Plus, it would be a bit of overkill to bust them out for a tree’s first year of fireblight – it’s best to save them for when a specimen has had the disease for multiple years. Pruning during the growing season – especially in spring, when cankers are oozing – may lead to sucker growth and transferring the pathogen from cut to cut, spreading the disease even more.Ĭhemical controls are essentially preventative at best, and there’s no way of guaranteeing the thorough coverage of an entire plant. You should definitely prune away diseased twigs, branches, and cankers, but the “when” must be carefully considered here.įor the most part, it’s best to prune during winter dormancy. Here’s what you can do: Prune Out Infection So if you find it in your garden, then you have my condolences. There’s no known cure for fireblight, only ways of controlling it. Given the severity of fireblight, the slightest infection must be met with aggressive management, lest your plant eventually perish. If you’re giving the plant a shower from overhead, then you’re doing it incorrectly. amylovora spreads, make sure to directly water the root zone of plants rather than their leafy shoots. You wouldn’t want to spread pathogens via contaminated blades! Avoid Overhead Irrigation This can stimulate cut tissues to regrow with a vigorous vengeance, which we know helps fireblight to spread quickly.Īnd finally, no matter what, when, or how much you prune, be sure to sterilize any pruning tools that you use with rubbing alcohol. Without adequate ventilation within a plant’s canopy, there’s nothing to keep moisture from building up and fostering the growth, multiplication, and spread of pathogens.ĭon’t prune too much, though. When you prune to shape a tree, try your best to maintain an open canopy. amylovora could use to enter the specimen.ĭon’t forget to remove water sprouts or suckers from the base of the tree as well, since those are especially vulnerable. The prompt pruning of dead or damaged plant tissues will help to shore up any vulnerabilities that E. Instead, keep any added N a moderate part of a healthy and balanced fertilizer program. And nothing turbo-boosts a plant’s growth rate quite like heavy nitrogen fertilization.Īvoiding this is as simple as not adding disproportionately large doses of nitrogen fertilizer during the growing season. Avoid Excessive Nitrogenĭon’t forget that the more vigorous a plant’s growth, the faster the fireblight within can spread.

Keeping aware of upcoming thunderstorms, tornadoes, and the like will help gardeners in scheduling those prompt post-storm pruning sessions. Regularly checking the weather can help gardeners prepare for those warm and wet times when fireblight is especially likely to spread.Īdditionally, destructive weather such as lightning, hail, and strong winds can damage plants, creating entry points that E. More of a plum person? Auburn University has developed some varieties for southern gardens that are resistant to bacterial diseases, such as ‘AU Cherry,’ ‘AU Rosa,’ and ‘AU Rubrum.’īut new cultivars are being developed all the time, so don’t let the above recommendations be the end-all-be-all.įeel free to check with local orchards and extension agents, as they may have more specific recommendations for your area. Young and especially susceptible specimens can be killed in a single season, while more mature and durable trees can usually survive several years of branch dieback before perishing.Įither way, an infected specimen’s fruit production will be severely hindered.įor a beautiful ‘Kieffer’ pear that’s offered at starting sizes of four to seven feet, visit. This sort of environment allows the pathogen to reproduce and spread at peak efficiency.Īll this damage causes plants a great deal of harm and can quickly lead to their demise. The majority of this damage occurs in warm and wet conditions – think temperatures of at least 65☏ and humidity of 60 percent or higher. It’ll be brown and necrotic towards the infection site, reddish in the newly infected wood, and red-flecked in sections that the pathogen is just beginning to colonize.īut if you had to describe the symptoms in a one-sentence blurb for an easy diagnosis, I’d use this one: “Infected plant tissues will appear scorched, with darkened, shriveled foliage and fruits hanging limply from cankered, necrotic branches.” If you were to peel the bark back intentionally, you’d find the inner sapwood to be stained.

Fire blight on pear