Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chestnut (Chinese, most American chestnuts
succumbed to the chestnut blight)
40 feet in all
directions
15 feet in all
directions
Filberts
Diseases and Pests
There's no such thing as a free lunch—or even free fruit!
Fruit and nut trees are prone to numerous pest and disease
problems. Thus, they require a regular schedule of sanitation
and spraying to keep them healthy and productive, and they
can pose a challenge to mini-farmers, particularly if they are
committed to raising fruit without synthetic pesticides. This is
more of a problem with fruits than with nuts, but it can be
made manageable through advanced planning and a thorough
understanding of the requirements. Pomme fruits such as
apples and pears share common pests and diseases, as do
stone fruits such as cherries, plums, and peaches. No matter
what fruits you grow or what diseases are prevalent,
meticulous cleanup of debris around the trees and vigilant
pruning of diseased tissues will provide the proverbial “ounce
of prevention.”
The difficulties of raising apples and pears explain the high
concentrations of toxic contaminants in nonorganic varieties.
Therefore you should carefully consider if some other fruit
might be more suitable given the amount of time you will
need to spend if you wish to produce organic apples and
pears. According to the Agricultural Sciences department at
Pennsylvania State University, as many as 6 to 10 pesticide
applications might be required yearly to produce reasonably
appealing apples, though as few as 2 or 3 applications are
feasible with scab-resistant varieties. Spraying is simplified,
