North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Scott Smith <scott@cs.jhu.edu>]

Richard, there are some lower impact options out there that may (or  
may not) work for you.  I had kept brown rot away for several years by  
spraying copper plus a sticker 3-4 times in the spring, up through  
shuck split on the peaches.  I only did two copper sprays this last  
spring (and nothing later) and I ended up with bad brown rot for the  
first time.  So if you use copper you need lots of coverage.  It  
cannot be sprayed after shuck split due to phytotoxicity.  This coming  
summer I am going to be trying Serenade MAX and Saf-T-Side oil later  
in the season.  There was a study which found both of these moderately  
effective against brown rot.  The Saf-T-Side was more effective than  
Captan in the study.  Sulphur is also somewhat effective but based on  
my limited experience you really need to be diligent on the coverage  
to get efficacy.  If you have lots of pathogen build-up in your  
orchard you may need to use Indar or the like for a season or two just  
to lower the pressure.

I would be interested in hearing what other organic growers are doing  
about brown rot.

Scott