Apple scab and rust infection Apr 19-20; fire blight outlook this week

We recorded another apple scab and rust infection period at Winchester Apr 19-20: 13 hr wet at 62° with 1.01 inches of rain. Considering the timing of this infection period while flowers are highly susceptible to quince rust infection, it is prudent to include an SI  fungicide for after-infection control of rusts in the next spray application. Similar wetting and temperature conditions occurred east of the Blue Ridge and southward to Roanoke and beyond. Such conditions were also favorable for infection by peach scab on small fruits which are now vulnerable after the "shuck-split" stage.
Also, we have had 9 days favorable for powdery mildew infection since mildew spores were available Apr 6.

Fire blight outlook for Winchester: Below is a cropped graphic from the Maryblyt 7 program. Apple trees are now near full bloom in the Winchester area. The temperature and rainfall data are current through Sunday evening, April 21. Predicted weather conditions are shown for April 22-26. The components of fire blight risk are indicated in the columns labeled B (blossoms open), H (degree hours for epiphytic bacterial populations), W (wetting by rain or dew), and T (average daily temperature 60 F or above). For infection to be predicted, wetting must occur after the EIP (epiphytic infection potential) reaches 100 or higher, and this must coincide with an average daily temperature of 60°F or more. 

Graphic from Maryblyt 7, April 22, 2019. Click to enlarge.

Based on recorded temperatures and wetting, the risk column shows that infection was possible Apr 19. and risk remained high high for Apr 20, but subsided Apr 21-22. Note that the EIP is near 100 or above for Apr 23-26, so a slight increase in temperature or wetting this week could change the risk factors that are lacking (EIP of 100, average temperature of 60,wetting). As it stands, a special caution is in order for Apr 25 when only wetting is lacking for infection. Because any spray application can serve as the wetting trigger, include streptomycin with any spray applied under such conditions through late bloom. Also, remember to protect young and recently planted trees, which may have flowers but might be considered to be "non-bearing". The BBS column is tracking the appearance of blossom blight symptoms from infection that occurred Apr 19. Symptom appearance is predicted when this value reaches 100.

Below is the graphic from the Cougarblight model as shown on our NEWA site. We selected orchard blight history option as “Fire blight occurred in your neighborhood last year” and first blossom open date as 4/13/2019. Cougarblight shows color-coded risk assessment as “Cougarblight 4-Day DH”. This risk is "caution" for Apr 22 and "high" for Apr 23-26. Note that if we were to select "Fire blight is now active in your neighborhood" as the orchard blight history, "caution" becomes "high" and "high" becomes "extreme".  The difference in EIP level shown for Apr 20 in this graphic compared to the Maryblyt graphic above is related to the temperatures that were entered on Apr 18-19 (not shown in the Cougarblight graphic). 

Graphic from Cougarblight, April 22, 2019. Click to enlarge.

Note that real fire blight risks can change quickly with warmer than predicted temperatures and wetting. In high-risk situations, a protective streptomycin application is recommended ahead of predicted infection.