Wormy Italian Plums! Arborist recommendations?

[Myr-myr]

A friend of mine in Rainier Valley says she had only wormy plums last year and almost no apples. She’d like to find an arborist to diagnose and treat these problems organically. Referrals would be much appreciated.

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[DBP]

Is your friend trying to get both apples and plums off the same tree? I see an obvious problem there.

The best thing you can do to protect any plant, organically speaking, is to simply to keep it healthy. A healthy tree will always do better at discouraging pests than a struggling one.

♦ Fruit trees love sun. If your Italian Prune is being shaded out, prune back the branches of other trees that are shading it, if you can. Prune back any older branches that are not producing fruit at all. (Those branches are not getting enough sun.)

♦ Dress the base of the tree with plenty of light mulch in the spring, and water it regularly throughout the growing season. Make sure there is plenty of light ground cover (grass or shallow-rooting flowers) outside of the drip ring, so the tree’s extended root network is in cool, moist soil.

♦ Look for and remove any other stressors that might be compromising the tree’s ability to protect itself.

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[DBP]

Apples are more complicated.

For them, do all of the above AND make sure you cull the excess fruit after the young apples “set.” Wherever there’s a cluster of three fruits, pinch off at least one. (Pinching off two is even better, as long as you’re left with enough fruit at the end.)

Finally, you can put little nylon footies over the fruit. This will keep out most of the coddling moths and apple maggots, but it’s a somewhat tedious solution. It’s organic, though.

I can tell you more if you’re interested.

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[Myr-myr]

Always interested in what you have to say, DBP, fruity or otherwise! Thanks. I’ll pass on your sage, or rather plum advice. Her north forty could definitely use some cutting back.

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[DBP]

Buy some small-size nylon try-on footies in bulk on the Internet. You can get these for around $8 or $9 for a box of 144, if you buy several boxes. I can give your friend a sample.

Optional: Soak the footies in a solution of kaolin clay. I can provide you with some of this, as it’s a hassle to buy in small quantities, and I already have some.

After the first “set,” when the fruit is starting to develop, but before the bugs come to lay their eggs, slip a footie over each fruit and twist it around the base of the stem. For a dwarf or semi-dwarf tree, this will take a few hours.

If you use just the footies without the kaolin soak, you’ll get upwards of 80% bug-free fruit. With the clay, it’s close to 100%. Plus it feels great.

* * * * * * * *

Note for purists: Footies are a synthetic, oil-based product. However, they do biodegrade completely in a few years.

Note for people with untreated ADHD: Move along. This is not your kind of activity.

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[Myr-myr]

DBP, thanks so much for the offer. I read your posts to my friend and she would definitely like me to get a sample for her.

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[helihu]

We had wormy plums one year. I suspected the culptrit was a fly whose eggs overwinter in the detritus under the tree. We cleaned up all leaves and fruit really well and let the top layer of soil dry before watering and mulching with clean compost. The next year, no worms. And then the next year we let the chickens do the cleanup, with equally good results. It could all be a coincidence.

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[Myr-myr]

Thanks, Helihu. I shared your helpful information with my friend. She is confident that the detritus contributed greatly to the problem.

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