By: John McLemore, County Extension Agent
From an article by Dr. Lenny Wells, UGA Extension Pecan Specialist
I hope you all are staying safe amid the coronavirus concerns out there right now. Unfortunately as many of you know we have had to cancel our last four county meetings of the year (Wilcox, Jenkins, Brooks, and Dougherty) as well as the Georgia Pecan Growers Association Conference. We will be getting the county meeting presentations up on our website soon. I will send out a quick blog post to provide the link for those if you need them.
Usually this time of year, as bud break is nearing (I began to see bud break on Cape Fear last week), I send out an example fungicide program. Again, there are many such programs that one could put together. Based on Dr. Tim Brenneman’s research results, I feel that the following would be good choices. You will see one program for highly scab susceptible varieties (think Desirable, Pawnee, Cunard) and another for more moderately susceptible varieties.
The important thing to remember is to rotate chemistries and use the fungicides to their strengths. Group 3 + Group 11 materials are excellent on leaf scab when combined and work well on nut scab too. Phosphites make a great leaf scab material and can be used alone at the 2 qt rate. Miravis Top is a superb new material that provides an additional chemistry to throw in the mix and should be focused on nut scab. Elast and Tin both work better on nut scab than on leaf scab and when combined are an excellent choice for nut scab.
Program for Highly Scab Susceptible Varieties:
Absolute
Phosphite (2 qt/acre rate)
Absolute
Phosphite (2 qt/acre rate)
Miravis Top (this should be about the time nut sizing begins)
Elast/Tin
Miravis Top
Elast/Tin
Miravis Top
Elast/Tin
(Continue with Elast/Tin or rotate with Absolute if additional sprays needed beyond this point.)
Program for Moderately Susceptible Varieties:
Phosphite (2 qt rate)
Absolute
Phosphite (2 qt rate)
Group 3 +Tin
Absolute (or Miravis Top if pressure is high)
Tin (full rate)
Group 3 + Tin (or Elast/Tin if pressure is high)
Tin (full rate)
For more information please contact Coffee County Extension at 912-384-1402.