Research update on Alternaria leaf blotch and fruit spot of apples in Australia

November 2012 | Future Orchards® fact sheet | Alternaria research update

Alternaria leaf blotch and fruit spot became an important disease issue in some Australian apple-growing regions, prompting research to improve understanding of symptoms, disease development and management. This Future Orchards® fact sheet provides a concise update on that work as it stood in November 2012.

The resource is intended to help growers distinguish Alternaria symptoms from other orchard problems and understand why disease pressure can vary between blocks and seasons. It also supports the broader principle that fungicide decisions should be linked to disease risk, orchard history and confirmed diagnosis.

As a research update, the fact sheet captures the evidence available at the time rather than a permanent spray prescription. Growers should combine its disease-management principles with current registrations, resistance-management advice and local recommendations.

For library users, this resource is most useful as a record of the technical thinking and field evidence available at the time. Product registrations, resistance advice and regional pest pressure can change, so any present-day control decision should be checked against current labels and local recommendations while retaining the monitoring and decision-making principles described here.