All the major apple fungal diseases in the Shenandoah Valley are visible, except apple scab. This morning I found first fresh rust (Fig. 1, 2) and powdery mildew (Fig. 3) infections of this season on unsprayed ‘Ginger Gold’ and ‘Pink Lady’ trees here at AREC. …

(I) In our research trial at AREC we detected today first fire blight symptoms on 17 May on ‘Fuji’ flower clusters and shoots. We inoculated whole ‘Fuji’ trees with fire blight bacterium Erwinia amylovora on 23, 24, and 25 April (late April heat wave) at …

1. The primary scab season in Virginia is over as the ascospore reserves have been depleted from the leaf litter below 5%. The 6 and 7 May heavy rain events have triggered the last severe primary scab infection and if you did not cover with …

1. In and near Winchester, the NEWA’s EIP model is calling for infection on 4 May with the thunderstorm rain events we might get this afternoon, evening or tomorrow morning. In central Virginia, apple orchards are at or past petal fall, so any late blooming …

1. Blossom Blight Management – Follow Up on Recent Specific Questions Apply streptomycin with Regulaid or LI700 just before or within 24 h after the wetting event that is predicted by RIMpro and/or Maryblyt (Infection Potential EIP value in NEWA) to allow fire blight infection. …

Currently, the 72 h ahead radar (72-Hour Future Radar) indicates that thunderstorm showers are predicted to impact Winchester, VA, and surrounding areas on 24 April triggering the infections on both 24 and 25 April (dark red fields with EIP equal or above 100 in print …

Weather forecast as of this moment is predicting warm weather ahead with average temperatures above 60F, which will ramp up the value of the EIP above 100 on 23rd or 24th April. The EIP value is the measure of the infection potential of the fire …

As the NWS weather forecast for 14 -15 April has changed as of this morning, and I warned you in the last 3 days that fire blight risk is high, now the NEWA EIP issued “INFECTION” warning in red box on 14 April (see print …

(I) FIRE BLIGHT: Apple bloom started on early cultivars on 1st April (Tyro) or 4th April (Charlottesville) or 6th April (Fincastle) and it varies from location and your orchard elevation. We are at very early bloom in ‘Pink Lady’ in Winchester (less then 1 %). …

Apples are at Tight Cluster or somewhat beyond on early cultivars at in Winchester. From 6 – 9 April 2022, we are expecting multiple rain events followed by the slow drying conditions as per the NWS forecast with the warmer periods peaking up to 64F …