For the past 10 - 14 days or so we have had a slump in supply of fresh out of the orchard peaches. Primary factor atributing to this seems to be the late March freeze. Many varieties, especially those in the 650 to 750 chill hour range when the freeze hit ended up with a light crop. I believe the volume will be picking up as we move along from here out.

Brown rot has been more prevalent in some orchards this year with more rainfall occuring in mid-June. We have been about 10-14 days now without a thunder shower here at our Research and Extension facility but, where brown rot has started it seems to be a little harder for us to slow down. This brings several important things to mind.
1) Open up centers of trees if possible. This will increase spray penetration and reduce drying time.

2) Use sufficient spray water volume. Full canopy mature trees will need from 100 to 130 gallons per acre.

3) Spray every row. Alternate row sprays while sufficient for insect control will not provide sufficient coverage for brown rot control.

4) Be sure to use the proper rate of a recommended fungicide and rotate chemical classes (see Peach IPM Guides).

5) If possible remove damaged or diseased fruit from the tree while picking. Take care not to damage marketable fruit since brown rot spores are waiting for a nick or cut to sporulate on.

6) Control (to extent possible) piercing sucking insects such as leaffooted bugs and stink bugs. Since many of our insecticides that would be effective for these pests have a 14 day pre-harvest interval control approaching harvest and during harvest is more difficult. Cyfluthrin (7d phi), beta cyfluthrin (7d phi), malathion (7d phi) and carbaryl (3d phi) can be used closer than 14 days.

Dr. Guido Schnabel and others from Clemson have developed a rapid test for brown rot resistence. We are using this method to check brown rot samples in Alabama. So far we have not found any resistence in the infected fruit we have sampled. We will be continuing to sample fruit over the next couple of weeks.

This time of the year we often get thunderstorms popping up across Alabama. Often these systems bring more than rainfall. Yesterday was a good example in central Alabama. Severe thunderstorms entered the area brining over 2" of rain and also hail to some locations.

The path of the hailstorm does not appear to have been extensive but, fruiting crops in this path did receive some damage. Growers should evaluate their orchards if they suspect hail damage might have occurred. With strong winds, finding leaves on the ground does not necessarily mean hail but, finding tattered leaves is a good indication to begin looking around at the fruit.

Damaged fruit can quickly develop fungal infections, especially fruit near maturity. For peaches there are a couple of good "kickback" fungicides that can be applied within 24 hours of the damage and provide control and protection. Damaged areas on green fruit should heal over within four to seven days depending on the extent of damage.

Be sure to follow label directions and keep in mind the reentry interval and preharvest interval of the product(s) you choose to use.

Light Hail Damage

Moderate Hail Damage

Severe Hail Damage

Chilton Research and Extension Center, Central Alabama

Plum curculio larvae that entered the soil approximately April 30 have begun emerging as adults this week. Traps that were set out under peach trees began capturing newly emerged adults Tuesday, May 27. I had placed some larvae in a jar here in my office and the first new adult emerged Wednesday, one day later.

Appears that the majority of new adults coming out are males. Females will soon be following and egg lay will likely begin during the week of June 9th. In our targeted pesticide study we will make our 3rd plum curculio insecticide application next week. Populations of over-wintering adults were lower this year, however, with each female capable of over 100 eggs the population will likely be increasing through the remainder of the summer. This will increase over-wintering adults for 2009.

Leaffooted bugs have been seen in abundance on a number of fruit; peaches, blackberries, and blueberries. On fruit such as peaches the damage is not as noticable unless brown rot disease pressure increases. When this occurs we often see leaffooted bug and stink bug damaged fruit develop brown rot in the area of feeding. This is more often the case within the two week period of final fruit swell. One problem for controlling stink and related insects during final swell is being able to use effective insecticides during that time frame. Phosmet (Imidan) has a preharvest interval of 14 days as well as Asana, Ambush, Pounce, Proaxis, Silencer, and Warrior. Cyfluthrin products, Baythroid, Renounce, and Tombstone can be used up to 7 day preharvest interval.

** We are seeing some two-spotted spider mite problems in blackberries so over use of pyrethroids and drying conditions might cause flareup in peaches.

Peach crop is sizing well and growers are picking up volume as we move through the early peahes. Some varieties have considerable split-pit resulting from cultivar type and excessive thinning from March 25th freeze. Flavor has been excellent of the fruit I've tried.

Light amounts of brown rot and rhizopus rot are showing up. Some preharvest water sprout removal and thinning out the tree middles will help. One of the biggest factors for effective control is water volume and coverage.

Hope to get a report from other areas of Alabama and include this information soon.

Witin the last few days (April 30) plum curculio are exiting small infested fruit and entering the soil. Looking at previous years it will take approximately 4 weeks for adult emergence to occur. I expect new adults to begin emergence here at the Chilton Research and Extension Center to occur during the week of May 26th.

I've placed larvae into my emergence jar here in the office so I should be able to get adult emergence about 2-3 days sooner than in the field. I'll post this information as soon as it occurs.

Peach fruit continue to grow well, especially fruit that were thinned early by either the freeze in late March or early hand thinning. On trees that set a heavy crop and had slow leaf development we are seeing a high number of aborting fruit. In most cases a shoot will retain 1 - 3 larger fruit that appear to be growing and should continue.

Growers are finishing up hand thinning opertations and continue pest management activities. No major pest problems have been observed in the central part of the peach growing area. Plum curculio numbers remain low but, steady. Rainfall has been adequate.