I’m disappointed today because its slowly hitting me how bad the bacterial spot is on my peaches. Its been one of those things I’ve slowly watched happen over the spring and summer but convinced myself it wasn’t that bad and it wouldn’t hurt the taste-only the looks, and so on. Then almost all at once I realize I’ve made a bad mistake by not fighting it all along and that much of my fruit is going to be really ugly because of it. Lesson Learned. Worse yet, I have had unopened bag of captan all spring, so my only excuse is procrastination! Next year,will Captan probably be enough to prevent or minimize it? Thanks
I think there should be a “Sorry to hear that” button in addition to a ”like” button. I feel your pain bro. But look on the bright side, you got a chance to eat a lot of fresh fruit from your own orchard this year. Considering what you dealt with last year that’s a win! You could be like me and have one single peach growing that has bacterial spot. That SOB better taste good. Lol
haha. All great points. And really, I’m not feeling all that bad about my Bacterial Spot problem since most of those peaches will still be eatable and not all have it. Mostly wondering if Captan is the right thing for next year.
No, you need to do copper dormant sprays, and maybe use some at a smaller dose during the season if needed. Also I use Bonide Fruit and Plant Guard which has some fungicides very effective against brown rot, and certain leaf spot problems. I use it for brown rot, but leaf spot can be a problem here too. The Bonide product also has an insecticide, it contains a synthetic pyrethroid, lambda-cyhalothrin. More effective than actual extract from chrysanthemums. It lasts longer too. It is a light weight all the same. I need stronger insecticides for PC.
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Are you sure about that? I sprayed a heavy dose of copper with my dormant oil during dormancy, and another late spray of it at bud swell. Obviously it didn’t have any effect. Also, the University of Tennessee fruit guide says to use Captan 50 WP to prevent and treat bacterial spot. I also used to use the Bonide and never had any luck with it at all, especially the insect control part. I had better luck with triazicide and MUCH better luck with Imidan. But maybe your right.
update: I just went and re-read the UT fruit guide and it says Captan is good but adding mycoshield provides better protection.
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You’ve probably seen this guide before, but if not, check out the peach section and also the write up on page 62
Flameout or mycroshield are what can controll bacterial spot
Can a homeowner get those products? Yes copper is all that I know of that is available to the homeowner.
@thecityman I use a liquid copper product also besides the Kocide, I like it as it is safer to use. Not during dormancy but while the tree is growing. The antibiotic products are for sure the best, but not sure we can obtain them? Well at least me, as I have no license to use professional products. Captan label has nothing about using for bacterial spot. In stone fruits it is used for brown rot, scab, and Coryneum blight. I myself only use it for Botrytis in strawberries. It works very well! Any extra does go on the stone fruit, once diluted a bit, as a stronger dose is used for strawberries. Make sure to use neutral or acidic water only with captan. Otherwise it won’t work, at least it didn’t work for me until I used rainwater. You could use vinegar, now all sprays I use are acidic. As I read other compounds last longer in acidic environments.
I’m seeing a ton of it this year on all my peaches. Worse year yet. Not sure if its the weather or what. Even my container trees have it and they were always very clean in the past.
I spray nothing for it, so its all up mother nature.
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Ime not sure if they are restricted use products or not, I would have to check. If not people could possibly do what Drew and some others did with the indar. But to my knowledge they are the best hope for controlling spot. I believe Olpea uses one or the other
I bought my Mycoshield online, I think it came from AG solutions.
Yes, he does. I saw 2 pounds for 55 bucks, I don’t really have a problem here. Not yet anyway.
It looks impracticable for the homeowner. According to dosage I would need to use 0.12 ounces for 1 gallon. 0.72 teaspoons. I guess 3/4 of a teaspoon is doable! I would have a lifetime supply! Kevin has more trees, it might not be that bad for him
I’ve used both Mycoshield and Flameout (both oxytetracycline). Neither is restricted use by the EPA. If you are ever curious if a product is restricted use by the EPA, you can google the label. Any pesticide which is restricted use by the EPA will say so in a box at the top of the label. It has to be there, it’s the law. It’s sort of like the warning labels on cigarettes. I believe the size of the box, lettering, etc. is all regulated.
Some states can make a product restricted use for its state residents, even though the product is not restricted use by the EPA. I’ve no idea if some states have made Mycoshield/Flameout restricted use.
Cityman,
Captan supposedly offers some synergism when used w/ dodine. I’ve used Captan alone repeatedly for scab and never seen any reduction in bac. spot. Captan works well as a fungicide for many things, but I think it’s pretty weak as a bactericide.
Oxytetracyline works to control bac. spot at my house, but has not controlled it at the farm where there are a lot more bac. spot susc. peaches and much more wind.
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Bart, I actually had a copy of that document at one point but lost it, so I very much appreciate you sending me the link and telling me what page the bacterial spot info was on. The whole thing will be very helpful, but right now I needed the bacterial spot info, so thanks!
BUT GOOD GRIEF!!! Sounds like I will have to spray EVERY SEVEN DAYS from shuck split to harvest? WOW! I have about 25 peach trees now and (at least for now) am spraying with just a pump-up back pack sprayer. I thought spraying imidan every 10-14 days was a lot of work, which is part of why I was so thrilled when I got better PC and OFM control from imidan spraying every 2-3 weeks. Now I’ll have to spray every seven days? Darn, that stinks. But I’ll do it…I’m not going to have another year where my whole peach crop is as ugly as it is this year.
BTW…I do agree with what the guide said about the best way to control bacterial spot is to select resistant varieties. It won’t help much since I’ve already got most of my trees in the ground and most are apparently susceptible. HOWEVER, right smack in the middle of all my trees which are badly infected with Bacterial Spot is a J.H. Hale peach tree and there is not so much as a single black spot on ANY peach on that tree. It’s amazing that there can be that much difference in peach trees resistance.
For what its worth, this has by far been the wettest spring and summer in forever- at least in my lifetime. It literally rained every single day for about a month after shuck split, and we’ve had very frequent rains ever since. Its good for my watermelons, but undoubtedly made my Bacterial Spot worse.
I will be ordering some mycroshield this winter for sure. If anyone thinks there is something better, please let me know. Thanks for all the help on this. There seems to be no end to the diseases, fungus, bugs, animals, and other things we all face!!!
The fungicide ingredients in that Bonide product are essentially those of Pristine
It’s the only consumer choice for that fungicide which is effective against brown rot and has a different mode of action than MFF or Imidan.
Back to subject mycoshield, be careful if you use it. I worry about allergic reactions, and exposure to antibiotics can be dangerous. It’s a powder too, argh! Glad that what little bac spot I had, seems to have gone away. Or it was something else.
Bacterial spot is mostly found on first year fruiting trees and on trees that
lost the previous year’s crop to freeze. The best way to control BS is to keep your trees properly pruned so that you maintain proper air flow circulation, in order for the fruit to dry off quickly, when it rains. This greatly reduces the chance of the bacteria spreading throughout the tree. Unless you sell fruit commercially and need spotless fruit, you’ll work yourself to death spraying all summer long and into the fall, if you have late ripening varieties. A few peaches with some spots on them is no big deal. Just peel the fruit, which most people do anyway.
Yeah I had a bac spot on tomatoes last year, and totally cosmetic. None this year! (knock on wood).
Great! I lost all my peaches to a freeze this year and next year I get to look forward to bacterial spot. ARRGH!
But given the two options, I’'d rather have peaches with Bac. Spot than no peaches at all!
Just make sure you keep your trees properly pruned, and you shouldn’t
have any problems.