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Flowers, Fruits, and Frass

Spray Schedule for Apple Trees

Originally published by Kelly Allsup on November 11, 2020.

 

Time to Spray  

Active Insect or Disease  

Chemical Recommendations (ONE PER APPLICATION) 

Special Recommendations (& read label instructions) 

Dormant  

Overwintering:  

San Jose Scale 

Euro. Red Mite Eggs 

Aphid Eggs 

Dormant or Horticulture Oil (Superior Oil, Bonide All Seasons Horticultural & Dormant Spray Oil) 

Only use if pests present previous year. 

Temperatures should be above 45 and cannot drop below freezing for 24 hours. 

Green Tip 

 

 

 

Silver Tip 

 

Fire Blight 

  • Copper  

Bitter Rot / Black Rot 

  • Mancozeb (Bonide Mancozeb Flowable with Zinc. NOTE: PHI of 77, so only for early season use) 

Copper if fire blight present in previous two growing seasons.  

Mancozeb for scab, bitter rot, black rot.  

Copper and Mancozeb can be mixed. 

Half-Inch Green

Apple Scab

Apple Scab  

  • Captan (Bonide Captan 50W FOR NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY, Hi-Yield Captan 50W, Fruit Guard, Fruit Tree Spray and Home Orchard Spray FOR NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY) 

  • Myclobutanil (Spectricide Immunox Multi-purpose Fungicide Spray FOR NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY)  

  • Multipurpose Fruit Spray (Some may contain Strobiluren; some scab may have developed a resistence to this chemical) FOR NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY 

  • Mancozeb (Bonide Mancozeb Flowable with Zinc. NOTE: PHI of 77, so only for early season use) 

Allow more than 10 days to spray Captan after Dormant Oil 

Tight Cluster  

Apple Scab
Powdery Mildew 

Apple Scab  

  • See above 

Powdery Mildew  

  • Myclobutanil NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY (Ferti-Lome F-Stop, Spectracide Immunox Multi-Purpose Fungicide) 

  • Potassium bicarbonate NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY (Bi-Carb Old Fashioned Fungicide, Green Cure Fungicide)  

  • Sulfur (Bonide Sulfur Plant Fungicide, Ferti-Lome Dusting Sulfur, Hi-Yield Dusting Wettable Sulfur and Safer Garden Fungicide)  

 

Pink  

Apple Scab
Powdery Mildew
Cedar Apple Rust 

 

SCOUT FOR: 

Rosy Apple Aphid  

Apple Scab 

  • See Above 

Powdery Mildew 

  • See Above 

Cedar Apple Rust 

  • Potassium bicarbonate NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY (Green Cure Fungicide). For light disease/pathogen pressure. 

  • Sulfur (Bonide Sulfur Plant Fungicide, Ferti-Lome Dusting Sulfur, Hi-Yield Dusting Wettable Sulfur and Safer Garden Fungicide)  

  • Mancozeb (Bonide Mancozeb Flowable with Zinc. NOTE: PHI of 77, so only for early season use) 

 

Bloom  
(20-60% Open)  

Apple Scab
Powdery Mildew
Cedar Apple Rust  

 

SCOUT FOR: 

Rosy Apple Aphid
Codling Moth 

Apple Scab 

  • See Above 

Powdery Mildew 

  • See Above 

Cedar Apple Rust 

  • See Above 

Place Codling Moth Traps

Full Bloom 

SCOUT FOR: 

Codling Moth

 

Check Codling Moth traps for first catch (Biofix) 

Petal Fall  
(when last petals are falling)  

Powdery Mildew
Cedar Apple Rust
Bitter Rot
Black Rot  

 

SCOUT FOR: 

Rosy Apple Aphid
Wooly Apple Aphid
San Jose Scale
European Red Mite 

Mites  

  • Bifenthrin NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY (Bonide Eight Insect Control Flower and Vegetable, Ortho Bug-B-Gone Insect Killer for Lawns and Gardens)  

