I'm a little surprised a nursery would be allowed to put up for sale any material exhibiting a disease which could affect the health or vigor of the stock. Nurseries in most states require having their stock inspected and if anything is discovered which could affect the health of the plant, as a nursery owner, I would have been required to pull it out of inventory, quarantine and treat it, or dispose of it. We were not allowed to mark it down and sell it if it weren't 1) disease free and 2) in good health and vigor. Even if we were allowed, I wouldn't.

Since I do not have this on my own pit fruit trees I have not dealt with this firsthand. From what I have read, however, is you can only 'control' it with fungicides and not ever completely cure it. Are you dealing with a state inspected nursery? I do know I have seen this disease mentioned in inspection reports but do not know if it is so commonplace that they simply 'overlook' it. You can buy resistant cultivars.

why in the world did you buy it..

and did they then increase their profit margin.. by selling you the copper...

return it.. and be done with it ...

and then call the county Ag office and indicate they are selling diseased stock

ken

We don't have county 'ag offices' just extension departments. They have nothing to do with nursery inspections. The state ag department is the lowest link on the chain. One inspector covers a lot of territory and if my facility were inspected once or twice a year it would be the norm. Towards the end it didn't get that because of the lack of funds, I suspect. As a responsible grower, I knew the drill however so complied with their standards. People should not confuse sales lots with nurseries because true nurseries grow or grow on their stock and the sales area is a small segment of their operation. In sales facilities there is little to no place to treat or move their infected stock. As a consumer, I'd want to see the certificate of inspection legitimate nurseries are obliged to display. But most retail consumers aren't aware they even exist. If this item were sold marked down, I question there is even a guarantee of return on it. I'm not saying what they did is not legal........I don't know if this is a condition they'd consider falling under the inspection criteria. Each state has it's own criteria. But shop worn stock is the worst I'd expect to find in a sales lot. I would never personally invest in fruit trees not of the highest quality. There is too much time and work involved in them for a return. Nobody wants to spend years on a fruit tree waiting for a return and then having to cull them out.

jeez call;..

every county has a state AG office...

and they should be able to lead one to the proper reporting agency ...

ken

ps: one might also suspect.. the the Ag dept of the US government.. might also be involved...

'every county has a state AG office'. No they don't, Ken. Are you confusing this with a country Agricultural extension office? Those are (as the name implies) extensions of a state college or university present to disseminate information to farmers and the public. Even then there are many counties without one of those too.

' and they should be able to lead one to the proper reporting agency' the State Department of Ag IS the proper reporting agency.

' the the Ag dept of the US government.. might also be involved...' I doubt it. Each state sets its own criteria for incoming and outgoing nursery stock, and also what it inspects and controls not involving interstate commerce. The U.S. dept of Ag is primarily concerned with the phytosanitation of agricultural commodities coming and going from international ports.

The OP may not even be interested in nailing a violator, and in this case we do not even know if this particular facility is even in violation. However, it would be quite helpful if the OP is interested in whether they should purchase nursery stock in this condition it would be very helpful if they contact their local Ag extension department because the agent will know what to advise and has access to the nursery regulations of that particular state.

Interesting information, but I'm really hoping someone can answer my questions who has first-hand knowledge of the problem (shothole) and not turn this thread into a rant on nurseries. I'm also not interested in derogatory rhetoric or assumptions about conspiracies.

At this point you don't even know for sure it's shothole. There are borers, called shothole borers, an imported pest who can present with the same symptoms. You just have nursery employees telling you it is and what to do about it. My recommendation was and continues to be if you have a county extension agent, it may behoove you to verify the condition and ask their opinion, or better yet visit their office for a confirmed diagnosis and prognosis.

Shothole is a common foliar disease of members of the Prunus species, which includes both apricots and plums. While it can be rather disfiguring, it is more cosmetic in nature than actually harmful to the tree. If severe, it could cause early leaf drop/defoliation which could certainly weaken a small, young tree. On peaches it can affect the fruit so not sure if that same problem carries to apricots.

