Wednesday, 14 May 2014: Petal fall is a really critical time for apple disease control. Trees are rapidly generating new disease-susceptible terminal leaves, and fruitlets are at peak susceptibility for infection by fungi causing scab, rust, blossom-end rots, moldy core, … Continue reading
Monday afternoon, May 12, 2014: According to the best apple scab models, major ascospore discharges and infection periods occurred April 29-May 2 and again May 8-11. If current weather forecasts are accurate, we will experience the third really major apple … Continue reading
Monday afternoon, May 12, 2014: Warm weather and predicted showers continue to favor fire blight. A strep spray should have been applied sometime on Saturday or Sunday to all orchards that are at high risk for fire blight (i.e., trees … Continue reading
Thursday, 8 May, 2014: The fungi causing brown rot blossom blight invade stone fruit flowers during wet weather when stone fruits are in bloom. A modest fungicide program is usually sufficient to protect stone fruit flowers, but under unusually favorable … Continue reading
Thursday noon, May 8, 2014: With apples and pears in bloom and several days of intermittent rainfall, many folks are probably wondering about the risk of fire blight. I just finished running the MaryBlyt model using weather data from the Highland-HVL … Continue reading
Tuesday, May 6, 2014: In the Hudson Valley and southern New England, the time when sweet cherries are blooming is a critical time for managing X-disease. During cherry bloom, seedling Mazzard cherry trees growing in hedgerows and woodlots adjacent to stone … Continue reading
Monday, 5 May, 2014: Several recently published studies have reported that some fungicides may interact with other agrochemicals in ways that make them harmful to bees. Initial reports were sketchy. In their May 1st issue, Good Fruit Grower published a short … Continue reading
Thursday morning, May 1, 2014: Rains over the past two days exceeded 2 inches and have almost certainly removed all protection from fungicides that were applied prior to the rain. Orchards that were sprayed after Saturday morning of last week … Continue reading
Sunday evening, April 27: Weather forecasts for the coming week vary, but at least one of the forecasts is suggesting that we may have more than 3 inches of rain in the Hudson Valley between Tuesday morning and Thursday evening. … Continue reading
Thursday, April 24: The weather forecast is suggesting that we may have a 24-hr wetting period with mean temperatures slightly above 50 F from 7 PM on Friday through at least 6 PM on Saturday. The forecast is for scattered … Continue reading
Tuesday, April 22: Apricots at the Hudson Valley Lab were in full bloom this afternoon. Trees on top of the hill behind the lab showed very little bud damage, but other apricots planted in a colder area on the back side … Continue reading
16 April 2014: Low temperatures early this morning (Wed) varied by region, but ranged from 28 to as low as 23 across the Hudson Valley. More freezing temperatures are predicted for early Thursday morning. Green tissue in apple buds that … Continue reading
Tuesday, 15 April: Brown rot: Remove last year’s brown rot mummies from trees: Even though pruning on stone fruits is often delayed until after bud break (especially on peaches and nectarines), it is important to walk through stone fruit blocks and … Continue reading
3 PM, Mon, 14 April: My previous message on apple scab ascospore assessments contained some confusing language as it relates to the ascospore maturity model on the NEWA website. In that posting, I stated “the NEWA model is predicting actual spore … Continue reading
Noon, Mon, April 14: Early-season apple cultivars at the Hudson Valley Lab reached the green tip bud stage (50% of fruiting buds showing green tip) on Sunday, April 13. Temperatures over the past three days were 5 to 8 degrees … Continue reading
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