Happy Friday Dear Readers! I hope this rain has not put a damper on your spirits. For this post, I will continue to focus on disease prevention as precipitation will very likely continue into next week. Diseases: Please be vigilant and stay on the look-out for Downy and Powdery mildew as the inoculum would still be present from last year. If you have had issues with Black Rot in the past, please ensure that your spray regime is tight as it will take time to decrease the inoculum to less severe levels. Pesticide groups 3 and 9 are effective for Black Rot control; group 7 is weak on Black Rot in high pressure situations like what we are currently experiencing. With so much rain over the last two weeks, please ensure that your spray windows are tightened- the 8-10 day interval for systemics and 5-7 for protectants can be narrowed as 200mm of rain will have had a negative effect on product efficacy. In about 10 days or so, you should also be considering botrytis sprays – just b