Drought Stress?

I mentioned in my most recent post that we are continuing to irrigate due to the lack of rain. But not all appearances of drought stress are necessarily due to lack of water. Although the trees in this orchard appear thirsty, they are really dropping leaves due to a late infestation of Rust disease (a fungus).

Rust

Rust disease has been a challenge during the last few years. This year, one application of fungicide kept the disease down before and through harvest. This late season infestation is a reminder that we will need to be on the lookout for it again in 2014.