Spraying peach trees?

[Cindy Henson]

My peach trees are in full, glorious bloom. Does anyone here spray their trees? We never have and we never get any peaches that are not wormy.

Thanks,
CindyH

[Lori]

We never spray but every couple of seasons we have a harvest that is not wormy. A chill winter helps kill the things in the soil that hatch and eat the peaches. One year we planted fennel around the fruit trees. They were so pungent, I think they confused the fruit flies that lay in the peaches. This year I am trialling exclusion bags. I make long roomy bags out of fabric interfacing. Its that stuff that you put inside collars to make them stand stiffer. (the non-iron on kind). I make them big enough to pull over the peach tree branches and I secure with a peg at the end. I'm hoping this will help. I have used individual exclusion bags made out of interfacing or mosquito netting on mangoes, apples, papaya and so forth so hoping for the best on this.

[Cindy Henson]

Very interesting, Lori. Let me know how the exclusion bags work out. Fennel grows well here, too. It would be easy to plant.

I am free ranging chickens in the orchard now hoping to stop the cycle. We got a late freeze again this year which eliminated the fruit for the second year in a row. That may help some, too.

I am planning to put some bee hives in, too. So I surely don't want to use any poisons.
CindyH