Fire Blight cankers and thoughts

[WTNUT]

It has been about 2 weeks since I first removed shoot blight strikes. It has spread in one orchard fairly aggressively and seems no worse in the other two. If it started with Blossom Strikes, I do not understand how taking out stem damage would help until all of the blossom bacteria turned to shoot damage which could then be removed. Shockingly I am going to attach some significant canker photos (let me know if you do not think it is cankers). I have never seen the first signs of FB on these apples in prior years - only on one pear tree. But, I can't believe this years strikes lead to these cankers. Your thoughts are appreciated. I am really wondering if I can find all the cankers come winter and apply a copper paste like in the video someone shared. It seemed to work in the video but WOW IS IT GOING TO BE TOUGH TO GET ALL THE CANKERS!!!!!

 

[WTNUT]

Here are photos

 

[WTNUT]

More photos.

 

[aerospacefarmer]

I got some shoot blight this year than ever before. One tree really bad and a shoot or 2 on others. I will get them this week

 

[WTNUT]

Well I looked closer this morning. I was going to try and remove more of the shoot blight, but started and stopped. The trees that I removed it from a couple weeks ago are pollutted again. I think it is a losing battle. I am really considering cutting them all off at the trunk about 6 or 7 feet high and then cutting them a little lower next spring and grafting. However, if you look at some of these photos, there are a few that I am not even sure it is worth doing that. There seem to be lots of cankers around the trunk. I could probably clean those this winter, but now I am focusing on saving my young trees. A couple oft those had shoot blight that I removed today.

 

[WTNUT]

For example, these all look like cankers near the base of the trunk. If I cut the trees I will have to clean those up and apply a cooper paste based on what I have learned on the web.

 

[WTNUT]

Take this tree for example. i have cleaned the fb out of it once. at this rate what is going to be left of it by the time terminal bud sets. It is in a food plot and there are three trees all with FB so what to do is the real question.

 

[WTNUT]

This tree is in a small 15 tree orchard. The older trees all have FB, and I removed the strikes a couple weeks ago. Let them lay on the ground until dead and then hauled away and burned them. This tree had no strikes at that time. It is loaded now.

 

[WTNUT]

I trimmed the strikes out of this one two weeks ago and trimmed a bunch out this morning. This is the only mature tree I worked on this morning. I read somewhere if enough time has passed since the first signs of a strike, you might as well leave them alone until they go dormant and then evaluate what to do during winter. I really am starting to think this is the best advise.

 

[Turkey Creek]

That sucks! I would be beside myself. What varieties?

If it was low on the trunk I would remove the tree. FB can infect roots as well.

 

[WTNUT]

Boy...I don't know what I'd do in your situation WTNUT :confused:

Well considering how much I have learned from your posts over the past 5 years, if you do not know .............

 

[WTNUT]

I have a BA, a BS, and a JD so I am use to researching issues and arriving at conclusions. I have researched the Heck out of FB and the only conclusion I have reached is that no one really knows for certain how to best deal with it. Right now, I am at the farm and I am only considering whether to leave this restaurant and go back to the farm and cut the nine mature trees that are the worse today and then watch the immature trees closely. Or, wait a week to further evaluate my options.

 

[WTNUT]

For the hobby grower who has limited time to battle fb...I think removing those infected trees (and burning them away from the site) would be the "best practice". Easy to say when they're not my trees though

I agree. I am trying to decide if I should cut and let them dry a few days before moving. I have to drag them through two orchards or burn them close to where they are now. One orchard only has 5 trees in it. I can burn the 4 infected ones on site.

 

[WTNUT]

Well it is done - took out 10 trees down to about 5 feet. 9 of them look canker free around the trunks. I think the 10th needs cut to the ground. I did not drag limbs out yet. I will do that Wed. It is 95 degrees today and I am toast.

 

[WTNUT]

Examples

 

[WTNUT]

These trunks look good and suitable for grafting. What do you think?

 

[WTNUT]

I don't know about this one. After I clean everything up I will send more photos.


PS. I call dibs on the first bunch of FB resistant scions for 2016 ha ha. I didn't like the shape of those original trees anyway. It really was a perfect storm. Last year I fertilized these trees and don't need to. Next we had no fruit last year so there was tons of growth. We had the coldest winter since about 1993. Next I pruned aggressively and finally we had two weeks of record highs in the 90s during bloom with rain nearly every afternoon.

 

[Turkey Creek]

It has been some tough weather since last fall. We have had lots of "warm", cloudy and damp days all spring up through today. Corn may not be knee high by the 4th of July, generally it is shoulder high by the 4th. Read last week that rust is the worst they recall seeing it in the wheat. This weather is a true test on scab, CAR and FB resistance in fruit trees this year.

 

[WTNUT]

You're right, it was a perfect storm. With any luck it'll be a once in a lifetime event

You're right, it was a perfect storm. With any luck it'll be a once in a lifetime event

I hope you are right. If I lived there I MIGHT have tried to save them but I have a lot of really really nice third fourth and fifth leaf trees. FB spreads so fast that a lot of bad things could happen if I am away for two weeks. I also had a great deal of concern about removing cankers. Do you see any reason why I should not try to top graft the trunks next year assuming they make it. The first two that I cut seem to be doing well.

 

[WTNUT]

What causes the ring of holes that you see in this photo?