By Terence Bradshaw While it’s beautiful out now on Sunday evening, we certainly saw a significant apple scab infection period over the past 24-36 hours in every orchard across the state. If you weren’t protected with good coverage of a … Continue reading →

By Terence Bradshaw Apple scab- this one is simple, we likely have an infection period coming on Saturday that will likely release another quarter or so of the season’s entire ascospore load. Every orchard needs to be covered for this … Continue reading →

By Terence Bradshaw Okay, today was wet. Without question this was a substantial apple scab infection period. Fire blight- I’m still on the fence an lean towards ‘not a problem’ unless you had a substantial amount last year and have … Continue reading →

By Terence Bradshaw I’ve had a number of people ask my thoughts on fire blight infection potential with today’s rains. I’ve looked at a couple of models, and generally, they hover around the point of calling or not calling an … Continue reading →

By Terence Bradshaw There are several key points to consider in managing apple crops this week: the lack of rain, and bloom. The dry weather has reduced scab infection pressure, but has also put developing ascospores into a brief ‘hibernation’ … Continue reading →

By Terence Bradshaw Many Vermont orchards hit the pink bud stage yesterday, which is an important time for crop management. The main concerns should be: apple scab, fire blight, and early season tree nutrition. For apple scab, NEWA is predicting … Continue reading →

By Terence Bradshaw Apple buds are rapidly expanding into tight cluster bud stage in most of Vermont, which sets the calendar close to ‘normal’ after the cool, slow start to the season. Apple scab infection periods have been somewhat scarce, … Continue reading →

By Terence Bradshaw Last week, apple buds in the traditional growing regions in the Champlain and Connecticut Valleys and Bennington County moved into the green tip stage which triggers the beginning of primary infection season for apple scab. Many weren’t … Continue reading →

By Terence Bradshaw I hope everyone’s ‘second winter’ is going well. While we’ve had some pretty good cold snaps this week, I don’t expect that the warm spell in February significantly reduced apple bud hardiness. Time will tell, however, if … Continue reading →