Need help fixing my fruit trees they have rust, leaf miner + more

[Islander1]

Hi,
I am new to growing fruit trees in pots, most of them I have had around 3 years. They have all been growing lovely until this year. I have noticed that rust has appeared on the leaves and loads of what looks like leaves miner. I have tried spraying them quite a few times with a strong spray from the hose and did some research and come across neem oil. I have diluted it a little more then recommend in a spray bottle and sprayed all the leaves. Rather then fix the problem it has made it worse. Alot of the leaves have started to fall over time and the leaf minor and rust are still there.

One of my fig trees dropped all of its leaves, so I moved it into a more shadey spot and now new leaves have started to grow, but all the other trees are not growing new leaves and slowly dropping the ones they have.

Some of the fruit trees I have are.
Apple, pear, cherries, figs.

(Fingers crossed I don't lose them)

[nickdub]

My guess would be that the compost dried out in the hot weather - if trees get stressed by lack of water, then very often you get other problems as well.

[Islander1]

Thank you for your replay.

I watered the trees every other day in the hot weather but some times more if needed. The trees have a lot of leaf miner on them how can I stop this?

Is there anything I can do to help my trees recover? They had problems but still looked good till I used neem oil on them. A lot of people recommend neem oil online with some good results.

[nickdub]

You could try a foliar feed with something like liquid seaweed fertilizer - if you can get the trees growing strongly again its likely they will shake off these other problems.

[goosander]

Having tried most of the various things to get rid of pests mainly greenfly I was advised to spray with soapy water. It worked better than any of the other things tried. Might be of some help to your self.
Bob.

[Islander1]

Thank you all for your advice I will look in my local garden centre for seaweed fertiliser. I have been spraying my trees with a strong spray from the hose but it has not done anything I can see. I will try using soap in the water this time and see how we get on. Fingers crossed one of these start working

[fishpond]

Hi,
I am new to growing fruit trees in pots, most of them I have had around 3 years. They have all been growing lovely until this year. I have noticed that rust has appeared on the leaves and loads of what looks like leaves miner. I have tried spraying them quite a few times with a strong spray from the hose and did some research and come across neem oil. I have diluted it a little more then recommend in a spray bottle and sprayed all the leaves. Rather then fix the problem it has made it worse. Alot of the leaves have started to fall over time and the leaf minor and rust are still there.

One of my fig trees dropped all of its leaves, so I moved it into a more shadey spot and now new leaves have started to grow, but all the other trees are not growing new leaves and slowly dropping the ones they have.

Some of the fruit trees I have are.
Apple, pear, cherries, figs.

(Fingers crossed I don't lose them)

Fig tree dropping leaves, doesn't need shade, it always needs sun(no wind), but what it does need Is food and water, especially in a pot.
As far as I aware, there is no chemical cure for leaf miner, because as the name suggests, the caterpillar is encased within the leaf and is therefore very difficult to get to.
Neem oil is good for certain pests that migrate to the buds for winter (pear tree mite), as it then suffocates them, but by spaying it on the leaves now is suffocating the outside of the leaves, which will possibly not do the tree any good at all, so best to use in the winter.
To reduce the amount of leaf miner for next year, good hygiene needs to be practiced by picking up all fallen leaves and burning them.
Rust is likely stress caused, by too much sun, not enough water/food.
Really not very much you can do now except pick up & burn all fallen leaves & fruit when you can
Feed and water.
Prune at the correct time.
Prepare for a good harvest next year.

[Islander1]

Thank you all for your advice:

The way the trees looked after I used neem oil last time is making me a little hesitant to use it again. I went in the garden yesterday and picked up any fallen leaves I could find and remove any leaves off the trees with leaf miner. I Sprayed the few remaining leaves with a soapy water mix.

Last year I fertilised all my tress regularly but this year with been so busy I didn't get to do it quite as often as I would of liked.

The tress that seem most affected are my Apple and Cherry tress.

[Islander1]

Update:

Update:
After removing any damaged leaves  & cleaning all the fallen leaves around the pots. I have noted some new growth on all of my tress. I have got back to regular fertilising all of my fruit tress so far everything is improving.

After a close inspection I noted some figs have started to grow on one of my fig trees there is around 10 on there.

As it's getting later on in the year would it be best to remove and wait till next year?

[Lardman]

Update:
After a close inspection I noted some figs have started to grow on one of my fig trees there is around 10 on there.

Come and have a word with mine would you ! 3 trees - 1 Fig !

[nickdub]

figs looking good - I may have mis-remembered this, but I think you are supposed to take the small fruit off before winter, so that new ones get more chance to form next year.

[Islander1]

Come and have a word with mine would you ! 3 trees - 1 Fig !

My first fig tree I got last year & I only got 2 figs in the first year. We are now in to the second year and it looks like there is about 10 growing.

This year I got my second fig tree and nothing has grown in the first year maybe I will get some next year.

As it's getting later on in the year would it be best to remove all the figs and wait till next year.

[skogar]

fig removal

I think you are supposed to remove the larger ones but leave any really tiny ones.

[devonuk]

My first fig tree I got last year & I only got 2 figs in the first year. We are now in to the second year and it looks like there is about 10 growing.

This year I got my second fig tree and nothing has grown in the first year maybe I will get some next year.

As it's getting later on in the year would it be best to remove all the figs and wait till next year.

If you haven't already done this I would wait and see. Plenty of ripening weather to come! I have a green fig (unknown var) fruiting now in the greenhouse, whereas the brown turkey are still quite small but I am confident they'll come good

As for leaving the tiny fruits on over the winter - the theory is they leap into action in spring and give you a early breba crop; my own experience growing in pots in greenhouses over a number of years is that they die and fall off in spring, and the only crop I get is from new growth in May or thereabouts. Others may of course have had different and better experiences with the breba crop.