SPRAY MANAGEMENT 7 



assigned a rating between 70 and 80 and were classified as having good 

 control. Of the remaining 14 farms, 13 were given ratings between 60 

 and 70 or fair control and one a rating of under 60 and classified as 

 having poor control. 



The 26 farms which obtained excellent, very good, or good control 

 were considered to have commercial control. To be sure, some of these 

 had fruit of a poorer quality than others, but by careful grading most of 

 the apples could be sold commercially under a definite grade. The 14 

 farms which obtained fair and poor control were considered as having 

 obtained less than satisfactory commercial control. These farms are 

 failing at some point in their application of sprays. 



Number of sprays and control 



The records available from the 40 farms represented 158 orchard 

 spray years. Five, six, and four sprays per season were the most common 

 applications in the order named. Only 5 per cent of the records indi- 

 cated less than four applications and only 10 per cent, more than six ap- 

 plications. Two applications was the lowest number and 11, the largest. 



There was some variation from year to year in the same orchards. 

 The amount of fruit on the trees, the prevalence of pests and disease, 

 and the weather conditions were important factors in the operators' de- 

 cision as to number of sprays. The 158 spray season records indicate 

 the number and kind of sprays applied as follows: 



All orchardists applied the calyx spray every season. Only five of 

 the 158 spray records show elimination of pink spray. The first cover 

 was omitted in only nine instances, the pre-pink only 10 times. None 

 of the operators omitted the pink or pre-pink more than one year, but 

 on one farm the first cover was not applied in any year. Twenty-six 

 operators, or 65 per cent, applied the four most common sprays, the pre- 

 pink, the pink, the calyx, and the first cover every year. Thus the four 

 sprays, calyx, pink, first cover, and pre-pink, were generally applied. 

 The other standard or special sprays were not applied universally. The 

 second cover was applied in about two-thirds of the cases recorded and 

 the dormant spray and the third cover in about one-fourth of them. The 

 other special sprays were applied in only a few instances. 



When the average number of sprays is compared to the control 

 ratings for each orchard the correlation is not high but operators making 

 frequent applications do tend to have greater control. One orchard 

 which averaged only four sprays had a high rating and a few orchards 



