Those are your 3 peaches? Man, you certainly didn’t go for the easiest. I’m inland from you in Putnam county, NY, and I get some BS on Indian Free and O Henry but not Winblo, or any of my East Coast types. So far O Henry and IF don’t need control as there is just some leaf damage but fruit are fine. We shall see now that these two are large enough to get full crops. There certainly are a lot of wonderful peaches and even nectarines that have good BS resistance that I’e been growing for up to 27 years here. The hardest should be the first one tries, IMO.
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Olpea and Alan thanks for the knowledge. Alan I selected the peaches
based on flavor, without consideration for disease susceptibility. Likewise
with my apples all are heritage varieties, although I do have Gold Rush, Johnathan
and Matsu just to keep me sane. Oh well. This year I’ll try Ernie’s Choice and Spring Snow.
Olpea, thanks for the heads up on the Mycoshield. I think If I start early at petal fall I’ll
be fine. I spray Immunox for CAR on my apples at that point so all my gear will be ready.
If you like IF you might find that Silver Gem nect produces a fruit with similar virtues but resists BS. It has some acid kick. There are plenty of extremely good yellows that don’t get it- just not so many in O Henry’s season.
Often apples that get scab and CAR don’t actually take more sprays because if you add Myclobutanil to the tank when you put down your PC sprays you take care of the whole spectrum. Check my spray sched in Guides because what works for me will usually work for you.
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Tuff,
Totally understand your reasoning. Unlike you, I first tried to select for the best disease resistance, regardless of flavor because I wanted to raise fruit with no sprays.
Once I figured out that didn’t work for me, I switched to trying the highest rated flavor varieties. That didn’t work for me either (I’m thinking primarily of highly flavored CA peaches.) Now I’m shooting for the middle ground. Sort of like the warning to Incarus, don’t fly too high or too low. The middle ground is the sweet spot for me, I think.
We all have to figure some of these things out on our own, based on our own goals and local climate, based upon my observations.
Sounds like you are trying very hard, and in my experience, persistence is generally rewarded in the end.
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Not completely, we can learn a lot on this forum so we don’t have to make the same mistakes of others. I would advise all new hobby growers to try some varieties first known to be fairly easy but also delicious and branch out from there. I started doing this at my current location almost 26 years ago when you really did have to figure things out for yourself if you weren’t interested in following Cornell recs for commercial growers. It was much easier where I came from in S. CA because there were fruit trees all over you could sample and get ideas from and local nurseries sold varieties that did well in the area.
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Very sage advice Alan! (As I re-read that compliment, it sounds cliche’ to my ear, but I didn’t mean it that way.) I use this forum for the same resource (learn from others experiences, and sometimes from their Google skills - i.e. good articles I’ve not read)
I guess what I was referring to was something behind it all. Maybe an overall philosophy? That’s almost something people seem to have to muddle through themselves (there seems to be so much subjectivity to it). That said, even others experiences (in addition to my own) have shaped my overall growing philosophy.
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Again, thanks for the advice guys, you’re the best! I’m at the point
where my orchard is at its max, about 40 trees. This year I’ll graft
over or even take out some varieties that are unproductive, as well
as Espalier and trying some varieties on dwarfing rootstocks. To date all my
apples are on G30 or G202 a couple are on M111
My goal is pristine fruit which can sometimes be an anomaly when growing
heritage varieties. Why? Well my thinking is if I’m devoting all this effort and expense
might as well try and produce the best possible fruit.
I have 4 or 5 clients I grow pristine fruit for, although none in CT. I wait to start spraying for sooty blotch and flyspeck until the first week of July, which saves me 2 sprays in June after threat of PC is gone. Sometimes I stop spraying last week of Aug, sometimes I do one in Sept. Cornell says this can’t work because fungus gets established in June, even if you can’t see it and then can’t be controlled. I’m glad I didn’t find that out until after my schedule worked for 5 seasons.
The pristine fruit doesn’t taste any better, but it stores somewhat better and is easier to give away.
