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 Pest and Disease Management Fruit thinning FertilizationHealthy and productive fruit trees require regular care throughout the year. A few of the more important tasks are listed here. For more complete guidance on fruit tree care, please visit our section on More Information. In early spring before the new leaves appear, examine the trees carefully for signs of damage from winter cold, snow and ice, diseases, girdling or other damage from animals, and signs of pests or pest damage. Prune your fruit trees. The guides listed below will help you decide how to prune. Normally, we prune fruit trees in late winter or early spring before the buds begin swelling. First remove any diseased or damaged wood. Damaged and diseased wood can be pruned out any time of the year. If the branch is or may be diseased, rinse your pruning shears after every cut in a solution of 20% household bleach in water or 70% ethyl or isopropyl alcohol. Do not compost diseased or pest infected branches. Remove all sprouts arising from the roots and trunk below the graft union. Next, concentrate on building a strong structure that will support the branches and crop. Remove enough wood to maintain an open canopy that allows light to penetrate to the trunk and air to circulate freely through the tree. Most water sprouts come off at this time. Water sprouts are vigorous, vertical shoots that can easily develop into multiple leaders and create a crowded, hard to manage tree. With some crops, pruning can help manage the tree height by removing branches above a desired height. Height management through pruning works well for peaches, nectarines, and apricots. For apples and pears on dwarfing rootstocks, pruning is also valuable for controlling height. Controlling cherry and plum tree height with pruning can be difficult.  topPest and Disease Management - The most important tool in managing pests and diseases in your orchard is regular scouting. At least weekly, closely examine the trunks and branches, flowers, leaves, and fruit for signs of pests or diseases. If you are not sure what a problem is or how to control it, get help from your county Cooperative Extension Office, nursery or garden center. Just as the buds are swelling, but before they open in early spring, you may wish to apply a spray of dormant crop oil. Even better is a mix of dormant oil and sulfur. The oil helps control pests by smothering the overwintering pests and eggs. Beneficial insects and mites that feed on these pests usually overwinter elsewhere and are not harmed by the oil. Various sulfur formulations are available to gardeners for dormant applications are very valuable in helping manage fungal diseases. Your garden center can advise you on suitable products. Always follow label directions and regulations carefully. Some dormant oils and sulfur treatments are approved for organic fruit production. Fruit Thinning - Some trees will produce more fruits than desirable. With too many fruits on a tree, the fruits tend to be undersized and may be scarred or misshapen by overcrowding. Overbearing can also interfere with the formation of next years flower buds on apples, pears, and other spur-forming fruit trees, and can cause the trees to bear heavily one year and produce few fruits the next. For apples, pears, peaches, and nectarines, you can remove or thin some of the developing fruits to produce larger, more attractive fruits at harvest. Apples and pears naturally thin themselves, somewhat, in a process called "June drop". Suddenly hundreds of apparently healthy little fruits drop from the trees. This is a normal process and no cause for alarm. Commercial growers apply chemical sprays to thin their orchards, but hand thinning is best for home gardens. Begin by removing small, weak fruits. Then thin remaining fruits that are tightly clustered to leave one to three inches between fruits. Timing is important. Thin apples within 40 days of full bloom (when 50% or more of the flowers are open). Thin pears within 60 days of full bloom. Thin peaches about 70 days past full bloom. topFertilization - Fruit trees need regular fertilization to remain healthy and productive. How much fertilizer to add depends on the nutrients already available in the soil and the size of the trees. Home gardeners tend to over fertilize their trees, which delays or reduces blossom formation, produces poor yields and fruit quality, and results in vigorous growth of branches and leaves and increased pruning. Large trees, such as apples on seedling rootstocks, require more nutrients than dwarf trees. Commercial fruit growers have laboratories analyze the leaves in mid summer to determine the nutrient status of the tree. For home gardens, start with the amounts in Table 1 below and watch your trees carefully. If a tree that is old enough to bear a crop produces lush shoots and dark green leaves but few blossoms, you are applying too much nitrogen and/or pruning off too much wood. If growth is slow, stunted, or yellowish, add more nitrogen. Apply fertilizers from early spring through the end of June.
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