steven_nospam at Yahoo! Canada wrote:

Wow, that was a bit odd. I may not be up to date on the politics here
in the group as I am a bit of a lurker rather than a poster. The
flaming in this posting seemed to be unnecessary between billy/
sherwin, but I think you just decided to killfile Sherwin for:

1) ...stating that he thinks his analysis of apple scab was right
2) ...asking that you let the group know what the "experts" suggest
for an organic solution.

Is that accurate?

Like others, I am not the type that likes the use of pesticides and
herbicides, and would like some natural solutions to these types of
problems. So choosing what to spray and when is helpful info for me. I
certainly thought sharing what the experts suggest when you see them
was a reasonable request. I guess I have not been seeing all the posts
in here lately. For my sake though, perhaps you can share the experts
analysis and advice? I know at least I would appreciate it.

Steve

Steve,

You have to understand the history of the exchanges between Billy
and myself. He is very closed minded about spraying, and vilifies
me for doing so. I think his post about going to an extension
office was kind of a slap at me as being not qualified to interpret
the original poster's issue, even though she posted a nice picture
of her attacked tree. I have been growing fruit for over 20 years,
and enjoy the knowledge gained in that, plus that I have acquired
through my fruit growing club. Most of them would concurs with
me that people should not be growing apples. if they are organic,
unless they take extraordinary measures like covering each apple
with a bag, or worse yet, allowing a good portion of their fruit
to get wormy. Yesterday, I discarded about 80 percent of my
Lubsk Queen Apples because I didn't spray often enough and had
no time to cover them.

Sure, people can go to their extension office, etc., for more
advice, but why post on this forum. We can just tell every
one that if you have a plant problem, take it to the experts.
My personal experience with extension services, botanic gardens,
etc.,is that most of them have no experience or knowledge of how
to take care of fruit trees. I felt my diagnosis was good enough,
but Billy had to put in his two cents worth. Why bother with
this obvious alternative.

Sherwin