Royal Oak Farm Nursery " How to Resources for Apple Tree Care"
Resources for the Home Orchard Grower
In the northern regions of Illinois and in most apple growing regions east of the Rocky Mountains, there are generally five main pests of apple trees. Those five main pests are plum curculio, codling moth, apple maggot, fire blight and apple scab. To learn more about these pests and how to control them, we recommend the "Managing Pests in Home Fruit Plantings" where you will learn about the various pests and how to control them. This publication provides homeowners with the information they need to produce an acceptable amount of quality fruit (apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries). You may also want to download the available pest fact sheets below and start your own home orchard pest management notebook!
- IPM Scouting Guide for Common Problems of Apple
- Apple Scouting Guide to Disease and Insect Pests
- Fruit InjuryTypes in Apples
- Fire Blight Fact Sheet-Purdue
- Fire Blight Fact Sheet-Cornell
- Plum Curculio Fact Sheet
- Codling Moth Fact Sheet
- Apple Scab Fact Sheet
- Cedar Apple Rust Fact Sheet
- Cedar Apple Rust - Cornell Fact Sheet
- Frog Eye Leaf Spot and Black Rot
- Apple Maggot Fact Sheet
- Aphid Fact Sheet
- Sooty Blotch/Fly Speck Fact Sheet
- Managing Pests in Home Fruit Plantings
- Support Systems for Home Orchards
- Residential Insecticide Product Chart
Resources You Can Download
Many home growers enjoy raising their own fruit, but anyone who has attempted to grow fruit in their backyard knows that fruit crops are attacked by a wide variety of insect and disease pests and are prone to environmental damage, especially in the Midwest. For your Home Orchard, we recommend the use of an entirely new approach to managing pests called Biointensive Integrated Pest management (Bio-IPM) to minimize the insect and disease damage to your fruit. Biointensive IPM utilizes a systems approach to pest management based on an understanding of pest ecology and tree physiology. It begins with steps to accurately diagnose the nature and source of pest problems, and then relies on a range of preventive tactics and biological controls to keep pest populations within acceptable limits. The preventative tactics include a combination of ecological, biological, natural, and cultural controls to keep applications of chemical and organic controls to a minimum. The goal is only to spray as a last resort for the control of pest and disease.
For Commercial Growers, here is our annual Spray Protocol for Disease and Insects.
Reference to any specific commercial spray product, process, or service, or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, or certification of any kind by Royal Oak Farm, Inc. People using such products assume responsibility for their use in accordance with current label directions of the manufacturer. Pesticide product labels provide critical information about how to safely and legally handle and use pesticide products. Unlike most other types of product labels, pesticide labels are legally enforceable, and all of them carry the statement: “It is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling.” In other words, the label is the law.
