Summer Pruning as a Method for Reducing Flyspeck Disease on Apple Fruit
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Staining the Cytoplasmic Ca2+ with Fluo-4/AM in Apple Pulp
Published on: November 6, 2021
Daniel R Cooley1, James W Gamble2, Wesley R Autio3
1Assistant Professor.
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.
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