Sorry,your message seems confusing.I was told by a guy with a 5 year degree in fruitculture and horticulture that "dormant spray" is used to kill insects and bugs that lodge themselves in the trees. I should be used during the winter.It should be used before the bud-swelling. Most dormant sprays have a mineral oil base and kill by exposing the exterior body of insects and bugs to direct contact to the oil.Most bugs breathe thru the skin.Mineral oil will close the tiny orifices they breathe thru and kill them.In order to kill fungi, like the one that causes "curl leaf" in peaches and nectarines other type of mixtures must be used.Bordeax mix can be used to control most types of fungi, including the one that causes "curl leaf". You can mix Bordeux Mix yourself.You will need copper sulfate in powder form or crystal form, hydrated lime and water.Use the ratio: 10lbs copper sulfate,10lbs hydrated lime,100gallons of water. If you have only a few trees,just adjust the amounts, but keep the same ratio.You can buy these products in a country store or one that supplies agricultural stuff.I got mine out of state and thru the ebay.You can apply 2 to 3 times at regular intervals before bud-swelling. There is a large spectrum of products pre-mixed and sold in regular stores like OSH,Homedepot,Lowes,etc..etc.They sell most of the time in concentrated form. Make sure to follow directions in diluting.You shoud use a true sprayer for trees.They sell them in OSH,Homedepot,Lowes,etc....Never use water sprayer used to spray fertilizer.I prefer to use Bordeax mix because I know it works.It was invented over 100 years in France to combact the American fungus that destroyed Vineyards.Since then has been used in the Old Continent in vineyards and orchards to kill all kinds of fungi.Many of the mixtures sold here in the states are ineffective and expensive.Good luck next time.Jim of bugs

"I'm surprised they recommended amending the soil. And who recommended a hole that size? Three ft wide by 18 inch deep? You could bury someone in a hole that big." Hah, maybe somebody with experience burying dead bodies?? Seriously, Drew, amending a planting hole IS the "old way". The current line of thinking is NOT to amend the soil. Do NOT till the soil. This can create air pockets which are death to feeder roots. Plus, rototilling damages the fragile soil biosphere, and all the beneficial organisms that are responsible for aiding in nutrient uptake for your tree roots. In fact, recent research has found that tree roots actually do better in compacted soils. The current line of thinking is to follow Mother Nature's advice - Dig a hole large enough to contain the tree root ball, making sure it is not planted any deeper than it was at the growing grounds (if you look at the trunk carefully, you can see where the old soil line was). Back fill with native soil. Water in well and VERY carefully remove any air pockets. Do not stomp down the ground, but carefully make sure it is back filled well. Top with compost, then mulch, making sure the mulch is not up against the trunk (to discourage fungal infections from getting into the bark). ptlvnv, I, too, have caliche soil here and there, between my nearly all DG. Very thin soils here, too, in N. San Diego county, Calif. Less sun plus other variables may cause your trees to break bud a little later. I would not worry about it, stop comparing your area to another area, and continue to water your new trees, and be patient :-) If you've done a gentle scratch test to see if you still have green cambium under the bark, you're fine. Once you have some leafing out, you can apply a little fertilizer mixed into some compost, and top dress your trees. Water in well. Patty S.

I bought a bare root Asian pear and a peach/nectarine that have been in the ground for about 3 weeks now. Both seemed to be starting to flower when they got here, but the peach sort of stopped. The pear is flowering right now and leaves are starting to look like they will come out. Just yesterday on the peach on one of the bottom branches, one leaf popped out. I think there is hope.

Yeh, they must be very tough trees to have survived all they encountered since first being planted. Hopefully we do not have another drought once the trees go dormant this winter, or even worse have another late freeze next Spring. Not being able to predict such potential future events really limits my hope for success. With all the suddenly occuring, extreme weather events that have recently happened in so many places, It sure seems like we have arrived at a period of time when reason and logical thinking no longer even comes close to providing reliable, high levels of confidence. At least this seems to be what's making me so uncertain. What then is left? It will take a miracle, and for that we need to see a productive and eternally better power that will turn around and stop all such problematic causing events. Humm; on the otherhand, does mankind ever really escape the consequences from his prevailing, unwise or, otherwise, misguided practices? Isn't that escape the thing that so many different people around the globe seem to be needing now? Guess it's best I stop now, since, such landscaping issues I've been pondering seems to have led me off topic.