A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Apples, Pears and Grapes, Oh My!

Well, our first year in the new house was somewhat discouraging with the fruit production. Lots and lots of apples, but they had black spots on them and they were little. Question on apples is when do I spray them with dormant oil and how do I go about pruning this huge trees for better fruit production. Also, how can you pick them? All my fruit hit the ground and of course, split.

Grapes, lots of leaves. Not one grape cluster. What do I need to do to them this fall so that next spring they give me grapes.

Two pear trees. Pitiful looking things. I think maybe 2 bartlett pears of one and almost no leaves on the other one. When can I prune these and do they get dormant oil too?

As for the garden this year. Somewhat sad. Very bad soil. Fixing that with horse manure and leaves this fall, then blood meal, bone meal and other goodies in the spring.

I WANT MY FRUIT! Please help me find it.

Dawn in Ohio

Hi Morningstar,
I am no expert on these.... but can you tell us what do did for growing them?
Soil, etc....

Helpfull hints I can give you,
The grapes, are ACID LOVING plants...
So, maybe in the fall some chopped up leaves around the base or ground area..
I know another gardener around here *I've never talked to them, but have seen repeated years of this for their grapes*, they mound on fresh sawdust.... *I am not completely sure of this procedure, ****always thought you needed aged sawdust as when it'd decomposing it steals nitrogen away from plants..until it's properly decomposed****But they do put it on in the spring time...maybe I'll have to get my butt over there and talk to them????

Apples, I know there is natural and organic things you can get from Gardens Alive
Get yourself one of their magazines....
They have got some GREAT PICTURES OF DISEASE'S, that can really help you diagnos those stuff..
and they will send you 2 or 3 or 4 extra catalogs' with coupons for like $25.00 for $40.00 orders.....
Same for your pears........

Hope this helps a little!!!
Weezie

We haven't done anything for growing them. This is our first year on this property,so still learning about all the fruits we have.

Refresh my memory, did you plant them this year,
or were they already there on the property when you bought the land????

Did you check out the Garden's Alive???
Very Helpful, especially in pictures for the disease's!!!

Weezie

Everything was here when we moved here last year. I ordered the Oil Away from Gardener's Alive.

What does the soil look like around the trees??

And what sizes are the trees?
New or been there for awhile, can you tell???

What's under the tree, area??
Grass, or is it barren???

And what is your soil like???

Weezie

Soil looks good. I would assume acidity, since all my soil is acidity and the years of apples falling. trees have been there for many years. The three of them stand about up to the middle of the loft of a two story barn. Grass is under the trees. Very full trees with limbs and leaves. Nice apples, just some small then I would like. And I think that the Oil Away will fix most of the bug problem next year. Bees loved the apples this year.

Pears, again, most likely acidity. They have been there for quite a while. About 15 feet high, as a guess. Lots of old branches and limbs with no growth at all. Field grass under.

Grapes, acidity. Lots of leave growth. Had the dusty mold on them this year, but the Oil Away and another product, which I can't remember at the moment, should fix that next year. Bare ground under and grass around grapes. I'm thinking that the grapes need pruned correctly. I'm not sure when that happened last. Thing is, I don't have a clue how to prune them.

Morningstar,
I always remember my grampy out pruning his grapes in the mid~end of winter, before they broke dormancy!!! If you're a zone 5 *6* I'd say around Feb/Mar.????

Do you have any saw mills around your area?
Where you can go get loads of sawdust???
If you can, I'd get a load or two, and age it up over the winter *let it sit out and get all brown* and put it on in the spring....
Right at the base of the plant/drip lines of the stem.. *heck the guy here in town, mounds his way up high, but I've always heard NOT to put something up the stem of plants???* still have to find out about that...

For you apples, if you want bigger ones, I know they do something called selective pruning of sorts, where if you saw 3 flowers in a row, take off two... If there is 10 to a limb, pinch off at least 4~6 flowera, so that way the plant concentrates on a few apples *pears* and makes a larger fruit out of the few on the tree...


The powdery mildew can also be taken care of with baking soda, can't remember the ratio, a tbsp to a gallon of water???
Maybe G~mom or Papito or Bettina or Phil someone can correct my ratio if I didn't get it right!!!

Hope this helps some more!!
Weezie

Apple Scab - could be the black spot you see in your apples. It is caused by a fungus called venturia inaequalis which overwinters on dead apple leaves on the ground. Rake up discard fallen leaves and fruits. Prune the tree to increase air circulation.

Dormant-oil Spraying - is usually done when the tree is in a dormant stage (rest period)that is when the leaves and fruits have fallen to the ground. Oil sprays for winter spraying are heavier and are better able to coat the tree, suffocating insects in their dormant states. Always follow manufacturer's directions printed on the label exactly. Consult your local cooperative extension agent to learn details about winter spraying.

Pruning mature apple tree - the time to prune apple tree is in late winter or very early spring before new growth starts. Remove broken branches, crossing limbs, weak stems and any branches that grow toward the center or grow vertically or downward. Thin out enough new growth to allow light to filter into the canopy when the tree has leafed out.

Thinning fruit. Thinning result in fewer but larger fruits; it should be done before the fruits are half-grown. Thin apples 8 inches apart or one fruit per spur. See Weezie's post.

Pears could be sprayed with oil as well as preventive measure against codling moth. Mature pear tree requires annual pruning which consists mostly thinning. Remove weak, broken and dead branches. Thin out vigorous upright shoots to let the sunlight enter the tree's canopy.

Grapes.

What kind of grape vines (variety) do you have? [Pruning method depends on the grapes' variety]

How old are the grape vines?

The grapes should be pruned when they are in dormant season [and past the danger of frost], depending on location is usually in the winter or in early spring before buds swell. In Ohio, this done in March.

Two of the widely used method of pruning are:
Spur pruning and Cane pruning. Both can be used to train grapes on arbors.

Spur pruning is used for european table grapes and wine varieties.

Cane pruning is used for American varieties, French-American hybrids, muscadine grapes, Olivette Blanche, Rish Baba and Thompson seedless.

Basically, during the first year, you let the vine grow unchecked (don't try to train growth). The more leaves, the better the root development.

Grape vines will produce partial fruiting in 3 years and full fruiting after 4 years.