...now so as to make them happy later?  1peach and 4 Apple have survived, they're all 3-4 years old.  Some nice budding and flowering so far.  Last year we got cedar rust on some of the apples, killing 2 of them.

What should I be spraying with now to keep them healthy through the year?

You should have put an oil and lime sulfur on them before they pushed too much but it's too late for that now.

I can try to remember that for next year, though.  What does that do for them?

Is there anything I can spray to prevent cedar rust?

I'm not an expert on fruit trees but I have been reading up on their care since I have about 15 or so on the property plus a couple of pear trees.  I am an expert at being too late for certain things.  Like reading up on proper pruning and seeing I should have done it in the winter when the tree is dormant and well before the bud out.  It's mostly a disease spreading issue, cut in the winter when there are less bugs, fungus, etc that can attack the cuts.  

Most of the sprays have good labels.  (by law!)    Spray stuff before they bud out.  This also prevents killing bees needlessly.    The stuff I used last year I missed the pre bud out spray and waited until the buds to fall and started the regimen then.  I think I sprayed 3 or 4 times during the growing season.   Many products get washed off with the rain.

The huge thing about spraying before they bud out is to also spray the bark of the trunk.  A lot of the pests live there and are waiting until it warms up.  I used a Bonide brand product.  It has good and bad reviews.  Some complained it didn't work.  I can say it worked fair but not perfect.  It was better than the year before with no spraying FWIW.

I'm all ears for a better product.

IMO, you can't prevent cedar apple rust except by planting cultivars that are resistant.  Even then, if you're surrounded by cedars your trees can be under serious pressure.  Cutting down the trees that host the disease is a drastic, but sure fix. I've lost a few apple trees to CAR.

Last year I started spraying about every 10 days with Bonide orchard spray.  That got my apple trees through, but I'm considering cutting down more cedars.

late winter -  prune while dormant, spray with dormant oil

Very early spring -  fertilize

Immediately after petal fall (blooming done): spray.  

Fruit set -  thin fruit to one every six inches.  You'll get less fruit number wise,but bigger fruit

Summer - continue to spray, spray spray.  Most guys aren't going to spray at separate times for mites, scabs, fungi, insects.  Use a four in one spray.

Fall -  pick fruit.  clean up crappy fruit at base of tree and get rid of it so its less attractive to bugs.

Do not fertilize summer.  It encourages green fresh growth too late in the year, doesn't harden off, and winter kills.  

Commercial operations spray very frequently, often weekly if weather has been wet.  Use mowing or roundup to control weeds/grasses.

Dormant oils are not  pesticide per se.  Rather, it simply coats and smothers insect eggs before the bastards hatch.  Lime sulphur spray is thought to 'encapsulate' some spores and other microorganisms if I remember correctly (could be wrong).  Used on raspberries too.  But use it when leaves are budding and you damage plants'

Google Cornell Fruit tree care.   Cornell has some good guides as do most state's cooperative ag colleges.   Sometimes it goes over my head with some tech writing but most have coop extension outreach guides that are well written.

Looking up your own area's cooperative extension is probably best for the most prevalent local problems and successful methods of treatment.  ny conditions and Indiana might have some differences due to regional conditions etc.

I just read up on pruning;

winter time or darned early spring.   cut the root suckers at the base of the tree, trim out any branches that cross and rub (infection point)  cut off undesired vertical growth.  

I had three trees that were tiny ones planted by the previous owner die last year.  I think one was dead when I bought the place and finally got around to pulling them.  Not sure if it was infection or just shitty location the previous owner planted them right over the top of stone ledge leaving them shit for soil.

+1 on the local Extension Office.

Copper Sulfate is good for funguses and moss parasites.  Dilute per label

My grandfather took a half bar of Ivory soap, put a copper wire through it and hung it up in the topmost branches of his fruit trees.  The soap would slowly dissolve down the trunk and appeared to prevent insects and some moss/funguses from growing on the bark.



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Thanks guys.  What are the four things a 4-in-1 spray does?  Insecticide, anti fungal, ...?

Any examples you'd care to share?

I tried cutting the globs out of the cedars.
Definitely not effective.
I think any 3 in one spray, applied heavily throughout
spring is the best bet.

The rusts come from fungus and you would have to remove cedar trees from miles away to stop the migration of the spores. I start spraying before any budding with Immunox fungicide, it has no other pesticides etc. I use that every 2 weeks until after all my fruit trees quit blooming, then I change over to the Bonide fruit tree spray which does have pesticide etc. This year is pretty warm & wet so I'm mixing the two for an application or two until it starts drying-out a little for summer. The Immunox seems to be a little better than the fungicide that's in the Bonide spray for rust on my apples & pears.