Protect Your Tree Nut Orchard From Yield-Robbing Disease
{Sponsored} Tree nuts are susceptible to a variety of diseases that thrive in the humid, wet weather that occurs in the spring and can be harmful to growing nuts, halting or damaging the health of the tree. If not managed effectively, these diseases can greatly impact yield and quality potential. Proactive planning and knowing what to look for are the foundation of disease management when combatting these early-season tree nut diseases.
“Diseases have made a significant impact on yield and quality in 2022,” says Garrett Gilcrease, agronomic service representative at Syngenta.
Scouting for difficult diseases
Gilcrease says the top diseases for almond growers to be aware of during bloom are brown rot, blossom blight and botrytis. Throughout petal fall, scab, rust and shot hole should be top of mind. For pistachio and walnut growers, botrytis poses a threat early in the season with Botryosphaeria and Alternaria arising later.
- Alternaria leaf spot is a more common leaf disease prevalent in the spring and summer that causes large brown spots on leaves that turn black as the fungus produces spores. Like many diseases, it can overwinter in plant debris from the previous year and favors high humidity and wet springtime weather. Keep an eye out for leaf spots to prevent potential yield loss and defoliation.
- Blossom blight is one of the most devastating diseases an almond tree might encounter because it can kill an entire stem. The pathogen infects the tree early in the season, collapsing young blossom spurs and leaves from shoot blight, leading to gum at the base of infected flowers and cankers on twigs. Stay ahead of this disease through good orchard sanitation and a first fungicide application just before bloom in the pink bud stage.
Protect Your Tree Nuts From Pathogens
In the same way disease presents in humans, many pathogens wreak havoc on a tree system before showing visible signs of disease. Preventive applications of an efficacious, broad-spectrum fungicide are the best way to protect your tree nut orchards from an array of devastating diseases.
“Not only do you get excellent disease control when we’re talking about hard to control diseases like Alternaria, botryosphaeria and blossom blight, but you’re also getting some stomotil control through water use efficiency,” says Gilcrease. “That’s why we see lots of yield and quality increases when using Miravis Duo fungicide in comparison to without it.”
On top of broad-spectrum disease control, Miravis® Duo fungicide also has plant health benefits.
“Plant health and crop protection go hand in hand, and the cleaner part of the plant health benefit you get is through elevated fungal control,” says Gilcrease. “When fungal pathogens are present, we have a higher degree of control, reducing stressors on the plant and allowing more yield potential. Miravis Duo fits in that box perfectly.”
