| My apricot tree has these white bugs on the back of the leaves. They look like aphids on rosebushes. How can I get rid of them? My peach tree had clear goo on all the fruit and holes in the leaves. please help |
| Your peach tree may be showing symptoms of either shot hole borer or a disease called cytospora canker. Without seeing the tree and the damage, I can't tell you for certain. Borers damage the wood (trunk, branches) and the wounds drip or ooze sap. Look for borer damage. If you find holes in the trunk or branches, you may be able to treat the tree (check the garden section for products safe to use on fruit trees.) Unfortunately, there is no single control for cytospora canker. Usually a combination of measures is most effective in controlling the spread of cytopsora canker in your fruit trees. The first things to do is carefully remove infected branches which show signs of cytospora damage such as lesions, cankers and orange fungal threads. If you don?t want to lose an entire branch, often cutting out the offending canker from the bark is effective. You will need to then paint the cut areas of apricot tree trunk with a latex paint. Using white paint is double effective because it not only prevents the fruit tree from becoming infected through the pruning wound, but also protects against cold injury and sunburn. If your apricot tree has aphids (double check to make sure they are not whiteflies), you can use insecticidal soap to rid the leaves of these pests. Repeat sprays will be necessary. Best wishes with your fruit trees! |
