Dormant oil sprays Home orchardists often under value the importance of applying a dormant oil spray to their fruit trees. Dormant oil sprays are typically applied to the point of run off to the branches and trunks of fruit trees to control over wintering adult insects and insect eggs that...

January is not too early to start to plan for a new home orchard or to consider replacements for aging fruit trees in an existing home orchard. There are several different kinds of fruit trees to consider, apple, cherry, peach, pear, and plum. Since we are in the northern portion of Illinois,...

Now that you have cleared off the coffee table and the kitchen counter from the holiday catalogs, the next pile will be gardening solicitations and more catalogs.   Historically, this time of year was when gardeners ordered to get the hard-to-find seeds, perennial plants, and certain...

We winterize everything else, why not the home orchard? Now is the time to prevent problems later by spending some quality time with your fruit trees. Rodent damage to the trunk at the soil line happens when grass is left to grow tall next to the trunk. Remove the grass and weeds using hand...

Recent warming temperatures signals the beginning of the pruning season. Gardeners may need to just help nature shape up a shrub that did not read the rule book on how it should look, or they may begin...

Note: this is the fourth post in a series on fruit trees. Read part one. For fruit growers, nothing may be more disappointing than finding insect and disease damage on our...

Note: this is part three of a series on fruit trees. Read part one. Whether you have an orchard or just a few fruit trees in your...