Fruit Tree Pathology Lab at Virginia Tech
By Dr. Srdjan Acimovic & Dr. Fatemeh Khodadadi Apple bitter rot disease was a widely present problem in apple orchards in 2021. This disease is caused by different fungi from Colletotrichum genus and is favored by warm, wet and humid weather conditions during …
1. Fire Blight symptoms are visible from natural infections in Central and Northern Virginia. If 1 to 5% or more fire flight flower clusters and shoots (strikes) are visible now, this means that you have an ongoing active infections taking place on actively growing shoots …
AHS AREC in Winchester has a new Research Specialist position open in the Plant Pathology program. I would appreciate it if you could share it with any interested candidates, or post it to any local advertisement boards, papers, or e-mail lists, which would help it …
1. 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 …
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 …