Summer Orchard Tour - Pest Edition

In this video we will tour Haystack Mountain Orchard in Wyoming and discuss some of the common pest that are present and how to manage them.
First we will discuss deer and how fencing them can keep them from eating the leaves and buds lower in the tree.
Next, we will discuss gophers and how trapping them is the only way to control them.
Third, we will discuss grass hopper and how poultry can be employed to eat the insects.
Blister mites is another pest that plagues the leaves of apples and pears. This pest is managed by early spring and late fall treatments of neem oil copper. This treatment will also help with fungal diseases that over winter in the buds and reinoculate the leaves in the spring.
Caterpillars are also a common pest that can be controlled with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)
Pear leaf slugs, a kind of wasp larva will eat the epidermis of sour cherry leaves, but they don't affect fruit and have very little affect on the overall health of the tree.
When using organic methods you will heave a healthy ecosystem where things like snakes, birds and beneficial insects will thrive and help control pests in your orchard.
Honey bees are also safe in an organic orchard where they can help with pollination and give a fringe benefit of honey.