Charles R. Krause, Richard C. Derksen, LeonaE. Horst, Ross D. Brazee, Michael G. Klein, and MichaelE. Reding, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Application Technology Research Unit, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), The Ohio State University, Wooster, Ohio; Randall Zondag, Ohio State University Extension, Lake County.
Production of woody environmental and floral crops represents more than 12% of American agricultural receipts. Unfortunately, fungus diseases like apple scab, caused by Venturia ineaqualis, result in millions of dollars of nursery crop losses each year. Effective fungicides must be applied to produce aesthetically pleasing plants.
New guidelines for registering, using, and maintaining pesticides through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were created by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA-96) and require information on how pesticides are used.
Research is crucial on fungicide spray methods related to efficacy. Assessment in past studies involved only macroscopic disease ratings. More complete knowledge of the fate and behavior of fungicides will lead to reduced pesticide use with less off-target deposition.
The purposes of this study were to directly evaluate and correlate the fungicide coverage with the amount of apple scab disease; to assess the effects of sprayer/nozzle type on efficacy and disease control; and to assess any drift or non-target deposition from two types of sprayers in nurseries.