybe if it was playing an old Madonna song or movie....

Last year I had birds pecking my tomatoes, this year was lousy for growing tomatoes and squash. My "grew up on a farm" neighbor advises me that the weather was too hot for them this year. Must be that global warming thing. ;) The only thing I have too much of this year is jalapenos..

JR
 
You could plant some stuff that's more attractive to birds?

I don't know enough about American botany to suggest something, but over here that could be stuff like mistletoe.
 

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