![]() ![]() ![]() Long-Sleeved Shirt and Long Pants – Cover any exposed skin.Measuring Spoons – You will need a teaspoon.Ferti-Lome – You can buy Ferti-Lome on Amazon.1 Gallon Sprayer – Use a larger sprayer if you have several trees or large trees.The bacteria can enter in a damaged place on the tree or through the blossoms. Even rains, winds, or splashing water can spread the bacteria from tree to tree. Pollinators and other insects can also spread the bacteria from tree to tree. This reduces the chance of your tools spreading bacteria to healthy trees. Pro-Tip: Dip your pruning tools in a disinfectant solution between trimming each tree. Pruning can spread fire blight if you prune an infected tree and then prune another healthy tree you can pass the bacteria to the healthy tree if the bacteria is present on the pruning shears. Then, with heavy rain, hail, or strong winds, trees can become damaged, and bacteria can enter these damaged spots on the trees. The rapid new growth allows for the bacteria that cause fire blight to grow and reproduce, so you should limit nitrogen fertilization. Conditions for fire blight to thrive include warm, humid, wet spring weather with temperatures between 75☏ and 85☏. Since the bacteria that cause fire blight can lie dormant in the cankers of trees during winter, it can survive from season to season. It is a cycle that encourages us to keep our orchards healthy for the sake of the bees as well as for the sake of the harvest. And, if our trees die, our bees have less food. But, if our orchards become unhealthy, the bees will even spread disease from tree to tree. Our bees help us by promoting the health of our orchards and gardens. Not only do we extract honey from our hives, place DIY bee watering stations around our garden, and capture bee swarms, we strive to promote the health of pollinators because we know they play an essential role on our farm and in the world. We also experience this relationship between our honey bees and our gardens and orchards. Or, how vermicomposting enriches the soil in our garden, allowing us to grow healthy vegetables for our family. We love it when aspects of our farm work together and overlap, like how our livestock guardian dogs check on our nanny goats when we are birthing goats on the farm. Read on to learn how to keep your apple and pear tree free of disease with a fire blight treatment spray and protect pollinators’ food sources. As a bonus, it helps protect pollinators, like our honey bees, who need these fruit trees for survival. Use the search phrase “Streptomycin fire blight”.But, there are preventative measures you can take to protect your fruit crops. Your best source is to look for suppliers on the Internet. Note: Streptomycin is rarely carried by garden centers. But when we have a long, mild spring, fire blight can be devastatingly obvious in many landscapes. Some years, fire blight is a minor problem. The ornamental ‘Bradford’ pear is somewhat resistant but other ornamental pears like ‘Aristocrat’ and ‘Capital’ are very susceptible. ‘Red Delicious’ apple and ‘Orient’ pear are resistant. ‘Bartlett’ pear, ‘Rome Beauty’ apple and ‘MacIntosh’ apple have no resistance to the disease and should not be planted by a homeowner. RESISTANT TREES Before planting an apple, crabapple or pear choose a variety resistant to fire blight. Collect all pruned branches and remove them from the premises. Submerge the pruner for five seconds after you make a cut. Make a solution of 1 part alcohol or chlorine bleach to 4 parts water and pour it into a shallow pan, such as a loaf pan. STERILIZE PRUNING SHEARS Your pruner may carry fire blight bacteria from wound to wound unless you sterilize it after each cut. The canker that oozes the harmful bacteria will be at the base of a dead twig, so make your pruning cuts 4-6 inches back from the black leaves into healthy wood on the branch. PRUNE BRANCHES Once you see the black leaves, pruning out and destroying the infected branches is the best course of action. Copper fungicides (click for sources) are bactericidal but they might cause russeting (freckles) on the fruit. Most f ungicides will not control this disease. SPRAY You can spray a bactericide like streptomycin (click for sources) during and after bloom to control the disease before it worsens. It is spread mainly by bees and flies that visit infected flowers when the tree is blooming and then take the disease to other parts of the tree. If many branches on a pear tree are infected, they may all turn black, like the tree was burned, leading to the name “fire blight”. The dead sprouts may be scattered on the tree or may only occur on one side. The most noticeable symptom is the sudden death of the new leaves at the end of a branch. Apples, crabapples and pears are susceptible in spring to a bacterial disease known as fire blight (fireblight). ![]()
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