The recommended treatment is spraying at 50% leaf drop in fall and again during the dormant season with an appropriate copper-based fungicide. Avoid overhead watering if possible and clean up well in fall (rake up and destroy fallen leaves, etc.).

In my area, you see this with cherries and plums frequently (also with cherry laurels) and it seems to have no overtly harmful affect on established trees. Many folks never bother to spray.......it's your choice :-)

Hi gardengal48, thanks for the information! It sounds like shothole fungus is pretty common, and looking around the neighborhood I notice a few peach and plum trees with the tell-tale signs. Do you know if it can ever be completely eradicated from the tree?

Hi calliope, I appreciate your breadth of knowledge about state regulations. I am primarily interested at finding information to help me decide if I want to take on a rehab case at this point. I plan to call the Master Gardeners in my area and get their feedback as well. Thanks for your interest in my dilemma.

I'm not dissing master gardeners, but there is no baseline competence from one to another group. The purpose of the program was to train volunteers to help give out university generated information at county extension departments. I sat in on the first program in our county since I was a hort adviser for the board. It wasn't and isn't meant to crank out experts and whilst some are very knowledgeable they often came into the program with that background, some have only the minimal basics. Garden gal is a wealth of info and I seldom ever disagree with her opinions as are a lot of other contributors on all the forums. I know this is not an uncommon condition but it all hinges on whether you want to address it right from the get-go. I grow my own fruits organically and I do not use fungicides. Simply my choice and I would be quite peeved to bring a disease like this home with me, since I do not at present have this in my orchard. It would be unacceptable for a commercial producer and they'd be on it like paper on a wall to control it. If you want the advise of some folks who are quite into the fruit side of growing, maybe you could address the same questions on the fruit forum. We have some growers on there. Ditto the tree forum.

While I agree with calliope about not wanting to bring this disease in from outside and could not in all good conscious sell a plant so afflicted from my nursery, it is not the end of the world as far as plant diseases are concerned. In fact, it is relatively innocuous and can appear spontaneously regardless of source.

FWIW, commercial producers, and that includes orchardists as well as nursery growers, spray the bejesus out of their fruit trees. Just sayin.......:-)

I have worked in the nursery business for over a decade and we never spray our plants with any fungicides or insecticides. We have too many customers that handle plants, eat berries off our bushes etc.....if a plant develops a leaf spot, we tell the customer and it is their choice whether to buy it or not...we also tell them about how it doesn't really affect the plant's over all health and that every plant has it's enemies (insects and disease) and that some plants are suseptable to getting repeat infections of that particular disease... If a plant has a serious condition, then we will remove that plant from the sales area.....
It is time that folks stop trying to fight nature....accept that plants are not perfect and that a blemish free plant is not the norm like you find fruits in a grocery store that has been pounded to death by fungicides and insecticides to produce a blemish free product.....but at what cost?.....

Ian

This post was edited by ians_gardener on Sun, Jul 7, 13 at 20:40

There are very few commercial growers and/or nurseries that do not spray their plants for insects and diseases. Unfortunately it is just not economically feasible to mass produce a product that offers the high standards the public demands without spraying. I live in one of the leading fruit producing states in the country and the 100% organic orchardists probably number less than 20 out of many hundreds of growers.

And having worked in the nursery industry myself for many years on both the wholesale and retail ends I can state without reservation that organic production - no spraying - is the exception and that virtually all wholesale growers of woody plants (trees and shrubs) spray routinely for pests and diseases. They would be out of business if they didn't.

The nursery I work for is trying to make a change and educate our cliental on the ills of spraying for every little blemish or bug that they find on their plants......many cities including mine have banned the use of weed killers like 2-4-D, pesticides and fungicides...our city does not spray weeds in parks or spray insecticides when an outbreak of insects occurs.....I for one think it is about time that people wake up and stop trying to fight nature........