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["Dianne Stephany" <iluvdanc@rochester.rr.com>]

HI

We had a 6 yr old plum (Van; red plum, yellowish sweet flesh) knocked horizontal by wind gusts (30-35 mph) from what was left of Ernesto up here in Rochester, NY (zone 5) a few weeks ago.  From what was written about moving trees,  we decided to trim the 12 ft tree down to about 7 ft (verrry easy since it was laying flat) and propped it back up.  It seems to be doing ok-  the leaves are still green.  Perhaps  the wind gusts came from a different direction than usual?   Another factor that we think adds to the fall was the week of rain on our clay soil- the clay slipped. Tree go boom.

 

We think the west side of our house does not seem to be a good place for fruit trees. We lost a yellow delicious - it was flattened as well, but it broke about 5 inches up from the ground due to 2 borer holes in the trunk.  What can I do for the other trees to protect them against borers?  The Twenty ounce also has 2 holes- do I patch them with something? 

 

I am planning to paint the trunk of the trees with a diluted white latex. I didnt paint them last fall and had curculio beetle damage in the fruit this year.  Year before last I had painted them white about 2 ft up the trunk and had almost no curculio damage... the post on curculios and white trunks fits with my experience as well- for at least one year anyway.   I had painted to limit winter damage, not for the beetles.

 

This year was a verrrry bad year for peach leaf curl disease. I thought I had it under control with Neem and Serenade sprays. The tree leafs looked very good, no evidence of the disease. But it rained for 3 days straight  when we were gone to a wedding and came back to mummified peaches that puffed spores when we picked them off the trees. We lost all but two peaches from that tree-a Coral star. 

 

On a positive note: The Red currants had a bumper crop- twice the yield of last year: 5 plants -40 quarts. They were so laden with berries that we had a limb breakage problem. yummy jelly.  I havent been pruning the currants back, should I?

 

The Simka plum- black, kinda tart and sweet flesh- had a great crop for the first time. We picked fruit 8/27. I put up about 6 gallons of fruit. I am planning to make plum jam when I finally get the time. Hoping that freezing will be fine for the fruit. We had two drawers of plums in the fridge; they kept fine till this week in the fridge. The 8 left are getting a little dried out.

 

The Bosc had fruit for the first time- 16 beautiful pears. When we found two on the ground we picked the rest and they are on a shelf. Hard and green now. Is this about the right time to pick? Local ones are in the stores now.

The Anjou had more fruit but everyone of them was black from Blight.  I didnt spray the pear tree but once early in the year. and.....

 

So- I learned alot this year. Spray Spray Spray even when the trees look good. 

 

Also,  we think we have a mislabled apple tree as well. I ordered a Melrose which ripens August.  This tree has fruit that is still not ripe. Very Red almost wine colored apple, some russetting, open tree growth, slightly squished apple. A few are showing some yellow, but most are a deep wine color. Still green inside, but a crisp crunchy texture so far. I deleted the post with the  apple identification site information. Could somebody please repost it ?

 

thanks

Dianne in Rochester NY, zone 5-- still waiting to pick the unknown apple.