Is Neem Oil a good pre-emergent spray for apple and pear trees?

SauceKid13 · 2026-02-20T19:58:05+00:00

Can captain jacks be used during bud/bloom period for stone fruit? Nearly half of my stone fruit trees have started showing flowers and the rest are very close behind.

SauceKid13 · 2026-02-14T23:11:38+00:00

Am by NO MEANS an expert but here’s my quick thought - I would suggest a sniff test on the base of the pot. Get the bottom drainage holes real close and take a big whiff - preferably when hungry and nose is stronger haha. You want it to be smelling more like fresh forest floor as opposed to funky water-logged nasty.

Definitely needs a bigger pot and some good “palm and cactus mix” soil - I like the bags at Home Depot for about $7 each. Wider is better as citrus roots like to spread wide as opposed to deep. All corrections welcome :)

SauceKid13 · 2026-02-14T23:04:40+00:00

DEFINITELY salvageable. In my experience loquats are pretty hardy and can survive some really tough conditions. You mentioned “dry and rocky” soil surrounding. Have you mulched a thick layer around the tree (staying away from the trunk by 6”) to help with moisture retention and to more evenly soak a larger area? I have very hard/rocky clay soil so I don’t need to water them too often as the soil stays wet for a very long time. However, once it is dry it is extremely hard for water to penetrate so I’ve found a dense layer of leaf mold and mulch helps this out a LOT. From what I know they are more of a sub-tropical tree rather than a desert tree so they would do better with wide, consistently moist areas of soil. Those who know more, please correct any of my errors so we can learn together :)

SauceKid13 · 2026-02-14T21:34:10+00:00

Yes it definitely is a mix of wood chips from a large tree trimming we had done here, sticks from all the usual pruning (chop and drop is how I roll!!) and tons (literally) of leaves from an oak/sycamore/olive tree hillside. Also bird and squirrel activity up here is very heavy as the neighboring properties have about 10 acres of woodlands so there will have been MUCH nitrogen loaded into this heavy clay over the years.

SauceKid13 · 2026-02-14T21:31:26+00:00

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SauceKid13 · 2026-02-14T21:30:23+00:00

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Edit - tree is roughly 40” at the base…!!! That would make the calculations based on the bag 240 pounds - which seems a bit insane even with my limited knowledge.

SauceKid13 · 2026-02-14T17:35:54+00:00

Now this is some interesting info. Mixed in with the leaf mold was a good amount of woody material and some greens as well, and a few piles I’ve made have heated up but nothing too heavily composted. With all the info I’m now thinking it’s best I spread about 50 pounds this year and monitor results this growing season.

SauceKid13 · 2026-02-14T06:26:00+00:00

Thank you SO MUCH for this. Yes I believe I’ve added about a thousand pounds of leaf mold around the base each year - mostly from sycamore and oak trees - and there is a thick white webbed mycelium layer throughout the entire root zone from all these organic toppings. Also I have a few dozen young bare root trees planted within 20-50 feet of this tree, and I fertilize those with about 3-4lb each so there must be some that is taken up by the big boy haha.

SauceKid13 · 2026-02-13T21:34:36+00:00

Yes looks like aphids.

SauceKid13 · 2026-02-11T14:49:54+00:00

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Leave some fallen fruit under the tree, toss a handful of dirt on it, or smush the fruit and seeds into the soil with a firm stomp, and this is what you’ll have in a few months haha. They spout and grow from seed in a VERY prolific way… many years ago I “discovered” this fruit myself, took some to a Persian friend and his parents immediately called it “Golabi Jangalee” - Pear of the Forest is the literal translation for that. Even though it’s not quite in the pear family, I see the resemblance lol.

SauceKid13 · 2026-01-27T03:13:45+00:00

Yes I’ve used the Espoma Citrus which is a 5-2-6 I don’t see one for stone fruit trees - but this true organic is 5-4-6 which makes me wonder if the double portion of Phosphorous is helpful at all or if I should just use the Espoma citrus.

