North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[mIEKAL aND <qazingulaza@gmail.com>]

Richard, thanks for your thoughtful reply.  I apparently didn't do my
homework well enough before putting the Consort in.  When I asked the
person at Krieger where I got them, if there were any disease issues
with Consort she told me they chose Consort because it was disease
resistant.  At this point I'm guessing she was referring to pine
blister rust & glossing over other issues with it.

I have put in a big patch of Titania, the plants were hard to come by
& cost a fortune compared to what I paid for the Consort.  Everything
I've read suggests that Titania is very resistant to powdery mildew,
precocious, fast bearing.

I also am putting a smaller patch of Ben Sarek in.  Dale Secher at
Carandale Farms who put in test plantings of a lot of the Ben series
swears by Ben Lomand, but I have yet to source those.

I'm growing fruit for primarily wine production, & in the case of
Black Currant, a melomel.  The black currants pair nicely with the
honey.  Which is to say I'm less concerned with out of hand eating &
much more a having a wide range of flavors to work with when putting
recipes together.

Since I have so many afflicted plants I may try a half & half
experiment, milk spray on half, stylet oil on the other half.  There
is also a bunch of work that I can do to increase air flow thru the
site, so that's my primary focus.

~mIEKAL


eating half ripe Meteor cherries today because the birds will make
them disappear in a few days,  handfuls of serviceberries & other
handfuls of Russian mulberries



On Sun, Jun 26, 2011 at 8:48 PM, Richard Moyer <ramoyer@gmail.com> wrote:
> Meikal,
> Was looking into this recently for powdery mildew on peas:
> ---Researchers in Brazil have studied various concentrations of milk,
> and various milk products for mildew control.  If I remember
> correctly, full-fat, skim or whey soln works equally well.  Powdered
> milk or whey can be used, for room temp storage of concentrated
> product.   Search 'Bettiol, Brazil, milk and mildew' to read some of
> the research results.  New Zealand work also.
> ---Perhaps our list resident research librarian can do a search for us
> and post some of the better comparative studies on milk control of
> mildew?  Please let us know if you are able.
> ---Various concentrations have been tried, and a wide range are
> effective, though phytotoxicity shows up when milk is at 30%.  10-15%
> has been reported as effective for mildew as higher concentrations.
> ---I presume part of the confusion is due to sharing of anectdotes.
> Read some of the comparative research, at least to get a sense of what
> worked, on what plants, in those studies.  See this link as a start:
> http://www.hartley-botanic.co.uk/gardening-tips/matthew-biggs/removing-powdery-mildew-on-gooseberries
> ---JMS Stylet Oil is very effective on powdery mildew (also called
> American Gooseberry Mildew), and is purported to kill the spores to
> keep it from coming back.  My impression is that milk soln lacks the
> spore killing ability, though I could be wrong.
> ---Dr. Kim Hummer, USDA-ARS currant and gooseberry researcher in
> Corvallis, OR, has directed research on the use of stylet oil for
> mildew control.  Kim is very approachable, and would likely be glad to
> answer your questions on mildew control on Consort.  She also is
> committed to maintaining the Ribes collection with the absolute
> minimum of chemical treatments, so to better advise in situations such
> as yours.
> ---If you contact her, she may ask graciously about even growing
> Consort, with its known mildew susceptibility and general perception
> of inferior (outright bad) flavor.  Kim and her researchers have
> screened a number of black currants that are resistant to both mildew
> and rust, and taste so much better than Consort.
> ---Some Dutch growers of red currants cut 1/2 of their planting to the
> ground each year.  I presume after harvest, though check if you use
> this route.  Stylet oil can then be used to effectively rid the plant
> crowns of mildew spores, then the regrowth may have enough time to
> bear next year.
> ---But if you're going that route of cutting all (or a portion) of the
> plants to the ground to control the mildew, now may be the ideal time
> to bring in some better black currant genetics, for resistance to
> mildew and rust, and for better flavor.  Remember you can request
> limited amounts of material from the NCGR Repositories, so you could
> compare the mildew resistance of some other cultivars to your Consort.
>  Black currant cuttings root easily.
> ---At the NAFEX meeting in NH, one of the orchards we visited had a
> long row of Consort, Coronet or Crusader, and the grower noted than it
> was the one fruit he couldn't get his U-pick customers to buy.  We
> suggested he look into some of the better flavored cultivars.
>
> So in summary, you can manage mildew on new growth with milk in
> various forms, 10-20% solution, but the mildew spores may still be
> viable, waiting until your milk soln washes off.  Look into Stylet oil
> as a more effective organic control.  Again, Kim is quite interested
> in encouraging currant growers.  She'd be more than happy to help.
> Just know she may suggest other cultivars as a long term solution.
>
> Richard Moyer
> SW VA
> Nibbled today on wintergreen (tea) berries while hiking at 4000'.
> Previous year berries still in good shape, while blooming for new
> crop.  Any other temperate fruits that manage this?
>