Summer disease update

Several extended wetting periods at warm temperatures in the past 10 days strongly favored summer disease development: June 14-15, 22 hr wetting at 80-70° with 0.50 in. of rain; June 17-18, 19 hr wetting at 71° with 0.32 in. of rain; June 19-20, 15 hr wetting at 72°with 0.06 in. of rain; June 20-21, 12 hr wetting at 75° with 0.73 in. of rain. Note that all of these were above 70°, indicative of bitter rot and Glomerella leaf spot activity.

For the purpose of predicting the development of the sooty blotch and flyspeck (SBFS) fungal complex, we record accumulated wetting hours from rainfall or dew, starting 10 days after petal fall. We are tracking this as we have for the past 21 years using a hygrothermograph located at 952 ft. elevation. The start of wetting hour accumulation was from May 14. At this elevation we reached the 250 total accumulated wetting hour (ACW) action threshold June 13. As of the morning of June 24, ACW at the 952 elevation was 288. We also have electronic recorders at 909 ft and 983 ft elevations. At 909 ft ACW was more rapid with the 250-hr threshold reached June 10 and total ACW at 368 hr.  At 983 ft ACW was slower with the 250-hr threshold not reached until June 21; total ACW at 983 ft was 256 as of June 24 hr. 

For the central Virginia areas, represented by three weather stations at different elevations at Tyro in Nelson County, we started accumulation May 13.  A sensor placed at at 941 ft elevation had already greatly passed the 250-hr ACW threshold June 3 for a total of 335 hr by June 24. By June 24, the ones at higher elevations, 1465 ft and 1165 ft, had not yet reached the 250-hr threshold with only 175 and 183 wetting hours, respectively.