Pest and Disease Management at Silver Creek Nursery
If some kind of pest or disease is afflicting your tree, check out our guide to common pests and diseases to identify the issue. Along with identification tips, we also include natural ways to deal with the problem. We mainly only cover pests and diseases that we have observed in our various areas, so please keep in mind you may experience something not on our list in your particular area.
Identifying and Managing Pests and Diseases
And in the case of preventative measures; as they say, 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure': Holistic Spray Recipe
Do you sell the Holistic Spray?
We do not sell the Holistic Spray, as it must be mixed and sprayed immediately, but we do sell the following components:
- Cold-pressed raw fish hydrolysate
- Liquid kelp
- Unsulfured blackstrap molasses
- Effective microbes
The rest of the ingredients can be found at the following sources:
- Neem oil - Black Swallow Living Soils
- Mild biodegradable dish soap - available at most health food stores
The Ontario government has a more in-depth and comprehensive list of fruit tree pests and diseases along with how to deal with them HERE which we would also recommend checking out if you are still unsure what the issue is.
Susan Poizner also has a helpful IPM course that can be found HERE.
Common environmental factors such as too much sun and too much or too little water can have the following symptoms:
- Too much water: yellowing leaves, small leaves, root rot, poor quality fruit that ripens early
- Too little water: wilting and yellowing leaves, fruit ripens and/or drops early, in conjunction with high heat edges of leaves will turn brown or entire leaf may brown and drop off tree
- Sunscald: irregular reddish-brown sunken patches on fruit surface, can be alleviated with proper watering, nutrients, and adding shade cover
If nothing else seems to explain what is wrong with your tree, the likely culprit could be some kind of nutrient deficiency. Based on what is deficient, nutrient deficiencies can have a wide array of symptoms like browning or yellowing leaves, leaves growing unusually, and various problems with the fruit like dark sunken spots, cracking, and brown patches.
If you believe your tree is suffering from a nutrient deficiency, we would recommend getting soil test and/or a plant tissue test to see what the problem may be. Most towns/cities should have an agricultural lab where you can get these tests done or you can mail them to a lab. We get ours done at AgriAnalysis in Stratford for about $10 each and get the following results back.
As you can see, we have some things to work on; as does just about every soil as it's constantly changing! Soil tests are a great first piece of the puzzle in helping to improve nutrients in your soil, crops, and food. If you want to learn more about soil, soil tests, and amending your soil accordingly, we recommend THIS COURSE from Orchard People.