apple diseases

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paula grigoras
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Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:09 am

apple diseases

Post by paula grigoras »

Hi.My name is Paula.I of Romania.I havean apple orchard apple superintensive(golden delicious,ionagold and gala )that was affected apple svab and mildew.can you give me some tips for maintaining it? What treatment regimens are indicated in tratment of diseases mentioned? Thanks...
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Mulberry Grove
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Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 8:11 am
Location: NW Iowa
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Re: apple diseases

Post by Mulberry Grove »

We also experience scab and mildew. My advice is to look at the university research on scab and also on mildew. They are associated with temperature and wetting periods (rain) and therefore require treatment based on their reproduction around rain and temperature.

Scab will get worse, the longer it is left untreated, and will be left on the leaves from this year to infect next year.
Powdery mildew (PM) will infect the tips of new shoots on limbs etc, and they can be trimmed out for next year, or if cold enough it may kill those tips and the PM living in the tips.

Good luck
sgbotsford
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Joined: Sun Nov 30, 2014 12:51 pm

Re: apple diseases

Post by sgbotsford »

I've heard that the ground fall apples are one of the reservoirs of scab. One easy way to deal with this is to run pigs after the thining drop and after the fruit harvest to clean up the apples. A cleaning of the orchard with a bagging lawnmower wiill get most of the leaves.

Sheperd in "Restoration Agriculture" recommends trimming the lower branches to 5 feet. This allows access by mower under the trees, and reduces the amount of scab that is splashed up.

Maintaining a thick grass cover over winter may help this way too. So you would clip the grass before thining drop, so the pigs could get the little apples, mow again before first harvest, then let it grow for the rest of the winter.

***

Part of the mildew is how you prune. A close tree with little air going through it will get fungal diseases much more easily than one that is open. One person said, "Prune so that a crow can fly through the tree, but that you can't toss a cat through the tree." I expect that by the third test, getting your hands on the cat will be tricky.
Sherwood Botsford
Sherwood's Forests Tree Farm
Hardy Trees for Central Alberta
http://Sherwoods-Forests.com
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