Based on what I read, the PC/bug and brown rot wars are related. The more pest damage your tree has, the more susceptible to disease it is.
Funny our apricots are the same size and Iām in zone 9a-b!
We had a mostly-mild winter here. It was completely snow-free, with just a few random freezes that I thought would ruin my stonefruits, but somehow didnāt.
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You are lucky!
Haha, but not lucky enough to escape brown rot, it seems!
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Brown rot showed up after my peach tree fruit for the 3rd year. The first two years I had perfect fruit with no spray. Like any newbies, I thought growing peaches was not as difficult as people said.
By year 4, all my peaches got brown rot. Myclobutanil did not work. (the label says it does). Once I have Indar, it has been much better but not 100%.
You are correct that all highly effective fungicide for brown rot is expensive including Luna Sensation. You need to fid the like-minded to split the cost.
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Mamuang is very right. My peach trees in the states did not get brown rot for a number of years. Here, I have seen peaches and apricots that were not well pollinated drop with a bit of brown on them. You will probably have a few more drop before the healthy peaches stay on the tree. Do you have squirrels? I would think about bagging the fruit.
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Saw this spider today (one of the two species known as a candy-striped spider), and it froze when I approached, but I am pretty sure it was munching on the aphids right next to its head:
I went down a bit of a rabbit hole (spider hole?) learning about this spider, but couldnāt find any reference to them eating aphids. But they seem willing to eat basically anything, including other spiders:
(source)
That paper found that they often attack bees, wasps, and flies that are sleeping on leaves or flowers at night, and they are very successful at it. Iād rather if they stick with aphids.
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Took a walk around the garden today and noticed this on my multi variety pluot tree. Itās only on one variety - splash pluot.
Is this something to be concerned about? If so what would you do? Thanks in advance!!
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That could be Black Knot.
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That is an early stage of black knot. It will turn black later. Very hard to control disease. @scottfsmith has introduced us a blow torch to kill the fungus. If it is a small twig or branch, you can cut it off and throw them out with your trash.
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Thanks, I can blow torch these cankers?? I do have a blowtorch I use to sear my steaks once in a while. Do I just blow torch the cankers?
They are pretty low on the main branch of the graft. If I cut it out it will basically bring the scion back to no leaves. Iām fine with cutting it as long as the variety survives as this was too vigorous of a scion anyways and was unbalancing my tree
Scott posted it somewhere that he blow torches both canker and black knot (they are not the same).
You want to get enough heat to kill the fungus but not kill the branch.
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Thanks so much, Iāll try it out tomorrow and look for that thread. Appreciate all your help!
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My brotherās sweet treat pluerry has black bark and half the limbs died, curious if anyone knows whats up with the tree. I have the same tree and bark looks very different.
If Iām just crazy also good to know haha, always appreciate the knowledge on the forum you all bring us.
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It could be a lot of things but the Southwest injury was the first thing popped in my headā¦
Preparations to Prevent Southwest Injury | Purdue Extension Forestry & Natural Resources.
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Was the treeguard always there? If it was always there, it may not be SW injury since you have issues above and below the tree guard on same side.
āWhite tree guards can help minimize Southwest injury by reflecting sunlight.ā
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yes the treeguard has always been there, I peeled it back to look at it. Also the black is all the way around the tree, but only on the main trunk. Kinda why I didnāt think of sun scald initially myself.
If you scratch around the fissures where itās black, is cambium still green? Maybe itās some sort of disease itās fighting. Like bacterial spot. Was there complaints of any oozing?
āBacterial spot also produces oozing cankers on the tree trunk, sometimes so significantly that the tree is left pitted and ridged from the ever-increasing cankers. Long before you notice the cankers, the bacterial spot will damage the leaves.ā
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I wont be able to scratch it until tomorrow, didnt think to check that. There has been no oozing on the tree at all though. The limbs that died all looked healthy color wise, they just had dry brittle buds on them. and the limbs themselves were dead all the way through though no discoloration.
Also for location Im in western Idaho near Boise. So its a very dry region.