North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Alan Haigh" <alandhaigh@gmail.com>]

I should have mentioned that Williams Pride is quite good for an early D R apple.

 

You probably have heard that in general pears have good insect resistance except for psyla which can be managed with multiple oil aps.

I've harvested perfect Boscs in abandoned orchards and if Seckels avoid scab they can be easy also.  Anjou seems to manufacture scab all by itself.  Korean Giant is probably your best bet for Asian pears and it completely avoids scab and other summer fungus here as do all russetted Asians in my experience. 

 

For stone fruit, brown-rot is most problematic for later ripening varieties in general though some of the antique late peaches are somewhat resistant.  I've noticed this with Elberta and Belle of Georgia but Bell is lousy commercially because it's so soft.  Some of the Har series of peaches like Harcrest also resist B R.  Harcrest is a great peach, so is Elberta though customers don't always like its drab color.

 

The member who recked Methely is dead-on except that it's a sponge for black-knot but that can't even be controlled with synthetics so you'll just have to cut it out best as you can.  The early Jap plums in general are your best shot as plums go though here in SE New York the drier Euros like Stanley and Italion can make it without fungicide.  They're not as good as the rotters though and Italion can sometimes bear light.