Note blackening of pedicels (flower stems) In susceptible hosts or young trees the disease may travel rapidly down branches causing girdling and death of the branches or sometimes the main trunk.īlossom blight on pear. When shoots attached to scaffold limbs or trunks are attacked, the pathogen may spread into the structural wood causing cankers. Blighted leaves may remain attached to the tree throughout the winter. During warm and humid or rainy weather drops of milky to amber coloured bacterial ooze frequently appear on the blighted shoots and fruit. Infected shoots (or "strikes") wilt rapidly, and often form a shepherd's crook at their tips. Fruitlets quickly turn brown to black and eventually shrivel up.īlighted pear shoots are black in colour, while infected apple shoots are usually a lighter shade of brown. Young fruitlets are also very susceptible and appear water soaked and slightly off-colour soon after infection. Blighted blossoms appear wilted, shriveled and brown. This will help protect your trees and your tools.Fire blight symptoms may appear on the blossoms, shoots, branches, trunk and rootstock. Be sure to wipe clippers dry to prevent corrosion.Īlternately, use alcohol wipes to clean your clippers between cuts instead of bleach solution. Sterilize the tools in a household bleach solution (ten parts water to one part bleach). Burn and destroy the affected branches if possible.ĭuring any season, be sure to also remove tree suckers and watersprouts. Since this growth is fast-growing and tender, it is vulnerable to infection.īecause fire blight is highly contagious, take care to disinfect pruning tools. Prune off all infected branches at least 8 inches below the blighted area (some experts even recommend pruning to 12 inches below blighted areas). Remove the blighted wood from infected shrubs and trees, as this helps prevent the disease spreading. Move them away from the trees and destroy them – do not add to compost! This will prevent the bacteria from overwintering in the debris and then spreading. Be sure to do a complete cleanup around your trees when fall rolls around. Collect all pruning debris, mummified fruit, and fallen leaves. Fertilizers should only be used to supplement nutrients in soils that are lacking them.Ĭleanup. A soil test will help you determine whether or not your soil even needs a fertilizer application. To avoid this susceptibility to fire blight in your trees, especially if you live where fire blight is a known issue, it is recommended that you use a low-nitrogen fertilizer during the growing season (stopping before July) – and only fertilize when necessary. Any excessive amount of new growth on your tree is easily susceptible to fire blight infection. In high-pressure areas, your best defense is likely going to be a combination of cultural practices, cleanup, and manual/chemical control methods.Ĭultural practices. Managing Fire Blight in Affected Fruit Trees *Learn more about the symptoms and life cycle of fire blight in this Fire Blight Fact Sheet via Cornell University. To avoid turning this into a science lecture*, let's move on to how to control fire blight. When the spring temperatures begin to climb between 60°-80☏, optimal conditions are created for spreading the disease and the bacteria is brought out of dormancy. Bees, insects, birds, splashing rain, and wind easily spread the bacteria and the resulting fire blight disease.įire blight commonly affects apple and pear trees (both fruit-bearing and ornamental types), but can also affect quince trees and other members of the Rosaceae family – even including some common rose varieties and raspberry plants. These areas may appear black, shrunken, and cracked. Blossoms will turn brown, wilt, and die about 1-2 weeks after infection occurs.įire blight may also exhibit an amber-colored ooze (which is heavy with bacteria) from the bark of the tree. What is Fire Blight?įire blight is a contagious, systemic, bacterial disease. Bacteria ( erwinia amylovora) attack the blossoms in early spring and then move up the twigs and branches through the tree's system. The name "fire blight" comes from the scorched appearance of the infected leaves, stems, and bark. Since the weather can stimulate certain bacterial diseases, I thought you backyard fruit gardeners might like some background on, and ideas on how to control, one of the most prevalent bacterial diseases affecting fruit trees (like apples, pears, and quince) – fire blight. Of course, these are ideal conditions for fungal and bacterial diseases to infect fruit trees, as well as other trees and shrubs. Hello, my fellow fruit-lovers! It has been very cool and wet here this past spring and summer. What is fire blight? Fire blight is a contagious, systemic, bacterial disease and is prevalent on apple and pear trees during cool, wet springs.
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