After a warm, dry, breezy week
the apothecia at the monitoring sites have dried up and are no longer releasing
spores. Again, keep in mind that these observations are made on the
valley floor from Berwick to Aylesford. So I believe from here on
out there will be little risk of primary infections of shoot blight. Spread
of the disease will occur as successful infections on the shoots are transferred
by pollinators to the developing blossoms. This phase of the spread is
typically very hard to control which is why we concentrate our control efforts
on the primary infection.
I do not believe that the
weather this spring was very conducive to infection. Therefore, I do not expect to see a lot of
disease development going forward. During the last wet spell, during the
week of May 1st, the temperature was very cool which slows infections and many
growers were covered with a fungicide in anticipation of the event.
Growers should take the time to
look for infections in order to evaluate their spray program and timing of
applications so that they can adjust their control going forward and know areas
of the farm that have high pressure.
