Summer disease activity

At our AREC in Winchester we recorded an extended wetting event: Jun 9-10, with 30 hr of wetting at 63° with 0.62 in. rain. This wetting favored development of secondary apple scab, early summer disease activity on apples, peach scab, cherry leaf spot and brown rot on ripening cherries. 

Other areas of Virginia generally had more rainfall and longer wetting in the past week with these examples: Rappahannock County (Gadino Cellars) 30 hr wet at 63° with 1.84 in. rain; Red Hill (Jun 7-11, 67 hr wet at 62-70° with 3.5 in. rain); Lynchburg (Jun 7-11, 53 hr wet at 63° with 2.35 in. rain); Roanoke (Jun 6-10, 63 hr wet at 68° with 4.39 in. rain); Floyd (Jun 6-11, 90 hr wet at 63° with 3.25 in. rain); Danville (Jun 6-9, 55 hr wet at 70° with 2.47 in. rain). Heavy amounts of rainfall and lengthy wetting periods at warm temperatures are favorable for Glomerella leaf spot and bitter rot and other fruit rots as well as sooty blotch and flyspeck.

For purposes 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. This year we chose May 2 as our petal fall date for Winchester, so the start of wetting hour accumulation was from May 12. As of Jun 11, accumulated 147 wetting hours (ACW) toward the 250 wetting hour threshold for specific treatment against the SBFS fungal complex at our AREC NEWA station, 932 ft elevation. (Last week I had noted that at a lower elevation, 909 ft, we had already accumulated 331 hr ACW, but that figure was distorted because the wetness sensor had come loose from its stand and dropped into the grass where it remained wet abnormally long). 

Most other areas of Virginia have accumulated more wetting hours than Winchester, based on approximate petal fall dates and increased length of wetting in these areas: Rappahannock County (Gadino Cellars) 199 hr; Red Hill 472 hr; Lynchburg, 319 hr; Roanoke, 172 hr; Floyd 220 hr; Danville, 364 hr. Note that the values shown in bold font have passed the 250 wetting hour threshold. This means that the SBFS fungi are now present on unprotected fruit, and would develop symptoms if samples were taken and incubated under moist/humid conditions. Specific protection against SBFS and the rots is recommended at this time.

Peach brown rot: The 3-week period leading up to harvest for individual peach varieties and other stone fruits is a critical time for protection from brown rot. Weather conditions, especially rainfall, will affect how much rot appears on varieties as they ripen. During this period, step up the program to include fungicides specifically active against brown rot. Include Captan with those classes of chemistry that are at risk for development of resistance and rotate chemical classes in the final applications. Application interval should be about 3 weeks and 1 week to harvest for ‘normal’ conditions, but might need to be shortened to offset frequent, heavy rainfall.