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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Fireblight

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  • From: "Richard J. Ossolinski" <ossoeo@myfairpoint.net>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Fireblight
  • Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:43:07 -0400

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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