North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[<dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>]

It seems fire blight is never gone, just dormant if you have had it on 
certain trees or blocks.  I am speaking from the experience of spraying for 
fire blight on 12,000 trees.  If you have only a few trees and have had fire 
blight, I believe you will always need to be prepared for an infection on 
those trees again.  And if you only have a few trees, and have sprayed 
copper at dormancy/green tip and strep at least every 7 days during the 
bloom period.....you have done all you can to combat it.  We have summer 
pruned certain trees and continue to prune out any infected shoots all 
through the summer without spreading it throughout the orchard and before 
terminal buds have set.  the effects of summer pruning will be felt the next 
spring, so I don't think it will hurt to go ahead and do your needed summer 
pruning.  As a matter of fact, the majority of pruning on our tall spindle 
trees is done in the summer, usually in late June/early July.  But again, we 
have applied our sprays for fire blight with the addition of Mychoshield in 
the blocks where it was heavy the previou season.

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: <dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>; "North American Fruit Explorers" 
<nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 10:13 AM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Fireblight


> > 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