The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), is a significant pest in numerous food and fibre crops and ornamental plants, and is considered to be a key pest in regions with temperate climates.
This mite is also considered the most polyphagous within the Tetranychidae family (Van de Vrie, 1985). Due to its elevated reproduction rate and short life cycle, this mite can reach economic thresholds quickly.
The rapid increase in population densities in turn leads to the use of acaricides, which negatively affect the abundance of natural enemies. In addition, the rapid development of resistance to common chemical pesticides continues to make the control of this pest a true challenge.
Thus, two key aspects, which must be kept in mind in Integrated Pest management (IPM) strategies against T. urticae are the protection of natural enemies and the use of selective acaricides with diverse modes of action.
One basic feature of IPM is the use of biological control agents compatible with chemical pesticides, which is not only effective but also engenders fewer toxicological problems and protects the environment.
Natural and post-harvest ethylene-induced pigment changes in the rind of Satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marc.) fruits respond differently to the exogenous application of growth regulators.
Both gibberellin A3 and the synthetic cytokinins N6-benzyladenine and kinetin opposed the ethylene-induced chlorophyll destruction, while the loss of chlorophyll during natural maturation was retarded by the gibberellin but not by the cytokinins.
This different behaviour suggests that ethylene may not be playing a central role in the endogenous control of ripening.
Carotenoid accumulation during natural maturation is apparently controlled through a different mechanism than chlorophyll loss since it is reduced both by the cytokinins and gibberellin A3.
Kinetin and gibberellin A3 increased to a similar extent the accumulation of reducing sugars and free amino acids, and reduced that of non-reducing sugars in the peel during natural maturation.
Their differential effect on chlorophyll loss may not be explained through their effects on sugar accumulation.
Gibberelin Gibberellic acid (also called Gibberellin A3, GA, and GA3) is a hormonefound in plants and fungi .
Its chemical formula is C19H22O6. When purified, it is a white to pale-yellow solid. Plants in their normal state produce large amounts of GA3.
It is possible to produce the hormone industrially using microorganisms. Nowadays, it is produced by submerse fermentation, but this process presented low yield with high production costs and hence higher prices.
One alternative process to reduce costs of the GA3 production is Solid-State Fermentation (SSF) that allows the use of agro-industrial residues.
Gibberellic acid is a simple gibberellin, a pentacyclic diterpene acid promoting growth and elongation of cells. It affects decomposition of plants and helps plants grow if used in small amounts, but eventually plants develop tolerance to it. GA stimulates the cells of germinating seeds to produce mRNA molecules that code for hydrolytic enzymes.
Gibberellic acid is a very potent hormone whose natural occurrence in plants controls their development. Since GA regulates growth, applications of very low concentrations can have a profound effect while too much will have the opposite effect. It is usually used in concentrations between 0.01 and 10 mg/L.
GA was first identified in Japan in 1926, as a metabolic by-product of the plant pathogen Gibberella fujikuroi (thus the name), which afflicts rice plants; fujikuroi-infected plants develop bakanae (“foolish seedling”), which causes them to grow so much taller than normal that they die from no longer being sturdy enough to support their own weight.Gibberellins have a number of effects on plant development.
They can stimulate rapid stem and root growth, induce mitotic division in the leaves of some plants, and increase seed germination rate.Gibberellic acid is sometimes used in laboratory and greenhouse settings to trigger germination in seeds that would otherwise remain dormant.
It is also widely used in the grape-growing industry as a hormone to induce the production of larger bundles and bigger grapes, especially Thompson seedless grapes.
In the Okanagan and Creston valleys, it is also used as a growth replicator in the cherry industry.
It is used on Clementine Mandarin oranges, which may otherwise cross-pollinate with other citrus and grow undesirable seeds.
Applied directly on the blossoms as a spray, it allows for Clementines to produce a full crop of fruit without seeds.
Fungicides that control early and late leaf spot in peanut
chlorothalonil
tebuconazole
tebuconazole + prothioconazole
propiconazole plus chlorothalonil
propiconazole plus trifloxystrolin
tebuconazole plus trifloxystrobin
azoxystrobin
pyraclostrobin
fluoxastrobin
boscalid
Many populations of leaf spot pathogens appear to be insensitive to tebuconazole. Performance of tebuconazole can be improved by mixing it with 12 to 16 oz. chlorothalonil. Tebuconazole can also be mixed with thiophanate methyl.
Qo inhibitors (QoI), or quinone outside inhibitors, are a group of fungicides used in agriculture. They represent the most important development made in fungicides by the chemicals industry. QoI are chemical compounds which act at the quinol outer binding site of the cytochrome bc1 complex.
QoI’s are the resulting fusion of three fungicides families, the well-known family of strobilurins and two new families, represented by fenamidone and famoxadone. Some strobilurins are azoxystrobin, kresoxim-methyl, picoxystrobin, pyraclostrobin, and trifloxystrobin.
These fungicides are used on a wide range of crops, such as cereals, vines, pome fruits, cucurbits, tomatoes and potatoes.
For example, they are used as fungicides for cereals, against Erysiphe graminis f.sp tritici responsible for the powdery mildew in wheat or against Septoria tritici, responsible for septoria leaf spot in wheat.
