Two steps to a successful spring fruit harvest

This week, Ken Lain, the mountain gardener at Watters Garden Center in Prescott, shares the two steps to a successful spring fruit harvest.

Answer on the go – Readers Digest Condensed version of this article

• Before Halloween, fruit trees should be fed 6-4-4-7 Fruit & Veggie Food and sprayed with horticultural oil. Again in April.
• October is the ideal planting season for the central highlands of Arizona.
• Garden alert! Powdery mildew is spreading dangerously in gardens!
• Powdery mildew looks like powdery white spots covering the leaves.
• Spray the entire plant from top to bottom with “Copper Fungicide”.

A unique opportunity awaits fruit trees in the spring. Berries, grapes, figs and the rest of the summer fruits rejoiced in the monsoon rains with a record harvest. An April frost did not allow this exceptional harvest of local fruit trees. Let me explain.

Fruit trees like apple, pear, peach, plum, apricot and cherry produce abundant fruit every two years. The trees give a lot of fruit one year and rest the next year. That doesn’t mean they don’t bear fruit every year; the harvest is heaviest every other cycle. 2022 is a fruitless season, and your trees have spent the year sending out deep roots with increased top growth. Next spring will bring a HUGE crop of fruit, but you need to prepare your trees.

Here are two easy gardening tasks you should undertake to maximize next year’s fruit harvest, both in size and quantity of fruit. Before Halloween, feed all your fruit and spring flowering trees with Watters 6-4-4-7 fruit and vegetable food. This organic food contains 7% calcium for increased fruit size and deeper flavors. Apply occasionally in March for a bumper crop next spring.

Local fruit trees are deciduous; they lose their leaves in autumn. When the last autumn leaves have fallen from your trees, spray the bare branches with horticultural oil. This fruit-friendly pest killer cleans your tree of insects and disease for insect-free growth next spring. Repeat this spraying in April. This punch will increase next year’s flowers and fruit for a bountiful harvest.

Thursday’s Autumn Equinox, the Sun is exactly above the equator, and day and night are of equal length. It’s the start of the fall planting season, especially for tall shrubs and trees like aspen, maple, spruce and pine, but I would extend the season to other plants for central highlands of Arizona.

October is the ideal planting season for fall mums, snapdragons, pansies and so many other blooming flowers in fall and winter. Fall vegetables are also best planted before Halloween. Fall hardy broccoli, spinach, lettuce, kale and all hardy herbs are planted by the end of October.

Garden alert! Powdery mildew spreads dangerously through vegetable and flower beds, killing plants. This disease spreads quickly, invading entire gardens. Waves of diseased specimens inundate garden staff, enough to sound the alarm to gardeners.

Powdery mildew is one of our most prevalent and recognized plant diseases during the rainy season. Virtually no plant is immune, but some are more susceptible than others. Lilacs, crabapples, phlox, monardas, roses, grapes, squash and cucumbers are likely targets for this powdery pest.

Recognize powdery mildew – Take a good look at the photo of a pumpkin leaf in my garden. Powdery mildew looks like powdery white spots covering foliage and stems. There are several types of powdery mildew fungi, but they all look the same.

Photosynthesis is impaired if enough of the leaf surface is covered. It stresses plants, and severe infections weaken a plant’s health. Infected leaves often drop prematurely. This is a particular problem for edible crops because insufficient photosynthesis diminishes the flavor of the fruit or vegetable. If the buds are infected, they do not open or ripen at all.

Mold is host specific – Powdery mildew fungi are host specific, which means that the different powdery mildew fungi will not infect other plants. Powdery mildew on your lilacs will not spread to your grapes or roses.

cause and effect – Powdery mildew seems to be everywhere. All powdery mildews develop under the same conditions. They overwinter in plant debris and produce spores in the spring carried by wind, birds, insects and splashing water. The growth and spread of powdery mildew is encouraged by dampness, high humidity, poor air circulation and overcrowded plants in the garden. All of these conditions appear in the mountains of Arizona during our monsoon season.

Controls – Above all, choose healthy plants from your garden centre. Healthy plants are less likely to get sick and can fare better once an attack occurs.

Infected Plants – Just a little work repels pesky powdery mildew. Remove and destroy all infected plant parts, especially yellow leaves and those covered with white spores. Spray the entire plant from top to bottom with “Copper Fungicide”. Try to water infected plants at ground level to keep the leaves as dry as possible.

Spray weekly until new, clean, disease-free leaves emerge. At this point, feed your plants and they will take off with new growth. If you’re not sure, consult one of the plant experts here at Watters Garden Center.

Please – Powdery mildew spreads quickly to other plants. If you bring a leaf sample with you, place the samples in a zip-top bag or jar to contain the spores and prevent their spread here at the garden center. Thanks.

Pinterest board set up with local examples of powdery mildew. Hope this helps 🙂 Follow our board for local updates.

Until next week, I’ll be helping local gardeners grow better gardens here at Watters Garden Center.
This article was written by Ken Lain. He can be found throughout the week at Watters Garden Center, 1815 W. Iron Springs Rd in Prescott, or contacted through his website at WattersGardenCenter.com or Top10Vegetables.com.

Get more gardening tips from Watters Garden Center in the Mountain Gardener column on Signals A Z.com.

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