  • Clove Oil 

  • Garlic Extract  

  • Insecticidal Soap (Bayer Advanced Natria Insecticidal Soap, Bonide Insecticidal Soap, Earth-tone Insecticidal Soap, Garden Safe Insecticidal Soap, Ortho Elements Insecticidal Soap, Safer 3 n 1 Garden Spray, Safer Fruit and Vegetable Insect Killer, Safer Insect Killing Soap) 

  • Summer Oil 

Spray foliage, scout and repeat if label requires  

First cover  
(10 Days after petal Fall  

Bitter Rot 
Black Rot 
Codling moth 
Plum Curculio 

Aphid and Scale  

  • Canola oil (Bayer Advanced Natria Multi-Insect Control, Earth-tone Insect Control, Gardens Alive Pyola Insect Spray, Ortho Elementals Garden Insect Killer)  

  • Clove oil  

  • Cottonseed Oil  

  • Imidacloprid (Bayer Advanced Fruit, Citrus and Vegetable Insect Killer NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY, Bonide Annual Tree And Shrub Insect Killer, Ferti-Lome Tree and Shrub Systemic, Hi-Yield Systemic Insect) 

  • Insecticidal Soap (Bayer Advanced Natria Insecticidal Soap, Bonide Insecticidal Soap, Earth-tone Insecticidal Soap, Garden Safe Insecticidal Soap, Ortho Elements Insecticidal Soap, Safer 3 n 1 Garden Spray, Safer Fruit and Vegetable Insect Killer, Safer Insect Killing Soap) 

  • Malathion NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY (Bonide Malathion, Bonide Fruit Tree Spray) 

Codling Moth  

  • Captan (not “with Carbyrl”—label doesn’t allow enough applications. Mix your own Captan + ) 

  • Permethrin (Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Dust for Gardens, Hi-Yield Indoor Outdoor Broad Use Pesticide)  

  • Spinosad (Bonide Captain Jack’s Dead bug Brew, Conserve, Gardens Alive Bulls-Eye Bioinsecticide, Natural Guard Spinosad Landscape and Garden Insecticide) 

 

Second Cover (10 Days after First Cover)  

Bitter Rot
Black Rot
Codling Moth
Apple Maggot
Plum Curculio
Sooty Blotch
Flyspeck 

Apple Maggot and Plum curculio  

  • Captan (not “with Carbyrl”—label doesn’t allow enough applications. Mix your own Captan + ) 

  • Permethrin (Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Dust for Gardens, Hi-Yield Indoor Outdoor Broad Use Pesticide)  

  • Spinosad (Bonide Captain Jack’s Dead bug Brew, Conserve, Gardens Alive Bulls-Eye Bioinsecticide, Natural Guard Spinosad Landscape and Garden Insecticide) 

 

Additional Cover  

Japanese Beetles 

SCOUT FOR: 

Codling Moth (2nd Generation) 

  • Carbaryl  - (Sevin; Bonide Fruit Tree Spray FOR NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY) 

  • Insecticidal Soap - (Bayer Advanced Natria Insecticidal Soap, Bonide Insecticidal Soap, Earth-tone Insecticidal Soap, Garden Safe Insecticidal Soap, Ortho Elements Insecticidal Soap, Safer 3 n 1 Garden Spray, Safer Fruit and Vegetable Insect Killer, Safer Insect Killing Soap) 

  • Malathion - For NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY (Bonide Malathion, Bonide Fruit Tree Spray) 

 

 

NOTES:  

  • No endorsements intended. 

  • If you compare the rate of an insecticide by itself (like carbaryl), then by how much is in orchard spray premixes, you will find the orchard spray is SIGNIFICANTLY less and may not provide sufficient insect control.  Better off tank mixing individual components in many cases. 

  • Know the pH of your water source and how it may change efficacy. 

On Fungicides 

  • To reduce likelihood of resistance, never use one active ingredient for more than two applications in a row.  

On Insecticides 

  • For codling moth, alternate active ingredients 

 

Additional Resources 

Illinois Fruit and Vegetable News: https://ipm.illinois.edu/ifvn/  

Labels for products available in Illinois can be searched online at: https://agr.state.il.us/sharepoint/usaplantsproductsearch.php  
or at: http://www.cdms.net/Label-Database/Advanced-Search