This year has been really bad for insects/disease

[treedimensional]

I have been getting calls all season about all sorts of problems... mites, scale, rust, fireblight....
Anyone else dealing with this? Or is it just the midAtlantic?

[kaylie]

I was out to dinner with a group of women earlier and someone mentioned that the mild winter didn't kill the bugs the way a typical winter would and that's why there are so many. I noticed the other day that the mosquitoes are terrible.

[TEM325]

My poppies were ravaged by something.....so sad. They were about to bloom and then one day, I went outside and they were drooping over and all blackened.....sad.

[winofairy]

My dahlia leaves are being eaten as well as my poppies.

[2curlydogs]

This isn't gardening but our vet said that this is one of the worst years she's remembered for fleas and ticks because of the warmer winter and early spring.

So I would expect this would be the case for other bugs as well.

[treedimensional]

Another neighbor just stopped me and described limbs dying on his apple tree. And all over the campus where he works. It's fireblight. EVERYWHERE. I have never seen fireblight this bad. Yesterday, I saw it on a FIG tree! I have never seen fireblight on a fig.

[Deleted]

Hm, no extra fireblight on the west coast. But we never have a real winter, so we haven't missed it this year either. I have terrible leaf curl on my peach, but that's every year. What do you think about copper sprays? I try to get by without spraying my trees with anything except Surround clay for coddling moths, but I'm tempted to try copper for the curl. Picking up the leaves from year to year hasn't helped. I've read conflicting things about copper's safety (fine, just don't use too much vs. it's terrible!).

[treedimensional]

juno, I suppose that would depend on what specific pathogen caused the leaf curl. And I have read the same thing about copper. On a lot of diseases, it is of very limited benefit; and it definitely has an environmental impact.
I'd probably need to be sure about what I was treating, and I'd want to be sure that copper was the best available treatment.
It is maddening that in most cases I diagnose, the best treatment is not even available (for homeowners to purchase, or for ME either because it is only sold in bulk quantities).

[Deleted]

Thanks. I thought there was a single fungus that caused peach leaf curl. I didn't realize it could be more than one cause. I haven't heard of any other treatment for peach leaf curl besides copper. We have had an arborist come out to do some pruning previously on our maples, maybe I'll have them look at it this year instead of DIYing it. If it makes a difference, it's a dwarf tree in a container, so maybe that's less of an impact, if it is the right treatment?

[treedimensional]

Agk, my fault... I missed the PEACH part when I read this.
Definitely easier to control on a potted dwarf peach.
Pruning Maples is a f/t job. Try to find a Certified Arborist with chemical application experience. In my state, you need a separate license & insurance. Are you in So. Cal? That state is swarming with Arborists.

[Deleted]

NorCal, but we do have a lot of arborists available. It was a certified arborist taking care of the Japanese maple (and the shape is soooo much better this year). I'll check about the chemical application experience if we decide to go the chemical route. Thanks for letting me post-jack!