This summer had been wet and humid in SE Kansas. Pop-up thunderstorms have been frequent and those wet spots in the pecan grove never seem to dry up completely. Needless to say, this has been an ideal year for the spread of pecan diseases. Today, I was out looking at some un-managed pecan trees and I found a tree with a terrible case of pecan scab (photo at right). With an infection this bad in early July, I can guarantee you that these nuts will never yield salable pecans in the Fall. Spraying pecans with a well established scab infection like the one pictured will not cure this disease. Fungicides are only effective in preventing disease infection. This is why I've tried to stay ahead of scab this year by making multiple fungicide applications.
I made my third fungicide application today.
Insect pressure on our pecan trees in the area has been light. Today, I noticed my first Fall webworm colony (photo at left). The dirty white web located near the bottom of this native tree's canopy contains larvae from the first summer generation of Fall webworm. A second generation usually appears in August at a time we are often spraying for pecan weevil.
