Outstanding Advice for Successful Fruit Gardening
Are you wondering when to prune your fruit trees? Are bugs bugging your berry patch? Do you need hands-on advice to create a fruitful berry garden and home orchard? It's at your finger tips right here - Stella Otto, horticulturist, teacher, and award winning author shares her years of experience and answers your questions while guiding you on the path to many fruitful harvests!
Timely attention is one of the keys to success in growing fruit. It plays a role in helping growers keep ahead of pests and diseases, so problems remain small rather than becoming overwhelming. It also helps preserve the best in just picked flavor before fruit becomes overripe. Let the reminder list below help make your gardening routine timely, tasty, and bountiful!
May 07, 2012
In many areas of the country, especially the midwest and New England, bloom was several weeks ahead of normal. The cool weather and frosts that followed has caused blossom damage in many tree fruit crops and poor pollination due to lack of bee activity.
Currant blossoms that survived spring frost are already setting fruit.
Check strawberry blossoms for frost damage. Black centers indicate damaged flowers. Yellow centers are healthy and should result in fruit approximately 30 days after bloom.
Due to cool cloudy conditions during fruit tree bloom in some parts of the country, bees were not extremely active. Pollination may be reduced or incomplete. This could lead to a heavy June drop of immature fruit.
Early season pests to be on the lookout for include tarnished plant bug, curculio, leafrollers, green fruit worm, and scale.
Hot humid conditions, especially during bloom, can increase problems with development of fireblight in apples and pears and brown rot in stone fruit. Proper protection is a must to prevent very rapid spread.
Cool, extended wet weather will favor development of diseases such as apple scab and bacterial canker.
Diligently protecting emerging green foliage from fungus diseases early in the season will go a long way to reducing disease pressure and can often reduce the need for spraying later in the season
