Mildew weather continues

Idareds and Red Delicious are now at open cluster to early pink stage, and rapid bud development is expected with temperatures reaching the high 70s and 80s the next four days.

Currently there is no rain showing in the 10-day forecast which means that each of these days will be a mildew infection day. With rapid bud development there will be a lot of unprotected tissue exposed, including blossoms for fruit infection and the resulting mildew russet pictured in the post below.

Mildew can have a serious economic impact on  yield and fruit quality of susceptible cultivars and it is generally beneficial to keep a tighter spray schedule regardless of which class of mildew fungicide (SI, strobilurin, sulfur) you choose. If you had a mildew problem last year, this is the time of the year to get on top of it. Note that EBDCs (mancozeb, Polyram), captan, dodine, copper, and AP (Vangard, Scala) fungicides do not add anything for mildew control.