AS the nights draw in, central heating is fired up and gardening duties begin to wind down, we reflect upon the horrible, wet season that has caused such a lack of rewarding produce – produce we come to expect from a season of hard work.

It is evident that this season has brought unusually high levels of rainfall, affecting the cultivation of our crops. Squashes rotted, direct sown seeds were slow to germinate (if germinated at all) and tomatoes were few and slow to ripen.

A common problem that has affected us nationwide is the lack of fruit set on our apples and pears. The cold and wet weather in April and May damaged blossom and deterred pollinating insects.

As well as a general unfavourable season for crops, the wet weather has made conditions very encouraging for fungal diseases, further adding to problems in fruit and veg. Two such prevalent diseases this season are apple and pear scab.

Apple scab is a disease caused by the fungus Venturia inaequalis. A closely related disease caused by the fungus Venturia pirina affects fruiting pears in a similar way. Symptoms of these diseases may be evident on the leaves, stems and fruit of apple and pear trees.

On the leaves, the diseases cause patchy blotches of light green, darkening to a brownblack colour, and may cause the leaves to fall prematurely, further reducing vigour of the plant.

Fruits may develop similar symptoms of black blotches, although this will not necessarily affect the taste of the fruit, it may lead to distortion and cracking as the fruit matures.

Infected stems may split and crack leaving an open wound for other diseases to take hold, severely weakening the plant.

Both fungi – Venturia inaequalis and Venturia pirina – spread by airborne spores that overwinter predominately on fallen leaves, but also on infected stems and branches. If apple and pear scab overwinter successfully, then the spores spread by splashing rain and wind in the spring, conditions that have been more than excessive this season.

To keep these diseases under control, good hygiene practices are a good place to start.

Rake up the infected leaves at the end of the growing season and dispose of them, but not on your compost heap as the diseases may continue to live on.

REMOVE any leaves showing signs of scab during the growing season. Infected stems or shoots should be pruned out and burnt. These measures may reduce the risk of infection the following year, however because the disease can be carried over long distances, infections may occur again if conditions are ideal.

If you are deciding to purchase an apple or pear tree, there are many varieties available that are resistant to scab. Discovery and Egremont Russet are just two of many dessert apples resistant to scab, and Beurre Hardy and Souvenir du Congras are among some of the resistant pear varieties.

If infection is bad you may feel the need to use chemical control. Personally, I do not like using chemicals at all in my gardening practices, however sometimes, given particular circumstances, it may feel necessary. Fungicides containing difenoconazole (Westland Plant Rescue Fungus Control) and myclobutanil (Bayer Garden Systhane Fungus Fighter) can prove effective against scab and other fungal diseases, if used in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

For effective chemical control, the whole tree must be covered, which without the use of sprayers is not possible for large trees.

On a positive note, by having these diseases emerge, we learn more about them and can further our knowledge regarding our surroundings.

As long as you monitor your fruit trees regularly and act accordingly, the overall health of a tree over future seasons should not be too badly affected. We all have bad days – but trees have bad years.