Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
very important. For one or two trees in
a home garden one of the all-purpose fruit
sprays or dusts now available under various
trade names may be satisfactory. Consult your
county agent for the schedule right for your
locality.
Monilinia laxa (Syn.
Sclerotinia laxa
).
Brown
Rot
, green and ripe fruit rot, blossom blight, on
almond, apple, apricot, cherry, peach, plum, pear,
nectarine, quince and Japanese quince in Wash-
ington, Oregon and California; also reported
from Wisconsin and Michigan. Although this
disease is similar to that caused by
M. fructicola
,
the blossom and twig blight phase is more impor-
tant than the brown rot. Sulfur, which can be used
in later sprays for most stone fruits, may injure
apricots.
Monilinia oxycocci (Syn.
Sclerotinia oxycocci
).
Cranberry Hard Rot
,
Tip Blight
in Pacific North-
west and Wisconsin. Young growing tips wilt
and dry just before blossoming; grayish spores
tufts are formed on tips. Fruit is attacked through
blossoms or wounds. The berries are yellowish
white, firm, leathery, cottony inside, turning
dark and mummifying late in the season. The
disease is too erratic to justify cost of regular
r i ; ln r t ill r t
overwintering.
Monilinia urnula (Syn.
Sclerotinia vaccinii-
corymbosi
).
Blueberry Brown Rot
,
Mummy
Berry
,
Twig Blight
of high bush blueberry, similar
to hard rot of cranberry. Varieties differ in sus-
ceptibility, with June and Rancocas often show-
ing severe primary infection.
Fig. 5
Brown Rot of Plums
Entrance is often through wounds made by the
plum curculio, oriental fruit moth and other
insects. Rotting and conidial production con-
tinue after picking.
The rot is favored by wet weather, conidia
germinating only in a film of water. Acid soil is
said to increase apothecial production from
mummies on the ground. In a normal season
reduction from blossom blight is not important
because some thinning is advantageous; but if
blossom blight is not prevented, inoculum is pro-
vided for the fruit rot that causes such enormous
losses.
Control
Sanitary measures are important. In
the small garden rake up and burn or bury
deeply the fallen mummies; pick mummies
from trees; cut out twigs showing gum; in
summer remove infected fruit before conidia
form. Standard control has been wettable sul-
fur sprays or sulfur dust, applied: every 3 or
4 days during bloom to control blossom blight;
when shucks are falling; 2 or 3 weeks after
shuckfall;and2to4weeksbeforefruitripens.
In some instances the newer organic fungicides
are preferred to sulfur, and sometimes they are
used with it. Control of the plum curculio is
Monilochaetes
Deuteromycetes, Hyphomycetes
Conidiophores dark, erect, slender, usually sim-
ple; septate; conidia hyaline or becoming
pigmented in age, borne singly at apex or pro-
duced in chains under conditions of high
humidity.
Monilochaetes infuscans
Root Rot
of weed
species of genus
Ipomoea
.
