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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Fireblight

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  • From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
  • To: dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com, North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Fireblight
  • Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:13:56 -0500


Terminal buds are the buds located on the end of a shoot. Let me refer you
to http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/422/422-025/422-025.html that will give you a
clearer understanding of the physiology of pruning and the effects of summer
pruning.


Thanks, Dennis. But sorry, I'm afraid my question wasn't stated very well. You said "once the terminal buds have set, fire blight risk is minimal if not completely gone." I've read that fireblight is dormant in the winter, but are you saying that it doesn't spread - or not much - later in the summer?

Hmm,... I'm not sure that would help me much, anyway. I wanted to summer prune to keep the trees smaller and to encourage growth where I wanted it. But once the terminal buds have set, I'm not sure that there would be any point to it (I mean, as opposed to dormant pruning). Would there?

Two of my Asian pears, in particular, send up really tall, unbranched vertical shoots, as well as very long watersprouts (if my understanding of that term is correct) on more horizontal branches. I wanted to cut them back early, and keep them cut back, to encourage growth elsewhere (and to encourage branching in some cases, although dormant pruning would do that, too). Once the terminal buds have set, they've stopped growing, haven't they? So I might as well wait for dormant pruning at that point, right?

Thanks,

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike. - Delo McKown




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