DISEASE IN FRUIT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4472, 13 February 1917, Page 3

DISEASE IN FRUIT.

WHAT RIPE ROT MEANS METHOD OF COMBATING IT. Fungus attacking plums, nectarines and peaches has this season caused considerable los s of fruit, growers, fruiterers, and consumers suffering alike. This fungus, which is known as brown rot or ripe rot —monilia fructigena—causes apparently good fruit to deteriorate rapidly, rendering imperative the daily “culling” of fruit in store. The following description, supplied by an expert as to the c ■ sense and the method of control, should help those who are in the dark with regard to thi s disease. One or more biov nish •spots appear and these gradually increase in size until they meet, when tiie fruit collapses md becomes covered with a greyish mould, in the orchard, the fruit thus attacked, stays hanging to the tree, and assists in carrying tne disease by means of spores, which mature in the spring, and, should condition be favourable, attack the young twigs, the haves, and the developing fruit.

STEPS OF ERADICATION Any person, either crchai dist or even the grower of a single stone fruit tree, who desires to fn lit the trouble, should get to work at orce by cutting out all dead munches, and burning them. It is a simple and effective help towards successful control, and is easier at this lime of the year than if left to the dormant set son, as such diseased branches may be quickly distinguished from the healthy i_s owing to the lack of foliage. All disease fruit s' oidd l-»* puked off the tree and off He ground. and burned. Later on, when the leaves fall, as many as possible should be raked up and burned, and the trees sprayed with bluestone, 11b to -0 gallons of water, and again as the buds begin to swell, with Bordeaux Mixture — 61b bluestone, 41b roche lime to of. gallons of water. Many growers do their utmost, but their efforts are lost through being the unfortunate neighbours of men who take no interest in their own trees, and far less in Their neighbours’. Many, however, who neglect their trees do so out of sheer ignorance, and a season like This, when diseases are causing such havoc, comes as a. blessing in disguise, as it awakens the spirit of inquiry. DISEASE ATTACKING APPLES. The apple also suffers from a disease similar in appearance and effect to that attacking stone fruits, _ but in reality quite different. This is known by the name of Bitter Rot —Glomerella rufo maculans. Spores are produced and carried over from season to season on diseased- fruit and dead branches. The same method of control should be practiced as for The Ripe RoT. In picking apples for The market, great care should he taken not to bruise the fruit, as the. disease finds easy access into such damaged patches and rapidly develops, and a year’s care and toil will not sufffee to check its course.