Last week we accumulated an additional 16 wetting hours which brings us to a total of 360 hours, 110 hr past the 250-hour action threshold for development of sooty blotch and flyspeck on unprotected fruit. Total rainfall for the week was 0.22 inches.

Below is a picture of brown rot on Klondike White peach, taken last week. The dieback of shoots indicates high susceptibility of this cultivar, similar to what we have occasionally seen on Redgold nectarine. Klondike White is also very susceptible to bacterial spot. In this case the brown rot infection was probably initiated by hail injury followed by cracking of the fruit with increased growth. At our AREC, brown rot pressure has not been unusually high yet this year but this does not bode well for this local situation, and removal of early infected fruit might be beneficial to prevent spread to later ripening cultivars.