Do Fruit Trees Need Pesticides? Rethinking Pest Control Naturally | With Matthew Priestley

Do Fruit Trees Need Pesticides? Rethinking Pest Control Naturally | With Matthew Priestley

From Gardening for Wellness & Joy: White Strawberries by Samantha Penman

April 8, 2026 · 46 min · Episode 44

About this episode

The episode discusses whether pesticides are necessary for fruit trees and explores natural pest control methods with guest Matthew Priestley.

Leave a comment! Should we be using pesticides on our fruit trees? And if not… what do we do instead? In this episode of White Strawberries, I’m joined by Matthew Priestley, whose work and thinking around ecological systems challenges and encourages us to rethink how we respond to pests in our orchards🌿 We explore what’s really going on when pests and disease show up, and why reaching for sprays might be missing the bigger picture. From airflow (including opening up a “wind tunnel”) to soil h...

People in this episode

Host: Samantha Penman

Guest: Matthew Priestley

Topics covered

  • pest control
  • fruit trees
  • ecological systems
  • natural solutions
  • orchard management

Keywords

  • pesticides
  • fruit trees
  • pest control
  • natural solutions
  • ecological systems
  • orchards
  • disease management

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