North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Doreen Howard" <doreenh@ticon.net>]

Ward Barnes wrote:
> I applied my first spray (neem oil) late this afternoon.  Due to equipment
problems and weather I am about 3 weeks late with my spray program.  I hope
that I am not too late to stop the brown rot in the peaches.  Any
suggestions/ideas that anyone has on that problem would be greatly
appreciated.

I first discovered neem's power to defeat fungal diseases in peaches while
in Texas, which was Zone 9b.  My spray program consisted of two
applications--one before blossom break and the other at petal drop.  I went
from getting no peaches on two trees to hundreds of fruits on both trees and
absolutely NO disease.

Neem is hard on spray equipment, for sure.  I ended up using plastic
canisters and nozzles.  You have to clean neem out meticulously.  I also
found that adding Dawn dish soap (3 to 5 drops, depending on canister size)
to plain water and agitating the solution helped to clean.  I pumped the
soapy water through the hose and nozzle for a minute or two.  Then I ran
clear water through the system to rise.
Doreen Howard
Wisconsin Zone 4B, where the trees are still dormant.