Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

I'd like to see how your cherries taste in Florida. How bout shipping a quart or two down here and I'll give you my unbiased opinion! :nanadrink:

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Mee 2. I'm going crazy now watching my MR and RL grow leaves --- and no fruit or flowers and no cherries.

How about it Richard? Ten cents a cherry? lol:ha:

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

A few flowers only, but lack of fruiting may just as likely be non-weather related factors that are responsible and age of graft/roots stock. They come from some sort of cottage industry in georgia that I picked up for $4/plant from a local fleamarket vendor. Next winter I will remove much of shade and I will see what happens. We also do have a lot of borers that will attack peaches and perhaps cherries. They seem to not attack plums and also the native chickasaw plums.
I am wondering if grafting to something else would defeat borers

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Feeding them regularly with a standard array of micronutrients containing (among other things) zinc and copper will increase the trees defenses. Treating them quarterly with a nicotinoid as a soil drench for a couple of years will eliminate the borers. There is an over-the-counter version of Imidacloprid that is rated for fruit trees. Use only as a soil drench to avoid harming bees.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Micro-nutrients and the nicotinoid all sound like very good suggestions. I have read of people recommending ashes and also putting mouth balls in the soil so as to surround the tree's base. Also MALATHION been recommended to me.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Richard's cherry trees are impressively heathy and productive -- the photos don't do them justice. I visited them a couple of a weeks ago. I'd previously given up hope on these two low-chill cherries because I'd read accounts of meager production, but now, if I ever have an open space in my yard, I'd seriously consider them.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

And that is because they over winter in the soil?


And that is because after the borer starts to bore through the stem it will die????

or will it stop the placement of the egg?????

or???????????

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Naphalene (moth balls) is not licensed for outdoor use by consumers for a number of good reasons. Malathion can control insects on fruit and foliage when sprayed directly on them. Cyfluthrin will do the same thing in a more environmentally responsible way. Wood ash can sometimes discourage pests from establishing a home in the soil but is not very effective deleting an existing infestation -- unless you put down enough to kill the plant too.

Because (1) using it in powder or foliar form has been credibly linked to bee colony collapse, and (2) you are trying to kill the existing borers systemically.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

The idea with systemic treatment is that you provide the insecticide to the plant by mixing it in the water you use to water the plant. The plant then takes up the pesticide through the roots and distributes it throughout the plant. When bugs chew on the plant, they get small but lethal doses of the pesticide. The main ingredient in the systemic treatment (Bayer Advanced) that is available at my local nursery is imidacloprid, the same thing that is used in flea treatments for pets, like Advantage.

There is, however, legitimate concern based on good science that even this low-dose, systemic approach will harm bees. Apparently there is enough of the pesticide in the pollen and nectar to cause problems for bumble bees and honey bees.

Here are a few recent articles in the journal Science.

Bumble bees:
Neonicotinoid Pesticide Reduces Bumble Bee Colony Growth and Queen Production

Honey bees:
A Common Pesticide Decreases Foraging Success and Survival in Honey Bees

Summary:
Field Research on Bees Raises Concern About Low-Dose Pesticides

Personally, I'm in a quandary. On the recommendation of my local nursery and our local agriculture extension, I was going to use Bayer Advanced on my citrus to keep them safe from the Asian Citrus Psyllid and the bacteria it carries that causes Citrus Greening (Huanglongbing), which could destroy the California citrus industry. And that product would kill the annoying citrus leaf miners and aphids. But I'm not sure I want to contribute to the problems already facing bees.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

There are other systemics for fruit trees that pose less risks for bees but are not available to consumers.

A further conundrum is that the USDA requires me and every and orchard in southern California to apply Imidacloprid to our citrus trees every 90 days. Interestingly enough, while bee colony collapse does occur in managed hives here, the local bee population is growing.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Well, that's good news that the local bee population is growing, anyway!

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

My thoughts were to apply now since my bloom is over and when I have another bloom it would have levels low enough to not harm the bees.

There are some that believe a combination of things is causing CCD including the super breeding of the honey bee which is much larger than they originally were. Their larger size in some way makes them more suceptable to the V. mite. Another is the actual physical design of the modern hive. Bees kept in Top Bar Hives seem to be healthier. Again this is opinions I have read not experienced. It sounded good enough that I am considering a Top Bar Hive.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

I have thought of getting a bee hive myself, but since I do see native bees as well honey bees about it might not be needed for pollination of my fruit trees.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Systemics do not work that way. You apply them periodically to build up enough concentration in the plant to destroy the borers. The key to getting rid of borers is to wipe out the population in your area.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

I'm sure that has to be the case. I just worry about adding one more challenge to list of things challenging bees these days.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

What percentage are you applying? The Bayer product for trees and shrubs was reduced significantly to allow it to be used on citrus however it can be used only once a year.

That being the case there is probably enough in the pollen and nectar to possibly have an effect on the bees. If it can effect the bees then I wonder about its effect on humans.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

The product I am using is 45.2% Imidachloprid. You'll need a license to buy it -- and some cash, it is $400 for a 1 gallon bottle. The soil-drench application rate for ACP is 0.33 milliliter per cubic foot of soil volume. For example, I recently treated 240 5-gallon pots with a total of about 1.5 fl.oz.

Beer is often used as a pesticide to kill slugs. I've frequently wondered what its effect is on humans: BEER IS A SYNTHETIC PESTICIDE

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

It is supposed to be very insect specific, and that's why it's used to kill fleas on pets without much effect on your pets.

From Wikipedia:
"Because imidacloprid binds much more strongly to insect neuron receptors than to mammal neuron receptors, this insecticide is selectively more toxic to insects than mammals."

Imidacloprid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia