Written by: Roger Duncan, Brent Holtz, David Doll and Themis Michailides
Earlier this spring, we received reports from growers and pest control advisors that they had observed a few San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced County almond orchards with large amounts of amber-colored gum balls exuding from the hulls. The damage has been predominantly on ‘Fritz,’ but there are reports of similar damage on ‘Monterey’ and ‘Padre.’ In some orchards, Fritz is severely affected while the Nonpareil and other pollinators are very clean.
Samples from affected orchards were sent to University of California plant pathologists, Themis Michailides and Jim Adaskaveg. Both scientists confirmed that the lesions were caused by the bacterium, Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni, the bacterium that causes bacterial spot of almond and stone fruit. This is the first report of this disease on almond in the San Joaquin Valley. Although these orchards have apparently had the problem for multiple years in a row, the symptoms were misdiagnosed as leaf footed bug feeding injury or anthracnose. Dr. Michailides isolated the same organism from an almond orchard in Colusa County in 2006.
The symptoms of bacterial spot include multiple lesions on the hulls with large balls of amber colored “gum” or “sap”. Over time, these spots can grow into slightly depressed lesions on the hull. Eventually the infected nuts may shrivel and fall from the tree. Occasionally angular leaf spots can be seen, but this is not (so far) a major part of the disease and can be hard to find. Bacterial spot can be confused with leaf footed bug feeding injury or anthracnose. Unlike leaf-footed bug feeding injury which exudes clear balls or strings of gum, injury from bacterial spot causes amber colored gum. In addition, cutting into a hull damaged by leaf footed bug often reveals evidence of a puncture wound through the hull and into the shell. This characteristic is absent with bacterial spot. Because this is a bacterial disease, there are no fungal spores present. This is in contrast with anthracnose-infected almonds which generally have pink or orange colored spores present within the lesions. In addition, anthracnose often leads to shoot death. This has not been observed so far with bacterial spot.
Bacterial spot is a common problem in Australia and growers there have been forced to abandon the two most severely affected varieties, Fritz and Ne Plus, due to extensive crop loss. Because we have no history of this disease in California, the only information we have is from Australia. Unfortunately, bacterial diseases are very difficult to control and intensive spray programs with copper and Mancozeb have not controlled bacterial spot in Australia. University of California farm advisors and specialists will establish several trials next year in an effort to develop management guidelines for this important disease in California.
The University of California Cooperative Extension will host a ‘Bacterial Spot of Almond’ Field Day July 12 at 12700 East Graves Road in Manteca. Attendees will learn to identify the symptoms and we will discuss what we know about management options.
JOSEP ANGEL
July 3, 2013Hello, i’m a farm advisor in Spain , we have this pest in Spain from 6 years ago.
We have good control with cupper formulations.
If you would i have more information and photos for you abaut this pest.
Best Regars
Josep Angel
David Doll
July 9, 2013Thanks for the info Josep. What rates and timings of copper are you applying for control?
Bacterial Spot in Almonds | AgNetWest
July 9, 2013[…] For more information on bacterial spot, visit the Almond Doctor website. […]
Notes from the week of July 12th, 2013 - The Almond Doctor
July 12, 2013[…] Today we hosted a field day regarding bacterial spot of almond. It was a great turnout as we discussed what we know (and don’t know) of this new bacterial […]
Tilak
September 10, 2013Hi,
I have noticed this in my ranch for Aldrich variety too. It is in April (same time as plant bug) and at that time i was under the impression that it is plant bug.
Do you have any reports of this affecting Aldrich variety? Is there any time frame we have to watch out for this bacteira?
Thank you.
David Doll
September 12, 2013Tilik – yes, we have seen it on Aldrich.
We are unsure of the exact spray timings, but we are currently thinking the first spray that should be considered is a delayed dormant copper/oil spray. Stay tuned, we are working out on our best guess for management which we will be testing next year.
David
Graham Fleming
October 25, 2013I have been dealing with Bacterial Spot in stone fruit in Australia for many years now. We have found that a 10 – 20% rate of Kocide controls it to a major degree.
We only use Kocide as it does not present the ‘Copper Toxicity’ effect of leaf defoliation as other formulations do. This could also be attributed to the low rate of copper being used, bu tKocide is better.
Graham
David Doll
November 13, 2013Thanks Graham. We appreciate the help in managing this disease.
David
Mark Brady
January 20, 2014K-PHITE 7LP a new generation phosphite in a unique linear polymer molecule registered by the EPA and CA. as a Systemic Fungicide / Bactericide for the control of Xanthomonas in Tree Nuts including Almonds. K-PHITE 7LP is compatible with most fungicides as well as copper hydroxide + mancozeb; although efficacy results in other crops suggest pathogen dominance by itself. When used in a program starting at petal fall K-PHITE 7LP will also control Phytopthora Root Rot, Crown Rot, and Aerial Phytopthora. Additional trial work has shown attractive efficacies against Pseudomonas syringae as well as Botryosphaeria panicle shoot trials at Parlier. K-PHITE 7LP is a neutal pH, clear non-phytotoxic material that is currently available in the industry as an economical treatment with the safety of a bio-pesticide.
Mark Brady
Western Marketing Manager
Plant Food Systems, Inc.
mbrady@plantfoodsystems.com
David Doll
January 21, 2014Thanks for the pitch, Mark. Yes, I agree, we should be excited about the potential fit of this product in almonds in managing bacterial spot. Based on data from several other crops, its broad range of efficacy on both bacterial, fungal, and water molds is interesting.
David
Leaf Spot on Padre, Other Varieties - The Almond Doctor
April 3, 2014[…] is not the same bacterium that causes bacterial leaf spot of almond (Xanthonmonas arboricola pv. pruni). The symptoms are different, even though they both are caused […]
Juan Avitia
May 13, 2014Do we have this problem on butte and padre varieties…?
David Doll
May 13, 2014Juan,
‘Padre’ is moderately to highly susceptible to bacterial spot, while ‘Butte’ appears to be tolerant/resistant. In many cases, we will see infections in ‘Padre’ without any symptoms in ‘Butte.’
David