Tree Fruit Pathology Lab at Virginia Tech
I. APPLE SCAB (Venturia inaequalis) If symptoms of apple scab were visible on leaves or fruit during the 2023 growing season, you should plan to reduce overwintering scab inoculum residing in leaf litter on the orchard floor. What you do now for inoculum reduction can …
First symptoms of bitter rot disease on immature fruit of apple cultivar ‘Gala’ have been found on 5 July in Winchester at AREC’s experimental Block 30W (Fig. 1, 2). We also found the bitter rot on ‘Idared’ immature fruit in our Block 30 where we …
1. NEAR WINCHESTER VA: Current weather forecast for locations near Winchester, Berryville, Strasburg, and Syria, state that storms are possible around 12:00 pm with gusty winds and small hail possible. Hail and wind gusts can contribute to trauma blight and severe fire blight spreading to …
TO ALL LOCATIONS WITH POME FRUIT IN VIRGINIA: Current storm weather affecting locations from Rustburg over Roseland, Timberville to Winchester has a high chance to bring small to large size hail and wind gusts that can contribute to trauma blight and severe fire blight spreading …
Sooty Blotch and Flyspeck (SBFS) of apple are caused by a large group of fungi which grow superficially on waxy cuticle of apple fruit. Usually, flyspeck caused by Zygophiala jamaicensis shows first and then the sooty blotch appears, which is caused by a complex of …
All the major apple fungal diseases in the Shenandoah Valley are visible in 2023 growing season: apple scab (Figs 1, 2), powdery mildew (previous post from 8 May), and rust (Fig. 4). On 16 May, I found first fresh scab infections on ‘Gala’ leaves (Fig. …
1. If any young trees planted late are in bloom, or any cider cultivars are maybe in bloom in Northern VA, fire blight infection reported by NEWA EIP model on 8 May should have been controlled by streptomycin application in mix with Regulaid or Li700 …
1. On 29th April, first blossom blight symptoms were found by Bill Mackintosh (Figs 1, 2). Most likely these infections of flowers have established either on the 5th or 6th April or 16 or 17 April, with the latter being the more likely scenario as …
Apples are at Petal Fall or beyond on early cultivars at in Winchester. From 28 – 30 April 2023, we are expecting multiple rain events followed by the slow drying conditions as per the NWS forecast visible at this moment. This is predicted to lead …
(1) If any commercial apple cultivars for fresh fruit production, young non-bearing orchards, or cider cultivars are still in bloom (young flowers opening), they will need protection before 22 April for fire blight infection predicted on that day with oncoming rain events 21-22 April. Before …