North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Richard J. Ossolinski" <ossoeo@myfairpoint.net>]

Perhaps relevant/helpful here is this paragraph from the University of 
Maine Cooperative Extension's 8/14/09 Apple Pest Report:

> In the previous newsletter I wrote about not doing summer pruning in 
> an  orchard with widespread fire blight strikes.  Some folks I’ve 
> talked to since then  interpreted that as meaning that if fire blight 
> strikes appeared they should not be  removed.  That’s not what I 
> meant. I was referring to the horticultural practice of  “summer 
> pruning” to thin out canopies of every tree to allow better sunlight 
> and air  penetration.  My concern was that if there is active fire 
> blight in an orchard, the  wounds and physical disturbance of summer 
> pruning could help spread fire blight.  My  concern about summer 
> pruning may not be warranted as I’ve since found out that the  wounds 
> created by breaking off water sprouts and by cuts made to thin out 
> vegetative  growth to more branches will heal enough to resist 
> infection in just a few hours.  The  same is true for breaking off 
> root suckers.

The entire newsletter cam be accessed at
> http://pmo.umext.maine.edu/apple/

Richard
Gouldsboro, ME  Zone 5, where deer have just harvested the biggest, 
most lovely Puget Gold apricots we've ever grown.


On Aug 17, 2009, at 10:53 AM, William C. Garthright wrote:

> > There is no more risk to your trees for fire blight from summer
> > pruning than there is from pruning out fire blight in the summer.
>
>
> But I pretty well HAVE to prune out the fireblight right away, don't I?
> If I don't want it to spread?
>
> I figured that there was some risk it would spread, but more risk if I
> didn't get rid of the infected areas. So I've got some choice about
> other summer pruning, but not about that, I thought.
>
>
> > And, once again, once the terminal buds have set, fire blight risk in
> > minimal if not completely gone.
>
>
> I'm not sure I understand that, Dennis. What do you mean?
>
> Well, this is the first year I've had fireblight, and I don't know much
> about it (my county extension office didn't know anything about it,
> either). But from what I've read, it will infect a tree through an
> injury, right? So if I'm pruning off a bunch of new growth, won't that
> just multiply my chances that it will spread to that tree (especially
> when I know that fireblight is in the area)?
>
> I would like to summer prune my apples and pears (probably not this
> year, at this point, but in general), but I didn't want the fireblight
> to spread. Yes, I pruned off the infected branches, but I figured that 
> I
> didn't have much choice in that. And the disease is supposed to be
> dormant in the winter, so I figured that dormant pruning would be OK
> (and I've got to prune SOMETIME).
>
> I'd hate to get rid of the Suncrisp apple, especially since it's one of
> four planted in one spot (and they're tied together to keep them all
> upright). That's one of the problems with that method. (Heh, heh. I, 
> for
> one, don't have a "cult-like enthusiasm" for it. It definitely has its
> advantages, but I'd do things differently if I had to do this all over
> again. Not the basic idea, maybe, but probably not four in one spot 
> like
> this.)
>
> And although I've got a nice strong sprout from the root, where I
> suppose I could graft a new variety (though I've never done any
> grafting), it's not a dwarfing rootstock. Instead, all four of these
> apple trees had a dwarfing interstem. OK, they've done really well, but
> it would make replacing the Suncrisp harder to do.
>
> Anyway, thanks for the comments. I AM learning here, though slowly. :-)
>
> Bill
> Lincoln, NE (zone 5)
>
> --
> I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school
> like I did. - Yogi Berra
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