Fruit trees and bugs

Pete2 mentioned fruit trees. We inherited cherry and pear trees with our land, and we plan to plant other kinds of fruit. I was wondering how you keep all of the bugs away. We would like to do it organically, but have no idea what to use. What do you do?

Trish

I have seen no successful organic approach ; bugs and fruit trees seem to go hand in hand . I find that birds are more of a problem damaging the fruit , than the bugs . Good Luck !!

Trish, I'm afraid that Chooch is right on the money. It's really hard to be totally organic in a fruit orchard. But, that's not to say it's impossible. So far I haven't had to resort to chemicals for my fruit trees but I'm afraid that my luck may not last forever when the "bad boys" come to visit. Here's a place that sells organic alternatives for orchard diseases and pests:

http://www.gardensalive.com/

Also, if I were you, I'd have a long talk with my county extension agent about the best varieties for your area. There are some varieties that are disease resistant and I would definitely plant those. Here's a link to the TN cooperative extension. They have many publications that you can read online.

http://www.utextension.utk.edu/pubs.htm

Pete2

Thanks Pete2 and Chooch. Not what I wanted to hear, but it is what I figured I would hear. The county extention in our area is very helpful. Dave had talked to someone there several times since we first moved in. Also, thanks for the gardensalive website info. They do have some great stuff that we can't find locally.

Chooch- Dave keeps a gun handy dandy to scare off the birds. I think he'll camp out once the cherries and pears come in!

Trish

we have to spray all the time before they bud, after they bud..bugs arent the bad guys here-its the birds. I net the trees and they still get the cherries! One year we thought we we would finally get to taste the sweet cherries-the squirels got under the netting and ate the cherries right off the seeds-thats what we had left a tree full of pits! I cried! They have even stolen huge transparant apples off the tree! Some days I have to put away the bb gun and get the 410 out! I also carry a pocketfull of firecrackers! ;]
dori

Concerning fruit tree pests: One of the worst around here is the peachtree borer. The adults are moths that look more like wasps, orange and black. They lay their eggs at or near the base of all stone fruits like cherries, peaches, plums and apricot. While the grubs are tunnelling thru your trees, they leave drips of rosin-like sap oozing out. By accident I found they wont bother a tree surrounded by Lemon Balm, growing in a solid mat out to 18" from the trunk. Might be the smell, don't know, but it works!

Thanks for that tip, Ivey. I'll sure give it a try.

Pete2

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Good grief, karma! That's terrible!

I don't know if the coddling moth exists over here but back home I used to put sticky two sided tape and saturate it with glue around the trunk of my apple trees so that the little devils couldn't get up the tree. I think they used to breed in the grass and then the young (larvae?) would climb the trees. But I don't know much about pests in the US yet.