If you own fruit trees, you know how important it is to spray the trees regularly. This ensures that the fruit grows large and healthy and also to make sure that they don’t become infested with pests and disease. Different chemical and organic sprays for fruit trees are available from nurseries and garden centers. Although these fruit spray bottles will clearly indicate how to spray and what parts of the tree to spray, they usually won’t tell you when you need to spray or how often to spray. And they also often won’t tell you that different types of fruit trees need different types of sprays. Here’s a general guideline as to when you should spray different types of fruit trees.
Apple and pear trees are some of the most common types of fruit trees that people own. These trees should be sprayed with an oil spray while they are still dormant. You will be able to tell if an apple or pear tree is in its dormancy phase by seeing if any buds are present. A general rule of thumb for this first spray of apple and pear trees is when their leaves are the size of the nail on your pinky finger. Apple and pear trees then need to be sprayed once again just before the trees are about to bloom.
For this spraying however, a regular fruit tree spray can be used. You will be able to tell that they are just about to bloom because they will just start to have turned pink.
The third spraying of apple and pear trees should be with a fire blight spray and it should be done while the fruit is in full bloom. This will keep the fruit from being affected by things such as wilt rot, fire blight, stem rot, leaf rot, and crown gall. Then when the petals begin to fall, the trees can once again be sprayed with a fruit tree spray. This should then be continued every ten to fourteen days until two weeks before harvest.
Spraying peach, plum, nectarine, apricot, and cherry trees have a spraying schedule that is much like that of apple and pear trees. These trees also need to be sprayed while they are dormant although they use a lime sulphur spray rather than an oil spray.
Once the tips of the blooms are pink but have not yet opened, these trees should then be sprayed with a fruit tree spray. Once the trees then come into full bloom, they should then be sprayed with a caftan spray to prevent brown rot, a disease which is especially prevalent in these types of trees. Once the petals have begun to fall these trees can then be sprayed again with fruit tree spray and this should be continued also until two weeks before harvest.
Although grapes technically grow on vines rather than trees, these too need to be sprayed with fruit tree spray. Grape vines also need to sprayed with lime sulphur while they are in the dormancy phase. Then just before the grapes bloom they need to be sprayed with fruit tree spray.
You can tell when grape vines are in a pre-bloom because they will have half an inch of green growth. This needs to be done every seven days to prevent disease and pests. Once the grape vines are in full bloom they should also be sprayed with a caftan spray in order to keep black rot at bay. Once the grape vines are in full bloom, they should then be sprayed with fruit tree spray once again, also to prevent black rot. Just like the other types of fruit trees, grape vines then need to be sprayed with fruit tree spray every ten to fourteen days until two weeks before harvest.
Fruit trees do need a long schedule of spraying in order to keep them healthy and thriving. By following that schedule for whichever type of fruit tree you have, you’ll be able to enjoy the many, many fruits of your labor with big, beautiful, and healthy fruit!