They are also commonly used for vine culture, against Plasmopara viticola, responsible for downy mildew or in oïdium treatment.
Note: All these fungicides are in the same cross-resistance group (same mode of action) and must be managed carefully to avoid the appearance of fungicide resistance. Some fungicide resistance has been observed in most crops (such as in the case of wheat powdery mildew), so the application of QoI products should respect effective rates and intervals to provides time and space when the pathogen population is not influenced by the product selection pressure.
Low power image of sporulating acervuli on the underside of a tart cherry leaf;
Close up of the formation of an acervulus on the underside of a tart cherry leaf.
Resistance
There are no resistant varieties available on the commercial market yet. However, researchers have found the a wild type gene linked to the resistance. They are currently crossbreeding the wild lines with commercial cultivars and beginning to carry out field trials. No data is available yet.
Small or backyard growers
For small or backyard growers, collecting and destroying all leaf debris on the ground is an absolute necessity due to the potency of this disease because the fungus overwinters in this leftover leaf litter. This is its main form of survival. By removing and destroying these leaves, a grower can significantly decrease the amount of primary inoculum available in the spring. It will greatly decrease the apparent infection rate. There has also been a study done on the addition of a straw mulch bedding to the ground after all the leaves have been picked up. The addition of this mulch further reduced the spring infection rate. Leaf litter removal is not very practical for large commercial growers due labor needs and number of trees but if at all possible, a majority of the old leaves should try to be collected.
When planting, growers should select locations which have a large amount of direct sunlight such as a south facing slope. Proper pruning should also be completed to increase the amount of sunlight penetration and air circulation through the canopy. Any practice that increases the faster drying of leaves will help reduce the risk of infection. Growers may also consider making an after harvest fungicide application using a combination of Benomyl (50% WP)and Captan (50% WP) at rates of 1/4 Tablespoon and 2 Tablespoons respectively per gallon of water. This will help reduce the rate at which pathogens may develop resistance to Benomyl products. Prior to shuck split, the recommended fungicide for cherry leaf spot is chlorothalonil (Bravo and generics).This fungicide is a multi-site protectant and is excellent for leaf spot control and is not at risk for fungicide resistance development. At least two applications of chlorothalonil should be made before shuck split with the goal to minimize the potential of infection at this early stage.
Commercial growers
For commercial growers, the disease is primarily controlled by use of fungicide sprays. Fungicides are much more effective when applied early in the season when the inoculum load is low as cherry leaf spot is a prolific, unrelenting, tireless disease.
Fungicide applications should begin at petal fall or shortly after leaves have unfolded. These sprays should continue on a schedule of every 7–10 days until harvest. Upon harvest, one or two postharvest applications should be administered, beginning 2–3 weeks after harvest. It is suggested that spraying alternate sides of trees on a 7-day program is more effective than spraying both sides of trees on a 10-day schedule.
Michigan State University suggests getting an early start on protection before the fungus starts infecting for the production year. This means that growers should spray the at the bract leaf stage with chlorothalonil (Bravo and generics). These bract leaves open prior to bloom, which means bract leaves could be infected early, before petal fall. Typically the first fungicide application is recommended around petal fall, but due to the early and epidemic levels of infection in found in 2012, the first application should be applied earlier.
Significant infection was also found in the bract leaves in mid- to late June 2012. This was particularly surprising because the weather conditions were not notably conductive to the super development of cherry leaf spot infection. These early and significantly strong infection rates indicate that the fungus is evolving and becoming resistant to certain fungicide treatments. Control programs will need to be altered to keep up with the genetic advancement of the fungus. These earlier infections are a concern because once infection occurs; more spores will be produced from the lesions (conidia) than the leaf debris (ascospores) on the ground. These conidia are much more potent than ascospores in terms of infection rate.
In addition, spores from the lesions are much closer to new uninfected leaves than the spores from the leaf debris on the ground. Due to the smaller distance, infection will occur much quicker. Dr. George Sundin, a professor and fruit extension specialist from Michigan State University advocates that the new chemistries of succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors (SDHIs) are also effective in controlling cherry leaf spot. Pristine was registered in 2004. It is a premix of boscalid (SDHI) and pyraclostrobin (strobilurin). This has been indicated effective at a rate of 10.5 oz/acre. Other SDHIs that may be effective in cherry leaf spot control include fluopyram (a pyramide manufactured by Bayer AG under the name “Luna”) and fluxapyroxad (a pyrazole-carboxamide manufactured by BASF SE under the name Merivon).
Sterol demethylation inhibitor (DMI) fungicides including fenarimol, fenbuconazole, myclobutanil, and tebuconazole were used immensely in the 1980s and 1990s. The efficacy of DMI fungicides has decreased dramatically in recent years and have not been used greatly since 2002.
In an effort to keep a high level of diversity in the cherry fungicide programs and reduce the amount of resistance building up to the DMI fungicides, copper based fungicides can be used with great efficacy to battle the fungus. However, the copper application is associated with noticeable leaf bronzing. There has been great concern that this bronzing causes a highly negative effect on the photosynthetic integrity of the leaves which in turn decreases the number of fruits per shoot, fresh fruit weight, and soluble solids concentration of the mature fruit. It has been scientifically proven that the standard application of copper based fungicides does not have any adverse effects on the developing fruit.
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