Is anyone growing Goldrush apple trees in a no spray orchard close to Red Cedar trees?
If so, is the Cedar Apple Rust really bad, like defoliating, or just cosmetic, tolerable?
I’m bench grafting some trees for three different friends who have cedars close to their planned no spray orchard sites. Would love to give them Goldrush but not if the rust will seriously damage the tree. Thanks.
Tried one at a house here in Dallas, 30 ft from some Red Cedars; it died quickly due to CAR.
Have another one at an office 200-300 ft from a Cedar, its fine
Goldrush does get CAR pretty substantially in locations with cedars. I found it will definitely set growth back if not controlled. Remember that CAR (IMO) is one of the easiest diseases to control as the spores are released over a fairly short window of time from the cedars and an infected apple does not re-infect itself over a growing season. So generally 2 maybe 3 sprays during the infection window is all that is needed for season long control.
So when is the infection period?
Looks like it was around about 05/01 here (Iowa) last year.
I have a few pics from the same day and one is of Virginia Bluebells. So maybe when the bluebells are blooming?
It intersects conveniently with the pedal fall and first cover spray 10-14 days later required in the northeast to control plum curc, etc, although some years two sprays isn’t enough for pristine leaves and a third spray is needed with oil (if you like- without oil it could be applied at bloom) at tight cluster. Myclobutanil is the compound capable of accomplishing control with so few sprays- partially because it has kick-back and can burn out existing infections, which most fungicides cannot do.
Alan is correct. It is best to monitor the cedar galls if you have trees nearby. It is dependent on temperature and moisture levels to some extent regarding when the “horns” form and how long they release spores before drying up.
Last year I saw galls on 5/4 in my area (this one is not by my house, but a few km away). Apple trees were in bloom at the time, some early blooming varieties had mostly lost petals, others still fully bloomed.
I have a GoldRush in my little backyard orchard and my neighbor has a cedar tree, about 15 meters away. Just over my back fence is a row of juniper trees in a parking lot. At this point I’ve only had three seasons and the CAR impact varied significantly. First year GoldRush was covered in spots but not to the point of losing leaves (or at least not many). Last year there was very little CAR. So it seems to be mostly a cosmetic issue where I am, probably depending on weather.
I have Goldrush and a few others that get CAR. Like many of you I have neighbors with cedar trees so this problem will be in my orchard. I use Serenade spray around bloom time and for a short period afterward. I’m not sure how effective it is but my trees do ok but with some damage. Last year I grafted several limbs of Goldrush so we will see how they do. Surprisingly my Pink Lady has not had any problems.
Usually infection of early leaves is not much a problem. Leaves continue vigorous growth after petal fall, and any existing CAR should be stopped in its tracks by the two sprays I most rely on. The small amount of damage on spur leaves if infection strikes early has never been important, IME, so you can monitor galls or not. They always show in concert with apple growth anyway. I believe they need rain to disperse.
Of course, in other regions it is possible that my approach might be flawed.
It is a problem here on young trees. Honey Crisp and Goldrush completely stall out after the initial flush of leaves if they are infected by CAR. If they arent sprayed to prevent CAR infection they show almost zero new growth until they push another set of leaves well into summer.
Has anyone noticed if CAR from serviceberries (a carrier species, I believe) infects Goldrush Apple trees?
Does the infection period change if the source is serviceberry vs cedar?
Scott
What is your basis of this- have you tried petal fall sprays with myclo and experienced this failure, because I cannot understand why CAR would be so much more lethal where you are. I can imagine it being the case if you used old school fungicides without kickback, but CAR infection levels vary a great deal from season to season everywhere and I can’t imagine that an average year there is worse than a bad year here. I’ve never seen any leaf fungus significantly stunt growth before petal fall.
I think you misunderstood or maybe I wasnt clear. IF you choose NOT to spray at all for CAR then where I live you will have CAR infections that lead to stunted / delayed growth on young trees. If I spray with the proper fungicide, CAR doesnt cause any issues on tree growth.
Yes, your wording confused me, I thought you were saying if you let the first leaves get infected, as in before petal fall, the trees stay stunted through mid-summer. Yes, I’ve seen lots of trees with terrible looking leaves that came out during spring with healthy new leaves forming in summer at the end of otherwise infected shoots. I’ve even been at sites where a big tree care company is spraying such leaves in mid- to late summer just for the easy money.
I’ve been looking into this and it seems that there is a similar fungi that creates Cedar Hawthorn Rust, affecting quince and serviceberries. I’m in the early stages of orcharding so I am seeing these things for the first time. My serviceberries have this problem and my apples do too…maybe.
Since I live in the high desert–Northern Nevada–I expect I’m having the same problem on one of my 4 new apple trees, not CAR (UNLESS the damp-for-us spring has something to do with it). Unless ornamental junipers are a host. I do believe the treatment is the same for all of the rusts. Someone out there have input?
My neighbor has two apple trees - Sweet Sixteen and one other he can’t recall the variety
The SS is quite clean and clear of CAR every year, whereas the other one is totally covered with the stuff
Cedar Hawthorn Rust? Never heard of it, and I’ve known service berries to succumb to fire blight here, but now will start checking for signs of that. I don’t fear much for my GoldRush maiden, because it is too dry here for CAR. Maybe too dry for the hawthorn kind, too. Thanks for the heads-up.
Rust is bad here and we are now at 6 inches of rain for the year. It needs water but not much.
