Pruning Peach Trees

The best time to prune peach trees is the middle of April. Pruning earlier, before bud swell, makes the tree susceptible to damage from the disease cystospora canker. A pruned peach tree is less susceptible to the disease brown rot. Brown rot is that brown fuzzy disease that grows on peach fruit as it ripens.

A peach tree should have 3 or 4 main limbs called scaffolds. The tree should have a bowl shaped appearance when pruning is complete. Prune annually to ensure uniform growth and fruit production. Always use sharp, clean pruners.

First, remove broken or diseased branches. Second, cut out vigorous upright shoots that developed on the inside of the main limbs. This is referred to as open center pruning. Finally, once the 3 or 4 main scaffolds have developed, allow secondary branches to develop off of the main scaffolds. Secondary branches should be spaced about 8” apart. Continue to keep upright shoots from developing on the inside of the scaffold limbs. As the tree matures, head back or cut off the ends of secondary branches to a side shoot so new fruiting wood is encouraged to develop. Remove all pruned wood and decayed fruit from around the tree.

For more information contact your local cooperative extension office. In Lackawanna County call 963-6842 and ask for the Garden Helpline or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu


John Esslinger, Extension Educator
Penn State Cooperative Extension
Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.

Save Your Trees, Your Back and Your Wallet From Mulch Volcanoes!

Spring time is right around the corner so it must be time to start piling on the mulch around our trees … right? Wrong! Mounds of mulch around the trunk encourages rodents and diseases and inhibits oxygen from getting down to the roots (yes, roots need to breathe too!). Now don’t get me wrong, mulch is part of good tree management; just not heaps of mulch. But, you say, professional landscapers do it so it must be beneficial! Sorry, not true. And if your landscaper suggests otherwise, you may want to suggest that they brush up on the topic (show them the website below!) rather than charging you for time and materials to make “mulch volcanoes” that can only harm your trees, not help them.

Tree trunks are meant to be above ground and open to the air, right down to where the trunk flares out at the soil line. What flare, you ask? Well, the root flare is the zone where the tree trunk turns into the root system and the flare should be right at the soil line. If your tree trunk at ground level looks as straight as a telephone pole then the tree is planted too deep. But that’s for another article. Now back to mulching trees.

Proper mulching is good for trees. So, how do we mulch trees properly?

• Keep mulch at least 3-4 inches away from the tree trunk.
• Mulch out to the "drip line" of the tree. The tree (and the grass that you eliminate) will thank you. Must have lawn under your tree? Make the mulched area as large as you can.
• Layer fine-textured mulch no more than 2 inches deep and coarse-textured mulch no more than 4 inches deep.
• Occasionally fluff the mulch layer, especially before putting on new mulch. Remember that the entire mulch layer (old plus new) should be only 2 to 4 inches deep.

For more information on mulching trees and lots of other tree related topics, visit www.patrees.org. Questions? Contact your local cooperative extension office. In Lackawanna County ask for the Garden Help line at 963-6842 or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu.


Terry Schettini, Extension Educator
Penn State Cooperative Extension in Lackawanna County
Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.

Can't Stand Ants!

Even though winter is slow in leaving NEPA, the days are warming up. You may notice some unwelcome guests in and around your kitchen. Ants, like other insects, are cold blooded; so as the temperatures rise, so does their activity.

Ants infesting homes are ‘social’ insects, meaning they live in colonies. Colonies consist of thousands of ‘workers’ and one or more ‘queens’. The queens produce all the eggs in the nest. Eggs hatch into hungry larvae, which in turn become the wingless, worker females. These are the ants we see running around in our houses. The worker ants’ job is to go collect food for the other ants. When ants find a good source of food, they ‘tell’ their sisters in the colony by leaving a chemical trail for them to follow. This is why one or two ants quickly become a swarm.

SO if you can’t stand ants, here are some hints to manage them:

• Follow the ants’ trail to see to the food source and clean it up
• Follow the ants’ trail to see and plug the entry point in your house
• Ants leave a chemical trail so other worker ants can find the food source. Wipe up their path with soap and water or vinegar and water. Without the trail the ants will be lost
• Vacuum any worker ants stranded in the house
• If a chemical is necessary, use only enclosed bait traps. Look for ones containing borax or abamectin. Please read and follow the directions; remember, they are poison. Also do not use a spray to kill the ants. Air and food contamination are very likely.

While this information deals with the small nuisance ants, there are more serious species, such as carpenter ants and even termites. They need more aggressive attention. If you can’t stand ants, please contact the Penn State Master Gardener Helpline at (570) 963-6842 or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu.



Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State Cooperative Extension in Lackawanna County
Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce

Blueberries!

You’ve heard that blueberries are good for you, have you considered growing your own? It is not hard. Some of the varieties that have done well in our area are Patriot, Sunrise, Bluecrop, Bluejay, Chandler and Aurora. Blueberries are easy to grow if you do the proper soil preparation. Blueberries grow in soil with a pH of 4.5 to 5.0. It is advised to get a soil test a year before you plant. Adjust the soil pH a year before you plant. When planting, mix peat moss in with the soil (50/50 mixture) you are filling in around the plant. Place about 3” of mulch around each plant. Replenish the mulch each spring as needed. No fertilizer is needed the first year. Apply fertilizer each May starting the second year. Remove all blossoms the first year and half of the blossoms the second year. This allows the plant to establish itself.

When the plants are around 5 years old you will need to prune out the largest canes. A rule of thumb is to remove one large old cane for every 6 canes the plant contains. If the plant has 12 canes, prune out the two oldest. Prune in March or April.

Be prepared to protect the fruit from birds. Blueberries will turn blue before their flavor is fully developed. Be patient. Let the fruit fully ripen before harvest.

For more information contact your local cooperative extension office. In Lackawanna County call 963-6842 and ask for the Garden Helpline or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu



John Esslinger, Extension Educator
Penn State Cooperative Extension
Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.

Winter-Damaged Trees

Snow and wind from recent winter storms can leave trees with broken limbs. So what do you do now? First ask yourself two questions:

Question 1. Is the tree worth saving? Probably not if most of one side or the top is gone, especially if it is a tree with brittle wood that will be prone to similar problems in the future. If you can see that the natural shape of the tree will remain after pruning, then you may want to try to salvage it. According to Penn State’s forest stewardship program a good way to judge whether a tree will survive storm damage is to look at the upper branches.

• If less than 50 percent of the crown is damaged, the tree has a good chance of survival even though its growth may slow down while it recovers.
• If between 50 percent and 75 percent of the crown is damaged, the tree may survive. However, its wounds may provide entryways later for damaging insects and diseases, especially if large tops or large lower branches break, or if extensive areas of bark tear.
• If more than 75 percent of the crown is damaged, the tree has a low chance of survival.
  

Not sure if the tree is worth saving? Ask a professional (see below).

Question 2. Should you do the repair work yourself or hire a professional? If you can safely reach the limbs from the ground with pruning shears or a pole-lopper then you can do it yourself. Otherwise, you would be advised to seek out a professional. You can look in the phone book or go to http://www.patrees.org/. This web site has lots of great tree related resources as well as a link to find a certified arborist by zip code (select “Finding an Arborist” on the left panel). Make sure the arborist carries proper liability and workmen's compensation insurance before allowing them to start the job. They should be prepared to show you proof upon request.

Questions? Contact your local extension office. In Lackawanna County ask for the Garden Help line at 963-6842 or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu.

Terry Schettini, Extension Educator
Penn State Cooperative Extension in Lackawanna County