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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] plum curc questions

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  • From: Anton Callaway <marillen@earthlink.net>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] plum curc questions
  • Date: Sun, 9 Aug 2009 13:37:19 -0400 (GMT-04:00)

Alan,

In my opinion, you should tighten your schedule and extend it I've tried
many combinations to control curculio on plums & peaches while minimizing
spray residue. Many of those attempts failed or partially failed. However,
I've gotten excellent control (less than 5% culls) with Imidan & Surround on
plums & this is in the hot & humid Southeast where the curculios have at
least two generations per year. Partially as a consequence of the curculio
control and partially by the inclusion of Immunox fungicide with every other
Imidan spraying, I lost zero fruit to brown rot so far this year. That's not
a typo- I've never lost >no fruit< to brown rot until this year. (We did
have perfect hot & dry ripening weather during the peak of peach & plum
season).

I start at petal fall also, but timed to the plum's blooming time. In NY,
Euro plums may be more synchronous with apple blooming, but here they bloom
earlier than most apples. Then I spray once per week (if it rains) or after
each rain (if the dry spell lasts longer than a week) with Imidan. Every
other spraying gets fungicide.

Imidan has a 14 day till harvest label. However, I stop spraying with Imidan
and fungicide a minimum of 1 month before harvest and switch to Surround- 3
coats initially, then add another coat following each rain. I am looking for
a compatible organic fungicide to go with the Surround, but this year I
haven't needed it. I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has gotten
effective brown rot control in the Eastern U.S. with a Surround-compatible
organic fungicide.

I hope this helps. It's a lot more work than 2-sprays per season, but it has
made a huge difference to my percentage of top-quality plums. Some cultivars
that I typically got no fruit due to curculios &/ or Japanese beetles had
good crops after I adopted this method.

Anton
North Carolina, Piedmont

-----Original Message-----
>From: Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com>
>Sent: Aug 9, 2009 11:35 AM
>To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
>Subject: [NAFEX] plum curc questions
>
>I realize that not a lot of participants to this list attempt growing Euro
>plums in plum curculio territory but maybe someone can pitch in something
>experientially to my question.
>
>I attempt to grow fruit in southeastern NY with a very low spray schedule
>that includes 2 applications of Imidan beginning about when the Jonagold
>apple looses its flowers (petal fall) and finishing 10-14 days later. Many
>seasons, most sites, this works well for all the varieties of fruit I
>manage.
>
>However in my own orchard I am having increasing losses of Euro plums to PC
>every year. For the last couple of weeks many of my Valor and Victory plums
>have been coloring up early and cutting them open reveals flesh beginning to
>rot and in about a third of the damaged fruit single small PC larvae. This
>is the first year where I'm really losing a significant amount of fruit.
>
>My question is, do I need to tighten my schedule or extend it. I never see
>the PC on the fruit and I never find any larvae in J. plums, nectarines,
>apples or anything else I grow. I realize that the apples would likely
>crush the larvae but I would assume that there is another reason that I am
>only having issues with my Euro plums. My hunch is that I need to extend
>the schedule just because I get no damage on the J. plums which begin
>flowering at least a week earlier. However there was quite a bit of rain
>between sprays so wash-off may have been an issue- but why not for other
>fruit?





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