Why sweet cherries fail to set fruit
Self-incompatibility, an unsuitable polleniser, bad weather at bloom, too few bees, frost and wrong planting distances, the six reasons a cherry orchard produces nothing.
Archive
September 2017
The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata
It attacks half-ripe and ripe fruit, which is then lost. In northern Greece it does not strike with the same intensity every year, and the reason lies in how it overwinters. Host range, the life cycle, the number of generations, monitoring with traps and what the traps can and cannot tell, dispersal distance, and the three control tools.
Iron deficiency in fruit trees: bicarbonate, chelates and what actually works
Lime-induced chlorosis is not a shortage of iron in the soil. Total iron in a chlorotic leaf is equal to or higher than in a green one; the calcareous soil and the irrigation water simply stop the tree using it. The real culprit is bicarbonate, the six conditions that bring the problem on, the chelate forms and their pH limits, corrected rates, and what a foliar spray can and cannot do.
Capnodis tenebrionis, the flat-headed root borer of stone fruit
The flat-headed root borer kills apparently healthy trees, with the damage done below ground. Biology, a degree-day model for timing the intervention, why drip irrigation needs adjusting, and what the experimental data show: control of the adults comes from combinations of modes of action and application, not from a single active substance.
Pests and diseases of kiwifruit (upd. 03/09/2026)
Copper resistance documented in all 22 canker strains from Pella, a vine decline caused by Phytopythium on waterlogged soil rather than Phytophthora, botrytis decided at flowering five months before it shows, and stink bug damage visible only when the fruit is cut. With a field differential-diagnosis table and a monitoring calendar.