I will point out for the homegamer that the Bonide Fruit Tree Guard with lambda-cyhalothrin + Pristine fungicide (assuming the mix is effective at the concentrations sold) might be a good spray for summer diseases. Here I’d be starting to spray for Japanese beetles in late June and this would take them out plus combine Pristine’s very high effectiveness for the summer diseases. It does however have a 14 day PHI.
For you @alan: It seems to me this explains why you are right in your approach (from the mouth of Cornell). http://blogs.cornell.edu/plantpathhvl/files/2013/12/2007-Timing-Summer-Fungicides-to-Control-Flyspeck-Disease-on-Apples-2chm4fd.pdf
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I started using that last year, too late in some cases to stop the brown rot, but I’m going to give it another go this year.
Sure wish I could just buy the Pristine in reasonable amounts
All gardening is local, i agree. My best trees are from CA, my worst from Michigan, Go figure. PF Lucky 13 was the only tree not to fruit this year. My California Nectaplum did great as did Arctic Glo, and for that matter Indian Free too. Bacterial Spot is here, but I only seen it once in 4 seasons. O’Henry is in my future.
Add Bonide’s Infuse or MFF and you should not have a brown rot problem. I use Infuse and Plant guard 14 days apart. Apply each every 21 days. If brown rot is an issue, use both. They have different modes of action, it’s like you have 2 lines of attack. If anything survives one, the other will get it.
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Thank you for that article- I bookmarked the link, I liked it so much. Lots of info, but it always seems like hort researchers want to draw too much info from too little research because it is all they have. So many variables, so little money to test them.
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I’ve been using Infuse for years, but last year was a total wipeout for the E plums, so I need a second barrel
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OK, well I know the pros say to increase dose of Propiconazole, but that would be illegal for homeowners. I can’t find that reference but something should be on the labels of pro products. I read that tolerance can happen, but not resistance, so increasing does helps.
Increased amounts are allowed in a commercial setting. OK, well you’re doing all you can. Man I hope it never becomes that bad here. You’re close too! Yikes!
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While this thread is still active Alan did I remember correctly that you use copper soap to some degree to control bacterial spot? If so do you find it effective? Like I posted earlier in this thread the copper soap I have is labeled for it. Thank you sir.
Drew
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I haven’t really used it much for BS, but the product was specifically recommended to me by the adviser employed by the agricultural chemical and fertilizer company I purchase from. He consults for many commercial growers in the Hudson Valley, including some who grow a few apricots, so I expect the product to be effective. It can be used throughout the growing season.
Like a lot of products used in organic production, it is relatively expensive.
I am using a different copper soap than you as I wasn’t able to get cueva through my main supplier. I am using Copper Octanoate but I hope it is similar. It is interesting though it is the only thing I know of that is labeled for coryneum blight, bacterial spot and brown rot. I hope it is effective!
Drew
Captan has a warning label that it can cause severe eye damage. I asked my eye doctor about the risk, and she did not have more info than generally on the Web.
For a WP (wettable powder) formulation, what do you have to guard against? Getting the powder into your eyes? Is it a hazard in dilute form that you spray? Do you need to wear protective goggles to spray it? Or is eye protection only a consideration when mixing it?
Thanks!
The highest risk is when it is in powder form. Captan commonly comes in two concentrations 80% powder and 50% powder. Retail packaging is for the 50% concentration and commercial packaging is 80%. I suspect it is supplied at 50% to retail users to help reduce the risk.
I would definitely wear goggles when mixing it and I do myself. You also need eye protection when spraying it. If you look at safety data sheets (SDS) for Captan most of them recommend wearing goggles and I think that is the best practice.
If you get it in your eyes while spraying it how are you going get it out of your eyes? You probably won’t be able to see well or maybe not at all. How quickly can you get back to a water source you can rinse your eyes out with? You’re not in a laboratory with an eye wash instead you’re in a yard or a field. I wear goggles while spraying and suggest you do too. The Captan labels I have seen for both 50% and 80% require goggles while spraying.
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