Raising fruit can be pretty complicated business, but most of us would like to keep things as simple as possible. Here are some steps that can be taken to reduce and simplify the pest situation which do not require spraying.

The following steps will enable you to produce fruit for home use in normal years. Most fruit will be blemished and useful only for preserves, juice, or sauce. A small percentage will be suitable for fresh eating and storage. All the steps mentioned below will help reduce pest pressure in sprayed plantings as well.

First, if you are planting new trees, choose your varieties for disease resistance. For instance, apple scab is the most common apple disease, and many resistant varieties are available. "Tolerant" means that they can get scab, but damage will be minor in a normal season. The other apple diseases also usually cause only minor damage in most years--especially on well-pruned trees in a breezy location. Call Cooperative Extension for more information on fire blight, cedar apple rust, black rot, sooty blotch, fly speck, etc.

***Note that to produce a high percentage of near-perfect fruit, the "complicated approach" will be necessary: learning to identify specific pests and pest thresholds, then applying the proper controls, including spraying. Since sprays generally kill orchard beneficial (pest-reducing) insects, additional pests may then be present besides those mentioned here.
For established apple trees, if you don't want to spray for scab, I would advise cutting down or topworking very scab-susceptible varieties such as McIntosh, Cortland, Jersey Mac, and Mutsu. Many other varieties such as Baldwin, Northern Spy, Macoun, etc. are moderately susceptible to scab, and are ok to grow without spray if some damage is tolerable.

Disease resistant trees of other fruits are also available. Firelight-resistant pears include Harrow Delight, Magness, and Moonglow, among others. Many pear varieties are resistant to pear scab. Many peach varieties are resistant or tolerant to bacterial spot; tolerance to brown rot varies among stone fruit varieties, but few if any are truly resistant. Check variety descriptions closely.

Second, prune trees yearly to allow good air passage through them. Burn or otherwise dispose of all prunings to help prevent disease spread.

Third, remove untended alternate host trees within at least 100-200 yards of your planting if possible. (Consult with neighbors first!) Pests will reproduce on these species: wild fruit trees, crabapples, shadbush, chokecherries, and hawthorns. They provide a "reservoir" for tree fruit pests. Removing such plants will prevent pests from moving into your planting from these unmanaged hosts.

Fourth, on small trees, hand-thin all fruit within reach by three weeks after petal fall. Leave only the best single fruit for each 6"-8" along the branch. Cherries needn't be thinned.

Fifth, pick up all harvest drops and windfalls and destroy by using (apple butter, pasteurized cider, etc), feeding to animals, or hauling away. Cider pomace may be composted. Raking up fruit tree leaves and removing them to the compost pile helps as well.

These five steps will reduce pressure from most fruit pests from "severe" to "moderate" or "light" in most situations. Insect and disease pressure will be heavier in humid valleys, and less on breezy hills.

The next level of fruit pest management is to identify specific problems for specific solutions. New York State IPM Tree Fruit Insect and ID sheets are available from your Cooperative Extension office. The insect pests of greatest concern in central New York are Plum Curculio, Codling Moth, Apple Maggot, Borers, Pear Psylla, and Cherry Fruit Fly. Stone fruit (peach, nectarine, plum, cherry, apricot) have their major disease problems as well. These include brown rot, leaf curl, and black knot.

Following are some non-spray practices that help with these pests:

Plum Curculio (all fruit)--run chickens or guinea hens under the trees from petal fall to July 15. Feed them corn meal under the trees. They will eat many of the "curcs." Do not apply any sprays to the trees that are accessible to the chickens!

Or, mow the grass very short in late June-early July and rake the small fallen "June drop" fruit into the sun or take them away. This will kill the developing larvae within the fallen fruit. Plum curculio oviposition injuries look like half-moons on the young fruit. They can reduce yields and make the fruit gnarly and misshapen.

Codling Moth (apples, pears)-I have heard of the following "home remedy":
In May, hang open gallon milk jugs in your trees with the following concoction: 1 cup molasses plus some yeast in 1 quart water. This is said to attract and drown some of the moths, and some apple maggots as well. Pour out and renew in July.

Wrap 6- inch cardboard strips around the tree on July 1; remove, burn, and replace Aug 1. Remove & burn again in October. These serve as a place for the caterpillar stage to make their cocoons. (Oddly enough, fruits ripen a bit earlier with codling moth damage. If you don't mind cutting out the bad parts, 90% of the fruit is quite edible. In fact, the best Paulared I ever ate had a codling moth worm in it....)

Apple Maggot (apples)--be sure to pick up all harvest drops right away. Late, hard, "keeper" varieties are more resistant. On July 1, put red ball sticky traps in your trees, 4 per standard, 2 per semi-dwarf, or one per dwarf. Apple maggot worms make a mess of the fruit, so you really want to avoid this pest. Deer may help by eating fallen fruit from wild trees in the area, thus reducing apple maggot pressure. Otherwise, such trees within 200 yards of your apples will be major sources of this pest.

Borers (all fruit)--Several species. Chickens will help against these, too. Wrap window screen around the bottom 24 inches of trunk in the spring as a barrier. Tie at top, and cover with soil at bottom. Water your trees during dry spells, as drought stress seems to make them more subject to borer attack. Keep weeds down around the trunk, and be sure to remove plastic rabbit guards during the growing season. Inspect your trees in September, when the new larvae are near the bark surface, and destroy larvea with a knife or wire. Young trees may be killed by borers.

Pear Psylla (pears)--no non-spray controls that I am aware of. Pear psylla may be controlled by well-timed dormant oil, summer oil or soap sprays, which are relatively non-toxic. They damage the tree by feeding on its sap, and secrete "honeydew" which blackens the fruit.

Cherry Fruit Fly (cherries)--chickens again. Pick and process or destroy all fruit to reduce pressure. These are related to apple maggot and cause wormy cherries.

Brown rot (stone fruit)--remove and destroy any "mummy" fruit that remains on the trees after harvest; remove and properly compost all ripening fruit with brown rot.

Leaf curl (peaches, nectarines)--The varieties Clayton, Q 1-8, Five Star Curlless, Indian Blood Free, and others are reported to be resistant. Otherwise if the disease shows up one year, spray will be necessary for control in subsequent years.

Black knot (plums)--Remove wild chokecherries or plums, remove and burn all cankers as soon as you notice them.

A hedgerow near the orchard encourages insect-eating birds, plus it may harbor beneficial insects. Putting suet out in winter attracts woodpeckers, which eat codling moth larvae. Put out bird houses for swallows.

Consider adding mulberries, hardy kiwis, paw paws, persimmons, and other uncommon, relatively pest-free fruit species to your planting.

For more information, consult Cornell Cooperative Extension's Eco Gardening Fact Sheets--#12, "Growing Stone Fruits in New York," and #15, "Homegrown Apples in New York."

***This publication contains references to "home remedies." These remedies are not endorsements by Cornell University of any product or procedure. They are not recommendations for use either express or implied. Neither Cornell University, nor its employees or agents, are responsible for any injury or damage to person or property arising out of the use of this information.

no-spray fruit rev 5/01