Contents


Early disease management

Last chance to chop leaves

Early season apple sprays

Don't forget the peaches

Jmcextman blog posts

2009 New England Tree Fruit Management Guide available

Mark your calendar


Last chance to chop leaves


To improve scab control, chop your apple leaves now. We’ve spent some time formalizing this idea, and have a Fact Sheet that describes the process:

http://www.umass.edu/fruitadvisor/factsheets/f134.html

We recommend that all growers consider leaf chopping and/or urea applications to reduce scab.

Urea applications are best applied 3 or 4 weeks before bud break, so it’s getting late. But they’ll still be useful, just not as effective. And it might get cold again.

D. Cooley


Early season apple sprays


As usual at this time of year, it’s time to remind people that copper is a good idea. Primarily, a copper spray on apples is targeting fire blight. However, it will also do as much to protect against possible green tip scab infections as an early application of Dithane or Penncozeb. One school of thought suggests that it also gives an early season nutritional boost to developing buds, and may kill ice-nucleating bacteria! We’re not sure about those last two suggestions, but copper won’t hurt unless it’s applied too late, after green tip. We recommend it.

D. Cooley

Don't forget the peaches


There are two peach diseases that should get some attention while trees are in a late dormant stage – peach leaf curl and bacterial spot. Bacterial spot can be treated with a copper, and fortunately, so can leaf curl. So, the most efficient approach for these diseases at this time of year is a relatively dilute copper spray. It is important to get thorough coverage of the tissue, so that the solution will get into the cracks and crevices in the buds and bark tissue, where the fungus that causes leaf curl and the bacteria that cause bacterial spot have overwintered.

While most copper formulations are labeled for both diseases, check to make sure. Use a relatively high rate. For example, C-O-C-S should be applied at 5 lbs./acre, or Kocide 2000 at 7.1 lbs./acre.

If your peaches and nectarines haven’t had a bacterial spot problem, and you aren’t growing susceptible cultivars such as Autumnglo, Babygold 5, Redhaven, or the California sub-acid types, then you could still use copper for leaf curl. Or, you could use one of several other fungicides, including Bravo or other chlorothalonil products, Echo, Ferbam, Thiram or Ziram. Whatever is used, it has to get on before the buds break to be most effective.

D. Cooley

leafcurl
leaf curl on peach
bacspot
bacterial spot on peach

Jmcextman blog posts


FRIDAY, March 20, 2009
Apple IPM: Saving Early Season Scab Sprays

2009 New England Tree Fruit Management Guide available

The 2009 New England Tree Fruit Management Guide is available for purchase here:

http://www.umass.edu/fruitadvisor/2009/2009netfmg.html


Mark your calendar


April 21, 22, 23, 2009: Tree fruit twilight meetings, 5:30 PM, locations TBA

July 15, 2009: Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Association Summer Meeting, Tougas Family Farm, Northboro, MA

December 15-17, 2009: New England Vegetable & Fruit Conference, Manchester, NH


The next Healthy Fruit will be published April 7, 2009. As always, feel free to get in touch with any member of the UMass Fruit Team if you have questions or comments.