Plant pathologist tests ways for controlling peach fungi
nowayyoucancontrol thesediseasesonce they get into the shoots. The timing is dor- mant or delayed dormant, with one ap- plication in low rainfall years and two in high rainfall. “We’re getting good control of blossom blight with one application of the biologi- cals,” he said. “The organic materials are looking good.” Though theorganicmaterials lookgood onbrown rot, he said they arenot effective against Botrytis blossom rot. Those trials are continuing. “The organics aren’t doing that well
on fruit rot,” Adaskaveg cautioned. “Polyoxin-D is an organic option on fruit rot thatcanbeeffective,but is inconsistent.” He said there are many newmaterials coming down the pipeline for both foliar fungal diseases and for bacterial diseases. “There are newmaterials for bacterial cankerandblast,”Adaskavegsaid.“Thecop- perdoesn’tworkthatwell,butwe’reworking onregistrationforKasuminonpeaches,and the foodpreservatives are lookinggood.” ( Bo b J o hn s o n i s a r e p o r t e r i n Sacramento. He may be contacted at bjohn11135@gmail.com.)
ByBob Johnson Peach growers will have to learn how to manage important fungal diseases with a reduced reliance on copper applications. While alternative treatments are being developed, federal regulators are in the process of reducing the amount of copper growers will be allowed to use. “Unfortunately, bothcopper andZiram are under review by the Environmental Protection Agency,” said JimAdaskaveg, University of California, Riverside, pro- fessor and plant pathologist. “The rates of copper are going to be cut.” Adaskavegmade his remarks as he dis- cussed alternatives for managing peach leaf curl, brown rot, bacterial blast and other diseases during the California Cling Peach Day webinar sponsored by UC Cooperative Extension and the California Cling PeachBoard. He said good orchard sanitation, espe- cially the removal of mummies to mini- mize the buildup of pathogens during the winter, is more important than ever for long-termmanagement of many of these foliar diseases. The time of application is also more important than ever, as the EPAmoves to restrictmaterials. “These four timings can give you foliar diseasecontrol:dormant,delayeddormant, five weeks after petal fall and preharvest,” Adaskavegsaid. “If it’ssunnyduringbloom, we canwait onour blossomrot application andstill keep the inoculumlevels low.” One alternative for leaf curl is to use higher rates of Syllit and Bravo, which are still allowed, or mixtures of lower rates of differentmaterials, he said. “Peach leaf curl is anongoingproblem,” Adaskavegsaid. “Leaves can fall off, expos- ing the fruit.We’re tryingproducts to see if we can reduce our use of copper, even for organic growers.” Bravo applied with oil inDecember re- sulted in statistically the same number of infected shoots per tree as Ziram in two of themost recent UC trials, he said.
Adaskavegsaidthealternativesare look- ing particularly promising in managing blossomblight in peaches. The biological materials Senifel, Dart and EcoSwing also gave good control, ap- plied in lateFebruaryormid-March inan- other two recent UC trials, he said. “We’re trying to reduce its growth in the dormant period,”Adaskavegsaid. “There’s
The scientific explanation. Calcium is a critical element for fruit development. A calcium deficiency in plants results in dividing cells being unable to stay bound together. This causes poor quality in fruits and vegetables such as blossom end rot,
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March 17, 2021 Ag Alert 13
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