This weather is perfect for the growth of fungus.

No different here, although temps should rise starting tomorrow...showing around 80F and low/mid 60Fs at nite...rain the next week.

Mrs. G.,

We are pretty much in the same boat. In fact, I have not had a chance to spray at all. Since May 8, it has rained almost everyday. A day or two that it did not rained, it's too windy to spray.

During the first week of May when it was dry, my trees were not quite at petal fall. So I did not spray. So far, I have noticed a few damages on fruitlets.

The rain stopped this morning but the wind has been blowing at 18 mph all day into tonight.

I will spray tomorrow evening when the bees go home. That'll leave me Mon evening and Tues as dry days before it will rain again on Wed!!

I don't think the temp at 40's would harm our fruit. I don't have plum that fruits so I can't say. I think apples and pears are tough. My peaches seem to tough it up well.

This has been a very cool/cold spring. We aren't even getting into the 70's tomorrow. And as Mamuang says more rain Wed. I cannot spray till Tuesday am. I saw one hole in a peach leaf and a few apple leaves curling. Don't know if its the cold or too much rain (water). My apple set is excellent as are my plums. I have five peach trees and five peaches this year. LOL!!!!! I've learned to leave the 'sugar plums dancing in my head' for my orchard dreams! Mrs. G

Mrs G

I had a similar spring last year (not too cool , but extremely wet, as in 3 months worth of rain in 2 days, most fell within 6 hours).

The pear I planted then had black blotches from fungus/bacteria and my apple had some patches as well. The fruit was smal and had a few brown holes (the tree is too young to bare anyways). They recovered by the end of the year, but the growth definitely slowed.

Oddly enough, I usually spray with just a bit of dishsoap and water if I notice pests and a quick spray with such, helped a bit (maybe the soap helped get rid of some of the fungus?)

So far this year (knocks on wood), the trees dont seem to be effected although its cooler then last year, but nowhere near as wet.

I will not be able to spray for another two days, Rain this afternoon and rain all day tomorrow. I might as well grow mushrooms! Mrs. G

Apples tend to shed more fruit if they can't harvest much energy for extended periods after petal fall judging from what I've seen over the years and also according to a friend of mine who is a second generation commercial fruit grower.

You need very little time between rains to get a spray down. Decent drying conditions for an hour should be enough. Don't worry too much if it rains after the pesticide sets, especially if you use a sticker.

Mrs G,
It sounds just like where I am in Western Washington,but here it's more like typical. Brady

I've had 4 days now with temps stuck in the upper 50Fs/low 60Fs... day and nite... with rain off and on... no sun.

Don't fret, they grow splendid apples in gloomy parts of England where drizzle and temps in the 60's and low '70s describes most of summer.

I have also had the cold rainy spring. My peaches are dropping quite a few of their original leaves and there is a lot of bacterial spot on them. I also have a few scab outbreaks on my apples, more than I usually have. We are finally getting some sunny 90's today which will hopefully fry a lot of spores :-)

Re: spray timing, don't go by the forecast as much as the radar. Even a 4-hour window will give you some results. I like to put down sulphur in such a gap, it hangs on the tree and acidifies the rain water which diseases don't like. I have done more sprays than usual this spring due to the need for more disease protection with all the rain.

Scott