I don’t use MFF so I cannot give you the comparison. Indar is very effective against brow rot. It comes in a large size and appear expensive. If you have someone to split it with, it is worth it. Otherwise, you will spend years of spraying it.
1 Like
Indar is excellent for me. I found someone on ebay that split it up so the cost was less. It is expensive, but it worked.
1 Like
I think it is the best for home growers because it can’t wash off, but both of those should also work just fine. I use Pristine and Indar, but Pristine is a rip off because if you are using it for brown rot only one of the ingredients is working for you. Ditto if you are using it against summer fungus issues. You can’t buy the BR fungicide by itself with a label for fruit trees. Crazy.
3 Likes
Indar and MFF use the same mode of action to fight brown rot, you do not want to use both for a couple reasons. It’s like using the same thing so resistance can develop, and it is redundant really. Pristine uses a different mode, and is available in Bonide’s Fruit Tree and Plant guard, which also contains an insecticide though. I use Plant Guard and MFF and have zero brown rot.
3 Likes
Besides using Indar, I find that good pruning is essential, so good, fresh air gets to the tree. I am always pruning, or really trimming during the summer (only if I do not need new , lanky growth. ). Open center prunning all stone fruit really helps prevent black knot. Leaves can so easily take over new small fruits, leaving them with no sun and no air, perfect breeding ground for any type of rot or fungus.
2 Likes
It can’t hurt, I do and still get black knot, first time I seen it this year.
2 strikes on my 4 in one pluot tree, on Flavor Supreme and Flavor Queen. It’s my most open tree, the scaffolds are almost horizontal. You could easily throw a cat right threw the center. (that’s an old joke about open centers)
2 Likes
BK is endemic here. Orchard is just a few hundred feet away from the timber which is filled with chokecherry and black cherry (though I’ve only ever noticed infections on chokecherry). So far (crossing fingers) I have only had a BK infection on a wound on my Mount Royal plum trunk which I performed surgery on. I appreciate the valuable info in this thread. My saving grace (so far) has probably been the absolute full sun and ridiculously powerful winds my orchard experiences, but it is undoubtedly only a matter of time. I better grab my felcos and pruning saw and get some eyes on those plums!
Anyone know if the hardy hybrid plums are susceptible (Toka, Superior, Waneta, Black Ice)? Thanks.
1 Like
I have heard that all the cold hardy plums are susceptible to BK. I grafted several Black Ice and Toka this spring and they look good so far. Last year I grafted about eight Spring Satin Pluots and everyone had BK this year. The infection came from a Meathley. I cut it down over the winter. I don’t know if the fungus still lurks.
1 Like
Just pruned one more branch out of a mirabelle that had a three inch piece of black knot. Such ugly stuff.
2 Likes
Actually, the main issue, IMO, is that you are throwing away money by using 2 pesticides that are fighting a fungus the same way. I don’t believe that there is any record of resistance to a pesticide ever developing in a home orchard- not that this is proof that it can’t happen or hasn’t happened. The point I’m making is that fear of developing resistance is based on evidence established in commercial fruit production and research there only. As I’ve stated, acres of a monoculture provide an exponential increase in the odds of developing pesticide resistance, IMO.
Drew keeps referring to it as if it is a clear concern to the home orchardist, which I dispute. If you try to kill a billion organisms with a poison, it is much more likely one or two will survive than if you are targeting thousands of said organism (the numbers are only to establish clarity, they are meant to illustrate relative ratio). It is the creation of survivors that leads to resistance. The math seems pretty clear on this unless I’m missing something. Am I? Drew? Anyone.
1 Like
I agree 100 percent. It’s more about mode of action. We have discussed this numerous times. The chance of resistance is slim to none. I mention it mostly because of best practice concerns and some people here are commercial growers. The only resistance issue with indar is related to dosage. Increasing amount seems to solve that problem. I read that on some IPM document. I don’t remember where?
2 Likes
Our forum is growing so fast that I feel the need to constantly restate former remarks to help clarify issues for new members. I don’t want people to assume that they need to go to the expense and effort of having to buy overlapping pesticides to get effective control when it usually isn’t necessary. Of course there is always a certain risk in going with as low spray input as practical, but if you take no risks you lean towards over-kill and don’t really learn to be lean and mean.
1 Like
It’s hard to be lean when you’re dealing with collectors. I know you are not really that type but Scott and I are, many others too. And yes we should hit the bases from time to time for the searching impaired. I base my sprays on my area. I learned from experience and asking local pros and gardeners. The local garden show helped a lot with answers and where to go to find info for local problems.
1 Like
I haven’t personally seen it on my American hybrids yet (Toka, Kaga, Superior, Gracious, etc…) but have seen it on all my cold hardy euros with the exceptions of President and Blue Bird, which are both reported to be resistant. Kenmore is supposed to be resistant also, but I had a small knot on a very young tree last year. The only knots I have seen so far this year were on Opal and Rosy Gage, but that could change in a week or two. In general, I seem to have it somewhat under control this year but have had to cut it out of Rosy Gage every year without fail and still have yet to get any fruit.
3 Likes
I have three E plums; Stanley, R.C. de Bavay, and Imperial Epineuse. I have heard Stanley is very susceptible to BN, not sure about the others. How is the flavor of President and Blue Bird?
1 Like
President is definitely good. I tried one or two Blue Birds that were under ripe. They were so-so.
1 Like
A member from India of our fruit club, MidFEx, reported that he applied Neem oil to Black Knot Infestations and they shriveled up and dried up!!!
I bought some and am going to try it.
Anyone have experience with this?
1 Like
Black knot will dry and shrivel up with or without spray. You want to cut it out the moment you find it then spray or respray ! If you do not do this it will spread. Sometimes I have missed a small branch with black knot on it, and will not see it until October when the leaves fall. At this point the BK is shriveled and faded to a light brown. I still will remove it!
4 Likes
Thanks for the tip. I have place on one of my plum trees that looks like BK.
This is extremely doubtful to me and meaningless if it isn’t observed over a couple of seasons to see if BK spreads after this supposed drying up. At some point, as experiences mount, one becomes suspicious of even their own anecdotal observations. I’ve made too many false claims based on what seemed like virtually irrefutable “evidence” over the years. Now I’m a bit more cautious and use qualifiers like “appears to” or “seems to”.
BK requires wet, fairly warm conditions to remain active, although it seems to only need the humidity of heavy dew to thrive- the longer the dew remains on the tree after sunrise seems a factor as well. The galls I’m cutting off now seem very dry- probably as a result of late season drought last year. Lots of them, though, it was very wet before that.
1 Like