I currently have an apricot, a sand cherry, and a flowering almond in various states of development. Beginning with the apricot, I have had teachers and others advise that I’m crazy for trying to work with ‘stone fruit’ species, because of our Wisconsin heat and humidity. I am now treating my apricot for the fourth time.
What I have recently learned about Coryneum [shothole] is that dormant spores reside in the crevices between buds and branches. The biggest single thing that one can do to prevent Infection is to avoid foliar watering, as this activates the dormant spores. In retrospect the apricot occupied a space next to a pillar on my porch, and it could sometimes be dry even when we got heavy rain because the overhang kept the rain off. It wasn’t until I started drenching the canopy that the problems appeared.
‘There’s an old German proverb to the effect that “We grow too soon old, and too late smart.”
