Kieffer pear and fireblight
- Thread starter TreeDaddy
- Start date
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Make sure you remove all the sources of bacteria. You could always spray next year to reduce or even possibly prevent FB for the season. Your sure that your pears are also Kieffers as well?
Maya
5 year old buck +
Cool temps should not initiate a FB outbreak. Normally it is a problem when you get into temps nearing 80 and above and high humidity. Also heavy rains will really splash and spread bacterium. If you have big open wounds in trees w/ oozing they should be cut out ahead of bloom in the future.
For this year cut out any shoot blight that breaks out, cutting back at least 8" into good green wood below the infected area. Do not drag branches through the orchard. Take them out one at a time being careful not to drag on orchard floor or against trees. Get them away from orchard and burn them. Next spring spray copper at green tip to kill off any exposed living bacteria.
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Maya
5 year old buck +
Fireblight. That is pretty bad. I think I would cut them down, then leave them! Do not drag them around your orchard. Once they have dried up then take them out of the orchard and burn them. Dragging them right after cutting them will spread inoculum. FB bacteria lives in living tissue, so if you have big branches or entire trees that you have cut down, do not move them until they have dried up. Once the tissue has dried/ died out, the bacteria will die out and not be spread. In the future plant only FB resistant varieties of fruit.
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Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I think Maya meant to cut them down and don't move them. ( When he said leave them ) You don't want to spread the inoculum by moving the trees at all.
Maya will have to tell you what happens if you just let the trees stay where they are, and how to proceed with treatment. I have an ornamental pear in my yard that gets FB on the new shoots every couple years. I cut the shoots off down to good wood and dip my cutters in a bleach solution after every cut. My tree doesn't look as bad as your tree in the pic does. I don't get a FB outbreak every year either.
Maya will have to tell you what happens if you just let the trees stay where they are, and how to proceed with treatment. I have an ornamental pear in my yard that gets FB on the new shoots every couple years. I cut the shoots off down to good wood and dip my cutters in a bleach solution after every cut. My tree doesn't look as bad as your tree in the pic does. I don't get a FB outbreak every year either.
Maya
5 year old buck +
Correct Bows. (I edited that post some) Eggman, last year I had my first small outbreak of FB in one of my orchards. It was a horrible warm humid bloom w/ lots of hard rains. Many orchards up here had FB, some in Peru NY loosing entire blocks, 50+ acres. Cornell U. and UVM were hammered w/ calls, so they put on a couple seminars in eastern NY. My wife and I went to one of them and we learned a lot. 1) our outbreak was not bad in comparison, but I knew enough to prune out effected tissue and get it out of the orchard 2) there were several little tidbits that can help, but you have to stay ahead of it. From a commercial grower's standpoint, we have to be very proactive and there are tools in the toolbox we can use to combat it.
IMO for a backyard grower/ habitat manager, there are also things that can be done.
1) Grow only DR trees, especially for fireblight! I know no one wants to hear it, and no offense to anyone, but I think many here are asking for a big problem. Grafting and growing all of these different varieties that are not DR trees for FB could bite you in the arse. If you are not prepared to engross yourself in IPM and a spray program, you may be headed for trouble. IMO, it easier and safer to grow DR trees. I'm not saying everyone will have problems, but a word to the wise is sufficient.... I think you can see this by the pics you posted, you don't want FB. Swapping scions and growing a million varieties can be fun, but just be aware of the consequences. :emoji_pray:
2) Constant monitoring is key, you want to stay ahead of it. If at bloom you have some blossom blight. you need to keep an eye on it. If any shoots start to die back cut them out as soon as possible as Bows described above. There are sprays to help calm the problems but there is way too much to get into for the average grower and me to explain. (if anyone wants to learn about this, get a Tree Fruit Growers Management Guide for your area. I've seen them on Amazon.)
3) As is the case for many habitat managers, their trees may not be accessible on a daily/ regular basis. Again, all the more reason to grow DR trees to FB. In a case like yours, with blight into the central leader, cut them down and burn them...... here is what I meant above, FB inoculum is spread naturally by hard rains, bugs and anyway one infected branch can hit another branch. Any inner tissue that is exposed, be it from damage of some sort(from hail etc.) or open blossoms are susceptible to being affected. It lives in living tissue. If you cut out a branch, or a tree out entirely that tissue dies out. Once it dies out the FB bacteria dies also. So if you can not get affected tissue out of an orchard without the chance of hitting another tree, leave it and let it die out first.
Good luck, but imho, I'd get your pears out of there.
