North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Mr chris duffy <fruity08559@yahoo.com>]

--- Don Yellman <dyellman@earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> 

> ATTACHMENT part 2 message/rfc822 name=Apple Diseases
> Date: Sat, 18 May 2002 21:17:52 -0400
> From: Don Yellman <dyellman@earthlink.net>
> To: nafex.@lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Apple Diseases
> 
> Jack:
> 
> You are not alone.  Perhaps due to the highly
> abnormal weather, I am 
> seeing fireblight scattered all over on mature apple
> trees that never 
> showed any signs of it before.  Must have something
> to do with that very 
> warm period we had in April, which I thought was
> great for pollination 
> (and it was), but brought other things as well.  I
> would be willing to 
> bet fireblight is what you are seeing, and, since I
> am not set up to 
> administer antibiotics, the only thing I can think
> of to do is snip it 
> off as soon as it appears.  Sometime it is just a
> single, isolated 
> fruiting spur, but more frequently tips of small
> branches.  And I am not 
> even using the bleach-dip method with the pruning
> shears, which would be 
> nearly impossible as I move around the trees on my
> ladder.  I am doing 
> this as I thin the apples, and I try to cut the
> infected branches off 
> well below the evident infection.  I have made
> hundreds, perhaps 
> thousands of cuts on this stuff.  My only hope is
> that weather 
> conditions will change enough to stop it naturally. 
> If not, many of my 
> trees are in trouble.
> 
> And fireblight is not the only thing I am seeing. 
> Also touches of cedar 
> apple rust on the fruit of many varieties.  Often,
> however, the CAR is 
> visible only on one or two fruits in a cluster, and
> those are the first 
> to come off.  I thought I had done with CAR when I
> cut down the 
> neighbor's cedar, but there are apparently others in
> spitting distance 
> and the infection was brought in with the wind and
> rain.  No serious 
> damage visible on the leaves.
> 
> But here's the strange part: no apple scab.  None. 
> Whatever conditions 
> were favorable to development of these diseases were
> not so kind to the 
> scab fungus.
> 
> Plenty of insect pressures, and very poor conditions
> for a regular spray 
> schedule.  Extremely windy, even in the late
> afternoons, and rain just 
> when you don't want it.  In addition to minor damage
> from plum curculio, 
> I am seeing quite a bit of injury from what I
> believe to be the 
> tarnished plant bug, and a lot of what is apparently
> codling moth on 
> very young apples. I didn't ever expect to see that
> so early.  Entry 
> wound is round, with orange frass left on the
> surface.  I am not even 
> completely certain it is codling moth.  I think I am
> running a 
> laboratory for insects and diseases in my orchard so
> far this spring, 
> but fortunately, the fruit set was so heavy that I
> am able to thin off 
> all the damaged fruit and still leave plenty.
> 
> This year I have actually caught plum curculio in
> the very act of 
> penetrating my apples and peaches --- in the
> daytime!  What baldfaced 
> arrogance.  I pushed their little snouts down into
> the fruit and gave 
> them what they wanted.
> 
> Rgds, Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA  
> 
>  Don-
        Always glad to read your letters. You do seem
to be running a lab for disease and pests. Have you 
subcontracted your orchard out to the local university
 for research?
        Anyway your experiences often mirror albeit 
  magnified a thousand times the growing conditions
her in   central   Jersey. With  respect to the early
appearance of codling moth  I found the same.  I also
thought I was mistaking it.  CAR  seemed early- I am
interested to see  what the severity  will be. I am  
betting that  scab  will be absent too.
 Fireblight did put in a rare appearance  also.
 However we got screwed out of the good apple  
pollin.
 as that is when   cold weather hit.   Only the pear 
and plum  benefitted. Oh well now I know more huh?
  Good growing.
                   cj.Duffy    Stockton, Nj  Zone 4,5,6,7

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience
http://launch.yahoo.com