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Is this a bad year for rust in New England?

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 7:05 pm
by Carl on Cape Cod
I've been quite troubled with rust this season, and am wondering if it is just me, or if this is a more general event this year? I have just transplanted all of my trees to their final locations, so I'm sure that could be stressing the trees and leaving them more susceptible, but I'm seeing this not just on the Golden Russets (known to suffer from cedar apple rust), but also on the Roxbury Russets and Hewes Crabs, both of which are supposedly highly resistant. The only trees not effected are the Liberty and the Gravenstein. This is the third full year since I received the benchgrafts for the russets, and in the first year there was no rust, and last year just a few leaves were effected on the Golden (stopped it with a Captan based spray, but at the cost of burning much of the foliage.) This year I'm making some headway in keeping the new leaves clean, at least on the Roxbury, with copper oleate soap, but the goldens are only staying clean for a few weeks before the mature leaves are hit. Has anyone else noticed this?

Re: Is this a bad year for rust in New England?

Posted: Sat May 09, 2015 7:19 am
by PA_Docent
I use Bordeaux spray at first sign of cedar rust. At least this growing season here in PA, rust has not been an issue!

Re: Is this a bad year for rust in New England?

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 12:12 pm
by Carl on Cape Cod
Hi PA_Docent,

I'm going to try Bordeaux next year (2017); either the copper soap is not the right thing, or I'm using it wrong.

I've read intensively on this, but am still uncertain as to when to apply the Bordeaux. I watch the rains and see the galls on the cedars swell and start sending out the next batch of spores. I read that the apple leaves are only susceptible to CAR for a short period of their growth (days 3 - 7 after opening), so it sounds like the leaves that one sprays this week don't even need to get sprayed again next week, whereas the leaves that open tomorrow are not helped by the spraying one does today.... Am I making this all more complicated than it needs to be? Does the Bordeaux go on right before a rain, or right after, or just some sort of weekly schedule or ??? How many applications do you need to make each year? When do you start?

I see that you have a Hewe's also, which is one of the ones that is getting hit hard in my orchard. Are you getting good growth / yield just the same?