BROWN ROT IN ORCHARDS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22335, 24 February 1938, Page 7

BROWN ROT IN ORCHARDS

*- —- CHEAP CONTROL METHOD SOUGHT INVESTIGATION BT PLANT RESEARCH DIVISION [THE PRESS Special Service.] AUCKLAND, February 23. Continued experiments are being conducted in Auckland by officers of the Plant Research Division to find an effective and economic method of controlling the incidetice df brown rot ihfectidn, which has again played havoc this sdasdh in stone fruit orchards in Auckland. It Is estimated that about 70 per ceiit. of the nectarines ahd peaches grdWn for city rfiafketS hive been defetfdyed. With the eaUse of the disease khowii, it is siid f 6 be possible to reduce losses by a scientific spraying programme, blit in a wet season the costs ihvdlved ih the extra work that is veeuiirad »

more or less prohibitive. The director of the newly-estab-lished plant research station at Mount Albert (Dr. G. H. Cunningham) said that one member of the staff was fully occupied ih attempting to fhake further improvements* on the methods of control. He was investigating the merits of ne\V types of sorays and was making variations in the times of aoplication and in the quantities aphliid to each tree, he added. ‘“Research has extended over the last three seasons, and this year the methods of control after picking hate been- more particularly investigated.” Dr. Cunningham explained. “The results cannot be achieved ih a day dr a month, and this type dl work is essentially a long-term investment. There is really little to announce at present. We can control brown rot. but in a wet, humid season the cost of the special spraying plan is too high for commercial growers. It is our aim to modify the system so as to make it thoroughly economic and practicable.”