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chickenlittle
5 year old buck +
I will generally agree with Maya but it is not easy to select the right DR varieties. DR generally means scab resistant but it also means nothing at all. People throw out all kinds of varieties as being disease resistant and some of those are fire blight magnets. Even researching a variety from different sources will get you lots of incomplete or conflicting data.
I have tried to pay attention to FB in my selections but I won't really know for some varieties until it shows up. At that point, I will cut my losses and get rid of what has to go.
I have tried to pay attention to FB in my selections but I won't really know for some varieties until it shows up. At that point, I will cut my losses and get rid of what has to go.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I've seen multiple stories too - like Chicken said above. ^^^^ I think in their zeal to sell trees, the DR tag gets to mean ALL diseases with some tree sources, which is not true. I've done a TON of research on apples and crabs, and some places will claim DR to FB on a certain variety - and then when I look up the same variety at another source, they say it's NOT DR to FB. It makes choosing a DR tree tough sometimes. The 2 diseases I try to avoid are scab and FB. Supposedly they are the 2 worst to deal with.
I'm no expert - I've only been at this apple & crab thing for 5 years. But I try to soak up as much info from reputable sources as I can lay hands on.
I'm no expert - I've only been at this apple & crab thing for 5 years. But I try to soak up as much info from reputable sources as I can lay hands on.
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
I agree totally with the conflicting reports. I do believe a lot has to do with the growing zone and local environmental conditions. It is very aggravating at times to try and find information for ones own particular growing area.
NY_Terrence
5 year old buck +
I have six Trophy and Docs Special pears I planted in 2009. I recall slight evidence of FB on one of the trees last year. This year 4 of the 6 look just like Eggman's pics. Of course this is the first year I was expecting a decent crop of more than 10-20 pears per tree. Arrrgggghhhh!
Also to the point made by Bowsnbucks re FB and DR... I lost only one apple tree to FB last year. It was a Galarina (DR?) from Cummins that I planted last spring. Thought Galarina was DR?
Also to the point made by Bowsnbucks re FB and DR... I lost only one apple tree to FB last year. It was a Galarina (DR?) from Cummins that I planted last spring. Thought Galarina was DR?
chickenlittle
5 year old buck +
On Cummins and other retailers, "Galarina shows high tolerance to apple scab, mildew and fire blight."
From the Purdue extension listing of disease resistances for various apples, "It is important to remember that resistance is not immunity. Even highly resistant varieties can succumb to any disease under extreme environmental conditions and stress."
From the Purdue extension listing of disease resistances for various apples, "It is important to remember that resistance is not immunity. Even highly resistant varieties can succumb to any disease under extreme environmental conditions and stress."
Maya
5 year old buck +
Galarina shows some resistance to Fireblight on Orange Pippin website. I go to them to research resistance to disease and other traits. They are usually quite accurate. I have about 30 Galarina's, and none had fire blight last year, which I did have some on other varieties throughout my orchards. What did your trees look like? Any pics? As stated above check to see what trees are disease resistant to. Some can be dr to scab and not FB.
https://www.orangepippin.com/apples/galarina
We are going into the heart of FB season here in central Vermont. Weather conditions are unfavorable for fire blight infections. Models on the NEWA site are showing low fire blight risk predictions. Will be interesting to see how this shakes out.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Weather reports say the next 10 days or so are supposed to be cooler - low to mid 60's - and mixed days of sun and showers/rain. ( for the Northeast states ). FB likes it warmer, I believe ...... Maya ???
Maya
5 year old buck +
Yes, warm, humid, wind, hail, heavy rain, previous damage, bloom all contributing factors.
Some reasons you all may be seeing some problems in some varieties are this. Any variety deemed FB resistant should really be called moderately resistant except for Delicious varieties.............but even they can get FB. I remembered this at a seminar I went to, and read this on an extension website.........
"All strains of 'Delicious' are highly resistant to fire blight, except when tissues are damaged by frost, hail, or high winds"
So keep in mind if have had trauma in your orchards, be it from hail, wind, frost etc., your trees will be more susceptible. This contributes to its unpredictable nature.
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Just read a small press release from Washington State growers. Very little risk at 60-70 degrees, daily monitoring should begin when temps are in 70-75 degree range and FB is active up to about 90 degree temps. Again as Maya just stated there are conditions that make trees more susceptible.
While on topic of Fire Blight, how effective is the Ferti-Lome Spray? I see Stark Bros says to apply at blossom period. Is this OK to mix with Captan80 and Imidan70?
https://www.starkbros.com/products/...disease-controls/ferti-lome-fire-blight-spray
https://www.starkbros.com/products/...disease-controls/ferti-lome-fire-blight-spray
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