Cane blight occasionally impacts homegrown and commercial raspberries and blackberries in Kentucky. Recent rain events have resulted in a wet growing season, which favors the development of cane blight. The disease causes lesions to develop on both primocanes (current-year canes)…

Samples this past week indicate that spotted wing drosophila (SWD) activity is increasing across the state with numbers of these captured insects considerably higher at some locations. While the threshold to begin management is ‘one captured fly,’ continued trapping provides…

Black rot is a common disease of grapes in Kentucky. Due to the prevalence of this disease, it is also one of the most economically important diseases of grapes.  Black rot can affect all young, developing, above ground plant tissues.…

Spotted wing drosophila (SWD) activity is increasing based on positive samples from several western, southern, and central Kentucky counties. We are still collecting negative samples from some counties, including farms in the same counties where other farms have been positive…

Apple scab is the most consistently serious disease of homegrown apple and flowering crabapple in Kentucky. The most noticeable losses on apple result from reduced fruit quality and from premature drop of infected fruit. Scab also causes a general weakening…

Abundant rainfall and warm temperatures have been present in Kentucky over the past few weeks. These weather conditions can lead to an increase in the presence of brown rot on stone fruits (peach, cherry, plum, nectarine), which results in rotten,…

Cedar-apple rust is the most common and economically important rust disease of apple in Kentucky. Symptoms of this disease are beginning to appear across the state. The pathogen overwinters as galls on cedar and juniper. Removal of these pathogen sources…