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IPM Scouting in Michigan Apples

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Sooty blotch and flyspeck
IPM scouting in Michigan apples > sooty blotch and flyspeck
Sooty blotch and flyspeck are fungal diseases that frequently occur together on apple fruit. Flyspeck appears as groups of small, shiny, black dots on the fruit surface. Sooty blotch appears as greenish irregular blotches or patches on the fruit surface. Individual blotches can grow together to form larger infected areas. Both diseases develop best under moist conditions (frequent rainfall and high humidity). They infect fruit from after petal fall through late summer. Optimizing air circulation around fruit by pruning the tree canopy and thinning fruit clusters can reduce incidence and severity of both diseases. Reduce inoculum by removing reservoir hosts, such as brambles, in and around the orchard.
Sooty blotch Flyspeck
Sooty blotch on Golden Delicious Flyspeck on Golden Delicious
Additional information
This information was developed from A Pocket Guide for IPM Scouting in Michigan Apples by David Epstein, Larry J. Gut and George W. Sundin. (Jones and Sutton, Diseases of Tree Fruits in the East, MSU Extension NCR45). Purchase this in a pocket-sized guide for reference in the orchard from MSU Extension (publication E-2720).

 

 

The MSU IPM Program maintains this site as an access point to pest management information at MSU. The IPM Program is administered within the Department of Entomology, fueled by research from the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, delivered to citizens through MSU Extension, and proud to be a part of Project GREEEN.
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Updated 7/23/07