Brown rot - cultural control

  • Prune out brown rot cankers during winter pruning.
  • Similarly, remove mummies from the tree during pruning and, together with those under the tree, throw into the grass alley where they can be macerated by the mower.
  • During summer remove infected fruit as soon as they appear and throw into the alley where they can be macerated.
  • Remove waste fruit from early pollinator varieties and throw in the alley to be macerated so they are not a source of inoculum for the main orchard variety. Alternatively, when planning orchards, avoid using early varieties as pollinators.
  • At harvest selectively pick fruit so only sound fruit is placed in the bin. This will significantly reduce the incidence of brown rot in store.
  • Avoid damage to fruit, especially at harvest.
  • Cultural control is an important aspect of integrated control, but is only one contributory factor.