New growth dieing?
- Thread starter chummer
- Start date
chummer
5 year old buck +
I thought I would be immune to it in my tundra. That is just great. It doesn't seem to harm the tree in any way. What should be done with this, if anything. How come one tree has it and the one 10 yards away doesn't.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
100% fireblight.
But, the good news is that it's a big full sized tree which lessens the impact. More good news is that it appears to be stopping before it goes into hardened wood. That's a characteristic of a cultivar with some resistance.
If you never see it any worse than that, I would do absolutely nothing. I could show you pictures of a tree that was much worse than that every year, yet it produced loads of apples without fail. The tree was removed last year (at 70 + years old) due to a new road coming through.
There are very few apple cultivars that show absolutely no signs of fireblight if not sprayed. In my life I have seen two and maybe three. Even Liberty (when not sprayed) will usually have just a few limbs that look like your tree.
But, the good news is that it's a big full sized tree which lessens the impact. More good news is that it appears to be stopping before it goes into hardened wood. That's a characteristic of a cultivar with some resistance.
If you never see it any worse than that, I would do absolutely nothing. I could show you pictures of a tree that was much worse than that every year, yet it produced loads of apples without fail. The tree was removed last year (at 70 + years old) due to a new road coming through.
There are very few apple cultivars that show absolutely no signs of fireblight if not sprayed. In my life I have seen two and maybe three. Even Liberty (when not sprayed) will usually have just a few limbs that look like your tree.
chummer
5 year old buck +
I guess that is some what good news. I always wonder why these trees did this. I guess that is why some of the trees loaded with blossoms have very little fruit and it looks like the blossom cluster just dried up. I knew it didn't make sense that these trees weren't all loaded this year. One more set back! I did notice one of the limbs on a Wolf River I planted had this. I will take a closer look this weekend. I guess another reason to give up on my pears. Thanks for the help.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Why give up on pears? There are some pears that have outstanding fireblight resistance. I have pears that have never showed FB on one limb that were beside apple that showed a lot of FB.
I don't know if they grow in your zone, but in my zone it's no trouble to find pears that are almost bullet proof.
chummer
5 year old buck +
Everything I read said pears get it worse. They have been a constant struggle for 4 years. Two more died this winter in a very mild year. I am just looking for the final reason to mow them down. They were varieties hand picked for my area by cummins for DR and ease of care. So much for that.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Well I obviously cannot speak for your area, but in my area - "If DR apples are Humvees, DR pears are Sherman tanks."
Nothing is easier to grow here than a DR pear. In my yard this year there are zero limbs with FB on several pear trees. At my farm I saw one limb on one tree out many pear trees, just loaded with fruit. Every apple (except Priscilla and Black LT) shows at least a few limbs with FB.
Just out of curiosity - what are the varieties of pears that you have which are being affected so badly by FB? I would like to know if they are any of the varieties that I grow.
Thanks - Steve
chummer
5 year old buck +
They have not shown FB yet. They have a hole different set of issues. So I guess that would probably mean they are immune it? Off the top of my head, Flemish beauty, summer crisp, can't ember the rest. I will take a closer look, maybe I over looked the possibility they have FB
chickenlittle
5 year old buck +
The bright side of that apple tree is it is well pruned without you getting up in a ladder.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
On my place - if that apple tree shown above is a reliable fruit producer, it gets the seal of approval for wildlife planting. That may or may not be true of the same cultivar grown on a semi dwarfing rootstock.
It's that simple. That tree above could go on for 70 - 80 years popping out the fruit with no problems.
And I also love my extremely clean looking pears too. But the loaded limbs do get in the way when mowing.
It's that simple. That tree above could go on for 70 - 80 years popping out the fruit with no problems.
And I also love my extremely clean looking pears too. But the loaded limbs do get in the way when mowing.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Chummer - I've read the same thing about pears and FB - more susceptible than apples. I've got an ornamental pear in my yard ( a Redspire ) that gets some limb-tip FB each year, yet it puts on loads of small pears each year. I also have a Profusion crabapple that gets tons of CAR on the leaves, but also gets loaded with crabapples. Some fruit tree varieties are DR, and others are disease tolerant, which means they may get some disease, but it won't hammer the tree. That's according to what I've been told by a Penn State prof. Maybe that's why some of us get some CAR or FB on some trees, but they still produce. Good enough for wildlife trees, I suppose.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Excellent post Bowsnbucks.
And we really should be using those two terms (disease resistant and disease tolerant). I can't think of a better way to define them than you just did.
I would prefer all DR trees but will accept DT trees for various reasons. Some of those reasons might be taste, drop time, pollinating other trees, reliability, or suitability for a particular purpose (such as drying characteristics, cider characteristics, etc.).
I will add that if you want to see a pear tree eat up with FB, get a Bartlett. I don't have one and don't want one. But I am yet to see even one limb with FB on the pear cultivars I grow. However, that may change soon. This spring I planted 2 pears of a varieties from WG that they said would indeed show signs of FB. However, they said it was an extremely reliable cropper ever year and had stood the test of time. Why did I plant those? Because the drop time is smack dab in the middle of our gun season. I already had pears that were finishing about that time and others that were starting about that time - but none that hit the window as well as the new one I bought.
Thanks - Steve
