North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Scott Smith <scott@cs.jhu.edu>]

Alan, fireblight is one fickle beast.  Most years I had it easily  
under control with pruning out the strikes; I also left galls around  
if I thought I would have to take too much of the tree out to get  
one.  Last spring here however was the perfect storm -- it absolutely  
ravaged my apples in spite of diligent pruning of strikes and several  
streptomycin sprays.  I think the weather was just right for the  
infection.  Now the funny thing is pears are 20' from the apples but  
they didn't get any strikes last year at all (and the quinces got  
nailed, I lost one of them).

This year?  Its at the lowest level I have seen in five years.  Three  
blossom strikes and not a single flagged limb.  We recently had two  
weeks where it seemed to rain all the time, but these rains came a  
little later and with cooler weather than last year and I think that  
made all the difference.

So, don't let your guard down, if the weather is just right for  
infection it could come back with a vengeance.

Scott