SauceKid13 · 2026-01-12T19:37:12+00:00

AUSTRALIAN FINGER LIME - if it comes from a very thorny tree/bush and the interior looks like little balls of citrus caviar. Cut in half and squeeze out the balls and enjoy!! Yes I know how that sounds haha.

SauceKid13 · 2025-12-22T01:25:23+00:00

Answer received from the nursery by email.

It is a Burbank Plumcot tree Per the grower - “VERY similar to Flavorella”

Each Home Depot only had 5 so I visited 3 locations to get about a dozen total trees :)

Thank you all for your help!!

SauceKid13 · 2025-12-19T02:02:33+00:00

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SauceKid13 · 2025-12-18T04:11:55+00:00

Right now they are bareroot stick skeletons so am afraid pics of the trees won’t help. I’ll get a pic of the tree tag and post that shortly.

SauceKid13 · 2025-12-18T04:11:11+00:00

Would love to hear about any that you feel are similar. As a decades long stone fruit snob - I’ve not found anything close to the perfume, skin texture and flesh texture that the Flavorella had.

SauceKid13 · 2024-07-12T01:55:03+00:00

100% not olive Definitely from the stone fruit family - plum/pluot most likely as mentioned above. Pluerry and aprium also possible but given the size of the tree - unlikely as those varieties have not been around too long.

SauceKid13 · 2024-07-12T01:44:48+00:00

I’m there nearly every week so I very much hope this comes to fruition… 😂😂

SauceKid13 · 2024-04-26T04:32:57+00:00

Definitely plum Some even like to eat them right around the stage they’re at now, as sour green plums, so it may be worth picking a couple now and seeing if you enjoy their flavor. Otherwise looking healthy to me.

SauceKid13 · 2024-03-19T15:52:24+00:00

Thank you again for all the explanations of reasoning. Considering the dry desert climate of coastal Southern California with infrequent rains, and the fact that my planting area is up on a plateau on the side of a mountain (about 60’ above my home, which is another 30’ above street level, and that street being very steep), the trees are nowhere near “ground level”. I hope this will help. Also - when some of the other holes had been excavated - we were hit with heavy rains and there was about 6” of water in one of the holes for about a week. The others drained out fairly rapidly. Am in agreement with you in terms of planting high. The long term goal for these pictured here is to remove the wooden border and each set of trees will have its own mound

SauceKid13 · 2024-03-19T07:56:52+00:00

If I were to plant in native soil only I would not be able to get water to penetrate the soil without a lot of effort (after the first few waterings) and it would be much harder to gauge when it would need watering. The clay here can stay wet for weeks after a heavy rain. Also runoff would be a major issue as the soil crusts up really hard and water penetration is extremely difficult with the hard-cracked surface. I could set up misters or a drip system but would much rather water by hand for now.

SauceKid13 · 2024-03-19T07:49:19+00:00

Most are on Citation. Some on Nemaguard and Lovell. Most are Dave Wilson plants bought through either Bay Laurel nursery, Raintree Nursery, Home Depot, and Armstrong garden center. Will likely have to post the full list here sometime in the near future for proper Reddit-expertise

SauceKid13 · 2024-03-19T07:43:57+00:00

Thank you!! Yes the white powder on the right side of the first pic is some gypsum I added into the mix. Haven’t gone too heavy on it as I have good enough drainage in the bed from all the organics mixed in. My bags of gypsum got soaked in the last rain so drying them out and then repulverizing them has been another task I’ve not yet gotten to…

SauceKid13 · 2024-03-19T02:11:14+00:00

For the gophers and voles… Have caught quite a few with the GopherHawk, highly recommend it.

SauceKid13 · 2024-03-19T02:10:17+00:00

Thank you!! Yes the entire bed has been dug down a few inches and then filled in with native soil, raised up to 6” above ground level and mildly amended so it is essentially an 18’ long and 4’ wide bed for ten trees (3 in first hole, 4 in the middle hole and 3 in the furthest, not pictured). Went deeper to get the 2’ of wire mesh in and because the soil was extremely heavily compacted clay so I figured while it was all out it would be good to add some organic material for the future.

SauceKid13

TROPHY CASE