With everything going on in the world around us, it would be nice if our orchards weren’t also under pressure from diseases right now, wouldn’t it? 

Unfortunately, with the wet weather we’ve had already this early spring, disease pressure is upon us and it’s something we need to be focused on in the short-term.

Right now, I’m hearing people already talking about Alternaria. You’ll want to start monitoring for Alternaria in the coming weeks, looking for fairly large brown spots on exposed leaves. If you have trees planted in an east-west direction and especially if you have susceptible varieties including Carmel, Sonora, Monterey, Winters and Butte, start looking for signs early so you can prevent widespread damage.

If you have a history of Alternaria in one of your orchards, you will want to be proactive and plan a three-spray application using both a contact and a preventive fungicide/bactericide in your tank mix. That’s where I recommend the use of LifeGard^®, a Biological Plant Activator featuring an SAR/IR mode of action and is tank-mix compatible with most conventional or soft fungicides on the market. LifeGard^® is NOP-Compliant and OMRI-Listed^®, so it’s flexible for use on organic or conventional orchards.

When you are scouting for Alternaria, be on the lookout for signs of blight in your orchards as well. If you see early signs of blight, act fast to avoid it eating into your nuts.  

I recommend using Double Nickel 55^® fungicide/bacteriacide or a combination of one of our awesome copper fungicide products, Kocide^®, plus mancozeb as the best choice for blight management. Now, thanks to its recent label expansion, tree nut growers can harness the power of both of these active ingredients with just one uniquely formulated, convenient product in ManKocide^® - which was made available earlier this month for this growing season. 

ManKocide^® is also labeled to control scab as well, so it’s a great tool to use in your overall IPM program right now just as diseases are ramping up. 

Remember, there is a lot of uncertainty in life these days. Even in the face of that, I hope you know that me and the entire Certis USA team has your back. You can find some useful COVID-19 resources if you follow us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and we are always available on the phone or by email to answer any questions you have or to fill orders.

We are proud to be your partner now, and always.