Fruit Tree Care

Many of us get our trees ready and set for the growth season in late winter/ early spring with pruning, weeding, netting, and even reshaping our tree berms. These are necessary steps and will greatly improve the success of your tree but there are some other tasks we can do in the summertime that we are gonna talk about!

In warm weather diseases and infestations increase their activity level and quantity. Your tree can become infested or infected so take a close look at your trees. Inspect them for broken or dead branches. If there are any they should be removed before it spreads through the tree and takes away the tree's energy that could be going to the healthy limbs.

Looking for signs of disease can be intimidating. Where you will want to start is to see if there are any abnormalities in the tree bark, trunk, leaves, branches, buds, flowers, or fruit. Look for holes, wilting, rotting, softness, sap oozing and things of that sort. This will be the main indicator of potential problems. If disease is found then it should be treated as quickly as possible to maximize the chances of being able to eradicate that disease and to keep it from spreading to other trees.

Here is a link to a great website for most common diseases for fruit trees as well as many other garden plants that you can reference:

Both of our Snohomish and Monroe stores offer a wide range of products that are great treatments for potential diseases and some are even certified organic to fit your specific needs!

Once you’ve inspected for disease, the next thing is to inspect for bug damage. Bug damage can be extremely harmful. Most typically these can be detected and deterred prior to the crop, giving you a great solution to handle this problem! Look for physical bugs first. Then look for bug damage which can be seen in the leaves and the bark and the fruit. It’s been found that trees which have pest problems often become diseased as well, so this is a really important step.

If any bugs are located then there are 3 steps you should take:

1. Barricades: Pest barricades prevent bugs from reaching the tree by blocking their path or deterring them. Examples of this would be large copper bands put at the base of the trees which deters bugs, or like netting to prevent access.
2. Sticky Traps: One of the most effective options used is sticky traps which are painted on the trunks. They catch any bugs large or small that attempt to climb the tree.
3. Fruit Tree Spray: Even though spraying gets a bad rap by some circles, as mentioned before the Co-Op carried some brands that have organic or natural options as well as some of the more classic mixtures. This is a great practice that can improve the life and health of a tree.
4. Trimming: Trim your trees back from each other so there are no crossing or cross contamination risks. Using the isolation method like this will mitigate huge problems in the future.

Lastly, don't forget to water your trees! It’s hot and the sun is shining creating photosynthesis perfection, but your trees won’t grow much if they don’t have the water to do it. Most fruit trees need deep watering once a week, but this can change with the type of soil you have as well as the current weather demands. If it's hot and dry, increase your frequency of waterings. If it's cool and rainy, back off that watering schedule a bit.

Another tip is for you to water your trees in the evening. This allows the tree to utilize the most out of the watering.

Here at the Co-Op we do everything we can to make it easy for you to succeed. Stop into our Snohoiimish or Monroe locations and check out our garden rooms. We have netting, tree stakes, herbicides, pesticides, disease & insecticide control sprays, gardening tools, hoses, and so much more. Just stop in and chat with our staff!

We’ll see you at the Co-Op!