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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Fireblight

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  • From: <dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Fireblight
  • Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:24:34 -0500

I agree with Richard on this point, as we have not seen any adverse effects of our summer pruning.

Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
Office (815) 648-4467
Mobile (815) 228-2174
Fax (609) 228-2174
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com
http://www.revivalhymn.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 10:24 AM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Fireblight



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.


Thanks, Richard. That's encouraging! That was exactly my concern, too, so I'm glad to hear this.

This year, I did pinch off the very end of some tall shoots on one of my Asian pears, since I figured that, if fireblight did infect it there, I'd have plenty of shoot to cut off before it got to anything I wanted to keep.

Unfortunately, pinching off the very tip didn't do much of anything to slow down its rate of growth. Heh, heh. The tree hardly seemed to notice it, in fact.

But maybe next year I'll be more aggressive. I was very worried to see fireblight for the first time this year, and it just kept returning over and over again on my Suncrisp apple. But (except for two spots early in the summer on my Pink Lady apple, which is on the other side of the yard), it never did spread to the other apples planted in the same location (only inches apart), nor to the Asian pears close by. So it looks like I might have panicked too quickly. :-)

I certainly won't get complacent, but that newsletter might get me to do some cautious summer pruning next year.

Thanks again,

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
The truth is sometimes a poor competitor in the marketplace of ideas - complicated, unsatisfying, full of dilemmas, always vulnerable to misinterpretation and abuse. - George F. Kennen







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