Etiology and Control of Cherry Leaf Spot Disease in Israel Caused by Cercospora circumscissa. Abraham Sztejnberg, Senior Lecturer, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Agriculture, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Plant Dis. 70:349-351. Accepted for publication 2 July 1985. Copyright 1986 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-70-349.

A leaf spot disease causing early, severe defoliation of sweet and sour cherry trees was observed in Israel. The causal agent was identified as Cercospora circumscissa. Leaf symptoms consisted of round, light brown, necrotic spots with brownish red edges that frequently dropped out leaving shothole symptoms. All commercial cultivars of sweet and sour cherry were susceptible. The pathogen overwintered as stromata on debris of diseased leaves in the orchard. In the spring, these stromata developed characteristic conidiophores and conidia. Four applications of either benomyl, thiabendazole, or maneb applied from mid-April at monthly intervals efficiently controlled the disease, whereas triforine, captan, triadimefon, and benadonil failed to do so.