February 15th 2012 Issue

Strategies for controlling bacterial spot

Growers in the eastern United States should select peach varieties that are resistant to the disease.

The O’Henry peach variety is a poster child, highly susceptible to bacterial spot. Symptoms include fruit spots, leaf spots, and twig cankers. Bacterial spot is a serious problem for peach growers in the eastern United States, but no big worry for western growers. This has effectively divided the country on which peach varieties they grow. Western peach breeders rarely screen for bacterial spot resistance, while for eastern growers, resistance is a primary tool for control. Dr. David Ritchie, a plant pathologist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh and a leading authority on the disease, spoke about it during the […]

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February 15, 2012

Pest Management, Stone fruits, Diseases, Richard Lehnert

Richard Lehnert

After growing up on a Michigan dairy farm, Richard Lehnert began writing about farming in 1962, while still a junior studying journalism at Michigan State University. He worked at newspapers for a year before joining the staff of Michigan Farmer, where he spent 26 years, the last 15 as chief editor. He was a member of the staff of Good Fruit Grower from 2010 until 2015. Read his stories: Story Index

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