Pecan Diseases and Pests and Their Control — John Shaqi
Pecan Diseases and Pests and Their ControlRosburg, David W.
Science
Pecan Diseases and Pests and Their Control
Rosburg, David W.
Pecan -- Diseases and pests; Pecan -- Diseases and pests -- Control
Vein spot disease is caused by the fungus _Gnomonia nerviseda_. The
symptoms of the disease are similar to the leaf lesion symptoms of scab
disease, but vein spot disease, unlike scab disease, affects only the
leaves. Lesions of vein spot disease develop on the veins or stems of
leaflets and leaves, are usually less than one-fourth inch in diameter
and are characteristically dark brown to black. Leaflets and leaf stems
which are severely affected drop, resulting in premature defoliation.
The fungus lives in fallen leaves over the winter. The following spring
when temperature and moisture conditions are favorable, spores formed in
special structures called perithecia are forcibly discharged into the
air and carried by wind currents to the newly formed spring foliage,
initiating primary infections.
_Control._—See spray schedule, page 4.
LEAF BLOTCH
Leaf blotch disease is caused by the fungus _Mycosphaerella dendroides_
(Cke.) Demaree and Cole. The disease occurs mainly in trees of poor
vigor, which may be due to neglect, infertile soil, rosette or
overcrowding. Nursery trees are particularly susceptible to the disease.
The fungus overwinters in fallen leaves. In the early spring, large
numbers of spores produced in the old leaves on the ground are carried
by wind currents to the young leaves in the tree, where they germinate
and rapidly invade the tender leaf tissue.
The disease symptoms first appear on the undersurface of mature leaves
in early summer, as small olive-green velvety spots. By midsummer black
pimplelike dots become especially noticeable in the leaf spots after the
surface spore masses have been removed by wind and rain, giving the
diseased areas of the leaves a black, shiny appearance. When the disease
is severe, infected leaflets are killed, which causes defoliation of the
trees in late summer or early fall and results in reduced tree vigor and
increased susceptibility to disease and insect attack.
_Control._—Leaf blotch disease can be controlled effectively in the
early spring by disking under old fallen leaves that harbor the fungus
pathogen.
In areas where a spray program for the control of scab disease is
carried out, leaf blotch usually is not a damaging disease. In
localities where leaf blotch disease occurs in the absence of other
pecan diseases, two applications of fungicide will control the disease
effectively. The first spray should be applied after pollination when
the tips of the nutlets have turned brown and the second spray
application should be made 3 to 4 weeks later. See spray schedule, page
4.
CROWN GALL
Crown gall disease, caused by the bacterium _Agrobacterium tumefaciens_
(E. F. and Town.) Conn., often is damaging to pecan trees. Nursery trees
as well as trees in bearing pecan orchards are susceptible to the
disease.
[Illustration: Figure 2. Brown leaf spot diseased pecan leaflet
showing typical symptoms. Lesions are circular to irregular in
shape.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account