The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1914-06-26
BITTER ROT OF APPLES

D'N - sNSN aPPito AVN wv
ter rot last year? Or the year be.
fore? If so, now is the time to plan
and carry out campaign against it
says the State Fruit Experiment Sta.
ton at Mountain Grove, Mo. To dc
this requires that you should be abls
to recognize it in the early stages, and
understand how il spreads and how
it is carried over from year to year.
The disease usually appears about
siX TO eight weeks after the petals
have fallen. In Southern Missouri
this means from about the middle of
June to the first of July. in Norfhern
Missouri a week to ten days later. II
may appear earlier if the summer is
hot and rainey or it may be delayed
until August if the first months of
summer are dry. 1t first shows MS
faint light brown spots in the skin of
The nearly full-nrown apple. The
pots increase in size rapidly and be-
come darker brown and sunken as
they grow older. When they are from
one-quarter Of an inch in diameter
mall black spots appear, usually ar
.dnged IN circles around the center of
he spots. These are the spre pus-
'ules from which ozze out pink sticky
masses Of spores that spread the dis
case to other apples and other trees.
As decay continues the apples fall To
the ground worthless, and the orchard
lists sees promising crop ruined and
Iost.
Bitter rot is carried over from year
to year in two different ways. First,
by diseased apples which dry up in
to the So-called mummies and hang on
the trees all winter. Second, by di-
seased spots canker- on fruit
purs, small twigs, and on limbs up
TO three and four inches in diameter.
They may occur in the lower part of
the tree but are usually found in the
upper part. With moist hot weather
about the last of June or the first
week of July the mummies and can
kers produce millions of bitted rot
spores which are washed by rains or
heavy dews onto nearby apples and
from one apple to another, and so
start an epidemic of the disease. In
fact, the surest way To find bitter rot
cankers and mummies that have been
overlooked in the cleanup is to keep
a sharp watch for the first infected
apples, since these are practically
certain to be located near some can
Eer or mummy.
There is good reason also for be-
lieving that wind and insects help to
spread these spores, but as already
stated, the most important agents are
rains and heavy dews.
From all Of this it is easy to see
that the first thing to do in controll-
ing bitter rot is to pick all the dead
apples on the trees and get rid Of the
If the limbs are relatively
mall remove them entirely: if more
than two or three inches in diameter
dig out the cankered spots and paint
them over with white lead and lin
seed oil. Be sure to burn all the
and diseased limbs.
This work is very important. but
II, alone, will not control bitter rot,
simply because no one, can he sure,
even after the most careful search,
Of getting absolutely all the mummies
and cankers. II must be followed by
careful spraying preferably with Bor-
deauX mixture ALSO or 1850, to
avoid the -usset!ng that follows late
in summer. For curculio and late
brood of codling moth add arsenate
of lead at the rate of four pounds of
the paste, or two pounds If the powder
ed form is used, per 100 gallons. In
either case use, also, 4 pounds of lime
PEI 100, to avoid any possibility of
injury with the lead.
For successful control of bitter rot
four applications of bordeaux mix
.urc are necessary. made at intervals
IF two or three weeks between the
asst OF July and the middle of Au-
gust. Fairly satisfactory results can
DC obtained, however, from three or
even two applications, especially i'll
he season is only moderately rainy
md bitter rot has not been bad in the
orchard before. If three applications
ire made the first should be put on
Ibout the first of july. the second
Turing the last week of July, the third
lbout the middle of August. If only
.wo sprays are used they should go
IN about month apart, beginning
he first of July. Conditions viii
'eed to he very favorable, though, If
NO sprayisgs give satisfactory re-
'ulS. III many spotted apples show
Up soon after the first spraying, an
'ther application should I've, made inn
the following list or varieties gives
frst, those most susceptible to bitter
-ot and ends with those least suscep-
ible. More frequent spraying win
20 required of course TO control the
disease on the first class than on the
asst.
L Willow Twig and Huntsman.
9. Ben Davis, Gano. Ingram,
Smith, Rome Beauty, York Imperial,
Clayton, Nickajack and Nixonite.
8. Lowell, Porter and Maiden
Blush
4. Arkansas, Arkansas Black, Jon
sthan, Grimes, Winesap and Gilpih.
OF course all of the, work recon-
nended here means expense. This
expense is small, however. compared
With the loss of che seasons crop.
And the man who has once been hit by
hitter rot knows what that means.
For further assistance or Informa-
,..,, A. a.. ~.