PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH SOME SPRAYING COMPOUNDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2467, 26 June 1901, Page 10

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH SOME SPRAYING COMPOUNDS.

By S. I. Fitch, Government PomologUt, South Island.

A Paper Read before the New Zealand Horticulturists' and Fruit Growers' Association's Conference at Dunedin, June, 1901. LIME, SULPHUR, AND SALT WASH. I purpose briefly to give an • account of my experience with two of the spraying compounds recommended in Leaflet No. 10, hoping thereby to induce grower*, who have not yet resorted to spraying, to no longer delay this absolutely necessary work if their aim is, as it should be, to grow fruit of the greatest excellence, and to keep their trees in a clean and healthy state. Some years since the oyster shell scale was beginning seriously to injure my apple, pear, and plum trees, and how to deal effectually, expeditiously, and cheaply with this pest became a serious consideration. It simply meant a cheap remedy, or giving up attempting to grow these frtlit trees profitably. Probably like many others in the same predicament I tried various so-called remedies with more or less success. None, however, were satisfactory, the ingredients either being too costly or the expenditure of labour and time in applying them too great. By some favourite chance I came across the formula for the lime, salt, and sulphur mixture, and as it seemed a cheap remedy I was determined to try it. The result was most satisfactory — far beyond my expectations. My trees made good growth, and the fruit was cleaner from the trees sprayed thin it had been for years. Since then I have learned by experience the beat time to apply the wash, and have now no hesitation in saying that if it is properly ma/le (that is to say, thoroughly boiled), applied as hot, and thin as possible and all parts of the tree covered, that scale can be eradicated from an orchard, or so reduced that it does no perceptible damage. l find that the best time to apply the wash is just as £}ie sap begins to rise in the spring. I have applied it when the apple buds were so far advanced that the pink colour of the blossom was showing, and although the buds were considerably scorched, the blossom expanded and the fruit set well. However, I would not advise spraying so lata as this, unless the grower was prepared to run the risk of somewhat injuring his orop. Stone fruits should be sprayed earlier in the spring, for I find if the buds are far advanced injury is done by the hot- spray. i have been told by some grower?, that annual sprayings with this wash injures the bark of the trees. This assertion ia diametrically opposed to my experience, for I find that after several year 9* spraying, the bark on my trees is clean, bright, and healthy, and the trees make vigorous growth and fruit well. I may add that several large and reliable growers, who have also used this wash for several years, have experienced the came beneficial ie3ults as myself. Not only does this wash destroy scale but it cleanses the tree of all vegetable parasites, and is a check on red spider and woolly aphis, although by no means a remedy for these latter. Gooseberry and currant bushes greatly benefit by being sprayed with this wash. I have also had excellent results in preventing the curl on peach trees by a winter diseasing of this mixture. Strange to say, it does not seem to have the same beneficial effects as a preventative of shothole fungus. I must admit, however, that this wash ia rather troublesome to make — that is to say, it requires time and attention to boil it thoroughly. It is also disagreeable to apply, great cave being necessary to keep it out of the eye?, as a. small speck of it causes sharp pain for some minutes. Being a very coiosive mixture it soon burns into the fingers, the skin being softened by the hot wash, causing very painful sores, therefore care i 3 necessary in handling it. I find the cheapest and simplest way to protect the hands is to have on. a pair of gloves or mittens made of strong calico, which have been dipped in linseed oil and then allowed to become dry. They are pliable and the wash does not soak through them in the same way as it does through leather gloves. As a further precaution it is as well to grease or oil the hand?. I find this wash so thoroughly effectual as a scale-destroyer that it does away with the necessity for using any of the summer washes. I maintain it is more satisfactory to spray when the trees are in a dormant state if equally good results can be obtain.e(l_ We

