North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Doreen Howard" <gardendiva@charter.net>]

Dennis Norton wrote: 

I know that Ashmeads's Kernel is moderately susceptible to scab, but I'm not sure about Pitsmaston Pineapple.  If you had scab last season and did not remove the overwintering leaves or any mummies from the ground, you will definitely get scab this season.  Have you used any sprays for scab this season?

 

I religiously remove all fallen leaves and debris under the trees.  They sit on 9-foot-wide beds, heavily mulched with shredded cedar bark.  I'm an organic grower and do as little as possible to avoid spraying the fruit.  That's why I bag.  I use dormant oil and lime sulfur at pruning, need seed oil spray at pink bud and again at petal fall.  Other than a clean-up spray of neem seed oil in late autumn, that's all I do.  Despite the scab, the trees look very healthy and produce blemish-free, tasty fruit.  Is there something else I could spray that qualifies as organic?

Doreen Howard