To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: Re: [NAFEX] Bradford pear seedlings as invasive species
Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 06:17:16 -0400 (GMT)
'Bradford' and perhaps other callery seedlings of Bradford may not be a
"problem" much longer. I started seeing severe fireblight in a row of
Bradfords near the RDU airport a few years ago and this year I've seen more
blight-stricken Bradfords in neighborhoods. It would not surprise me to
learn that E. amylovora had mutated to form a new strain that infects
formerly resistant callerys.
I hope that I am mistaken and these infected trees are actually seedlings of
a susceptible callery strain that were mislabelled (but I doubt it
considering the dominance of Bradford in the nursery trade).
Anton
-------Original Message-------
From: nottke <nottke1@earthlink.net>
Sent: 06/05/03 07:55 AM
To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Bradford pear seedlings as invasive species
>
> > Ray, I saw the same thing as I traveled down I-95 near Baltimore this
>spring. There were thousands of trees with with blooms, and though I did
>not stop and examine them, I was sure that they were seedling pears,
>probably Bradfords. Most were in fields along the highway but many were
>out onto the "right-of-way". This is going to be a major problem in the
>near future.
When this subject came up briefly a year or so ago I cut down the 15
"wild"
pears growing in my pastures. They were very thorny, lot of flowers,
virtually no fruit that I could discern, up to 6 inches in trunk diameter.
I see several along other farm fields in the Spring.