have more time to do the work in, and we can do it more thoroughly, there being no foliage to intercept the spray, therefore every inch of the bark can be co\ered with the wash. BORDEAUX MIXTURE. Another and possibly more serious trouble to the fruitgrower m pome districts aie the various parasitic fungi which attack our fruit trees, rendering their fruit almost worthless for commercial or household purposes and gradually destroying the vitality of the trees Ihemsehe*. Fortunately these destructive fungi can be satisfactorily fought by the timely use of bluestone and lime (Bordeaux Mixture). I am convinced that many fruitgrowers are quite unaware of the serious loss they annually suffer from these fungi. Many attribute the loss of their pear crop to frost when in reality the young fruit has been destroyed by black spot (Fusicladium pyrii). The young fruit of many tender varieties, winter nelis, for instance, turns black and falls off, at the Fame time or a few days after the petals drop, which is attributed to frost. I was of the same opinion myself until I saw the same result without any frost to account for it. I then examined the young fruit and found this fungus present. The following season I sprayed my pear trees with the 60-gallon strength of Bordeaux Mixture just before the blossom opened. The result was wonderful — varieties that had never set with me before sufficiently to produce a crop set freely. I have continued this treatment now for seveial years with equally good results. Even this season, which owing to the cold, damp weather when the pears were in blossom, was unfavourable to their setting, my winter nelis and other varieties set ■well, and matured an excellent crop of clear fruit, whilst similar varieties in a neighbour's- garden (which have never been sprayed) although white with blossom produced only a few scabby pear 3. To obtain the most satisfactory results with the pear in my garden, I find it advisable to spray twice with the Bordeaux Mixture. First, after, the winter pruning with the 22-gallon strength, and again immedately before the blossom opens with the 60-gallon strength. If from any unavoidable cause one spraying only can be done, the 60-gallon formula immediately before the blossom is open is the more beneficial. I may add here that this season I used 41b of bluestone and 81b of lime to 60 gallons of water with excellent results, so much so that I intend using this strength for the future. In damper districts and on cold soils more sprayings are necessary. I am now simply giving results obtained in my garden at Dallington. Fortunately I am little troubled with apple scab, finding one spraying after the petals drop sufficient to keep my trees clean. I was at one time seriously troubled wjth peach curl and ehothole fungus, but since resorting to the Bordeaux Mixture, and the lime, sulphur, and salt wash I have been almost if not entirely free from curl and to a leaser degree of shothole fungus as well. For some years I have sprayed my peaches in the winter with lime, sulphur, and salt, and again when the buds begin to swell with the 60-gallon formula Bordeaux Mixture (41b bluestone and 81b lime). For the future I intend substituting the 22-gallon formula Bordeaux Mixture as a winter wash for my peaches instead of lime, sulphur, an<i saft. -hoping thereby to get better results with the shothole fungus. I have bad excellent results in combating the plum rust by following the — treatment just described for the peach. In short I have proved to my own satisfaction that scale and the various parasitic fungi can be economically kept under control if we spray thoroughly and at the right tinve. I attribute some of the good results I have obtained from spraying to the system of pruning adopted, which is to keep the trees well open in the centre, with the branches sufficiently far apart to admit of free circulation of the air and the penetration of the sun's rays all through the tree. Every leaf and twig of trees thus pruned can be covered with the wash when spraying. Then, again, by clean culthation and the use of suitable fertilisers, when necessary, I keep my trees in a healthy, vigorous state ; they are thus enabled to benefit to the utmost from any mechanical means employed to assist them to resist the various blights and pests. Before concluding I should like to cay a word to small growers, this is to say, owners of small gardens who have a dozen or two trees only, it is not necessary to go to the expense of a spray pump; work can be done with a garden syringe, provided you have one of the right sort, which is one with a nozzle throwing a single jet. By pressing the finger on the nozzle when using the eyringe the spray- can be regulated by the pressure as desired. Of course this is slower and more wasteful of the wash than would be the case with a proper spray pump. StilL I have proved the results most satisfactory, and as I only recommend it to small growers, the waste of time and material would not be serious. It renders the excuse no longer feasible, "I did not spray because I could not afford a pump."