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Summer Pruning as a Method for Reducing Flyspeck Disease on Apple Fruit

October 1997 , Volume 81 , Number  10
Pages  1,123 - 1,126

Daniel R. Cooley , Assistant Professor , James W. Gamble , Research Technician, Department of Microbiology , and Wesley R. Autio , Associate Professor, Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003



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Accepted for publication 4 June 1997.
ABSTRACT

Summer pruning of apples, as opposed to the conventional commercial practice of dormant pruning, consistently reduced the incidence of flyspeck on apple fruit by approximately 50% in each of 2 years in trees where no fungicides were applied. In commercial orchard blocks using fungicides, summer pruning also produced a slight but significant decrease in disease severity. There appear to be at least two mechanisms contributing to decreased flyspeck incidence and severity in summer-pruned apple trees. Summer pruning resulted in a small change in the apple canopy microclimate, decreasing the hours of relative humidity >95% in the canopy by 63% and increasing the evaporative potential. Summer pruning also resulted in improved spray deposition in the upper two-thirds of the tree canopy when applications were made with an airblast sprayer.


Additional keywords: cultural control, integrated pest management, plant canopy

© 1997 The American Phytopathological Society