Woodleaf Farm Disease Management System Table 4

Brown rot (Monilinia fructicola, occasionally Monilinia laxa)

Crop: peach

Plant in-field and in-row mixtures of resistant and susceptible varieties (Table 2)

Add high carbon/low nitrogen soil amendments

Squash diseased fruit into the living mulch groundcover at harvest. Remove mummies in fall.

One to three applications (including 6–10 lb sulfur), from first bloom through petal fall.

Number of applications depends on weather, and applications are timed carefully to coincide with rainfall events.

In wet springs when risk is high, the micronized sulfur rate in the mineral mix is increased (up to 15 lb/acre in the past). 

Peach leaf curl (Taphrina deformans)

Crop: peach

Dormant lime sulfur (25 gal/acre).

Lower rates (15–20 gal/acre) were applied in 2012–2014, but they did not seem as effective.

Apple scab (Venturia inequalis)

Crop: apple

Plant in-field and in-row mixtures of resistant and susceptible varieties (Table 2).

Drop diseased fruit from tree into living mulch at thinning.

One to three applications (including 6–10 lb sulfur), from petal fall through first fruit set.

Applications on apples are not timed as carefully to coincide with rainfall events as those on peaches.

Fireblight (Erwinia amylovora)

Crops: susceptible pear and apple varieties
(Table 2)

Prune diseased branches in the spring with sterilized pruners.

Until 2015, diseased branches were mowed into the living mulch; now they are removed from the orchard.

Susceptible pear variety Comice has been removed and replaced with disease-resistant Warren.

Up to 2003: one to three applications at bloom

2004–2014: one to three applications from petal fall through first fruit set

2015: one application at bloom and two from petal fall through fruit set

2004–2013: Serenade (Bacillus subtilis) at bloom  3 time

2014: Serenade and Blossom Protect (Aureobasidium pullulans) three times during bloom

Supporting data is from spray records, farmer communication, crop monitoring records.

¹For information on common diseases and their management in California, see the University of California IPM Pest Management Guidelines:
• Peaches: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/selectnewpest.peach.html
• Apples/pears: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/selectnewpest.apples.html