Novice Gardner- with bugs and dead trees

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by KariBrooke, May 26, 2008.

  1. KariBrooke

    KariBrooke Member

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    Location:
    Las Vegas, NV
    I bought a house in Las Vegas, NV mid-summer last year. The property had been vacant for approximately 2.5 years before we bought it and has 1 wild and out of control fig tree in the front yard, and 3 large apricot trees in the back yard. We enjoyed what was left of the bountiful Apricot fruit late last summer.

    This year 2 &1/2 of the Apricot trees appear to be dead. Only 1/2 half of one of the trees bloomed and bore very small fruit. There is a large amount of "sap balls" on the trunk of the one remaining tree, and the fruit was filled with these very very small, thin, long, grey insects. An oil based organic insecticide seemed to have rid the tree of it's problem and we picked all the spoiled fruit off of the tree. We didn't have an unusually cold winter or hot summer here, or expierence any drastic change that I can see would have been worst than not being watered for 2.5 years!

    My questions are:
    1) Does it sound like those bugs (if you have any idea what they are) could have killed my trees, or do you think it was something else? There has been a lot of construction done to this home in the past 9 months.
    2)Is there any hope of them coming back or should I cut them down now? Should I cut them all down?
    3) Any idea what type of bug they were?
    4) Do I need another Apricot to pollinate the existing tree?
    5) What do I do with the 1/2 of the tree that appears dead? Half of the trunk looks reddish with new foliage growing, and the other half is dry, brown, and brittle. Half of the tree branches have new foliage and the other half are dry and brittle.
    6) If I do get another Apricot tree, how close/far away does it need to be planted?

    Thank you!
     
    Last edited: May 27, 2008

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