Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Apple Fungicide

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Steve <sdw12986@aol.com>
  • To: jas39a@earthlink.net, North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Apple Fungicide
  • Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:48:58 -0400


So your answer is that my one or 2 sprays early in the season probably did make all the difference. Interesting. That's certainly more convenient than needing to spray through the entire season. When I first used the Manzate, it was really just to use it up. I figured I would need to spray with something else later in the season (something with a shorter pre-harvest time) if I wanted scab free apples. This is good.

Steve

jas39a@earthlink.net wrote:
It's timing that makes the difference. I usually control scab with two
sprays of Ferbam, one at pink bud and the other at petal fall. Fungicides
are designed to attack the fungus when it's at its weakest, or most
vulnerable stage, and that stage is early in its life cycle.

Eddie Earles

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve <sdw12986@aol.com>
Sent: Jul 15, 2008 11:28 PM
To: NAFEx <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [NAFEX] Apple Fungicide

We had a stretch of damp weather and I have quite a bit of scab on my apples this year. I had nice crops of apples the last 2 seasons with absolutely no scab. What was the difference? Maybe it was the weather but maybe not:

Three or four years ago, I bought some Manzate. I actually bought it with my other hobby in mind; I wanted to cure some problems on my orchid plants that I assumed were fungal in nature. That didn't work out as I hoped, so I read the label to see what fruit or garden plants I could use it on. Pome fruits were listed so I used it on my apple trees. It was labeled for use no later than 77 days before harvest. (I couldn't help but wonder how they arrived at that exact number of days.) The last 2 seasons, I did two sprays (I think, ... it may have been only one spray last year) before and/or toward the end of bloom. (My earliest apples probably were ready in slightly less than 77 days after the last spray.)

As I said, my apples were completely clean those 2 years. This year I didn't use the Manzate and, even though I plucked off the worst of them at my last thinning, I'm going to have a lot of blemished apples. This is the only fungicide I have ever used on my apple trees. My question is, is the Manzate so effective that it prevented scab right through the entire season with no more than 2 early sprays, or was it really the weather that made all the difference?

One other thing. I wondered if Manzate was somewhat systemic and that was the reason for the long 77 day requirement before harvest. This site was shown by someone here a month or 2 ago:
http://www.ipm.osu.edu/fruit/03icm31.htm\
The third section down discusses the effects of rain on fungicides. Some are listed as penetrating the leaves and fruit tissues and don't wash off. Manzate is in the group that does wash off in the rain, making me wonder why the 77 day preharvest requirement and making me seriously question if the Manzate was really what saved my apples the last 2 years.

Steve in the Adirondacks (Zone 4 on the map, zone 3 by the thermometer.)
_______________________________________________





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page