There seemed to be a lot of late, tail-end bloom(rat-tail) bloom this year especially on Paulared. Every tree had 3-4 clusters on borse shoots into mid-June. We did use one strep spray on several varieties with this bloom. Also it is probably not a good idea to neglect cutting root suckers that may eventually bloom and be susceptible to fire blight.
On Tue, Aug 11, 2015 at 12:07 PM, Glen Koehler <glen.koeh...@maine.edu> wrote: > > Maine had two bouts of fire blight weather during bloom, one at very > beginning and second at very end. I suspect that the rapid shift to hot > days just before and leading into bloom (after slow cool period from bud > break to pink) may have shocked the trees and resulted in more straggled > bloom than usual. > > While we have not had an epic fire blight year comparable to what > other states have experienced in other recent years, there seems to be a > transition this year. Originally fire blight was not a disease that > required attention in Maine. That era ended about 15 years ago. Then, > fire blight used to be something that showed up in a few orchards in some > years, usually but not always relatively minor extent. This year, it seems > that most orchards have a little bit of fire blight. No devastating > epidemics this year, but a lot more than growers want to see. > > Following is off the cuff reply to apple grower dealing with fire > blight strikes that keep showing up in Paula Reds. He was wondering if he > can ever dig his way back out of recurring fire blight infections. The > fire blight has been in the block at low level for past 3-4 years and > despite repeated, (though not always immediate) sanitation removal, it is > back again this year. Still not at catastrophic level but it does seem to > be increasing year to year. Rough guess is that this year 20-30% of Paula > Red trees in the block are affected. Most with only one or two strikes, > but a few with considerably more. Unfortunately I think the trees are on > M26. Across Maine. there seems to be much more fire blight on Paula Red > than other cultivars this year. Honeycrisp and Cortland in this same block > hardly affected. > > > I'm looking for comments. Did I miss any key points? Anything > erroneous? I'm aware of kasugamycin and other alternative materials, but > this wasn't the place for getting into that kind of detail. I don't think > we have strep resistant E.a., should get some more samples tested though. > Is two early season copper applications likely to be any more helpful than > one? Post harvest copper make any sense? > > Thanks for your help, > Glen > > ************************************** > Grower message: "Fire blight looks like heck in the Paula Red’s! We are > just cutting what we can and summer pruning. Is there no hope?" > > Reply: " It should slow down with trees ceasing terminal growth. I'm > sure you have other things you'd rather be doing, but getting rid of the > fire blight now will at least cut down work load later, and might be the > thing that prevents further spread that gets to the point where you are > looking at replacing trees. > > Copper every spring. Strep on hand so you can react quickly to > blossom blight infection period forecast that you need to check daily > because they can change so fast. Factor fire blight into cultivar and > rootstock selection. Blossom removal on first year trees. Fertility > management to prevent overly lush growth. Consider Apogee where > appropriate to reduce shoot growth and thus shoot blight spread. Daily > monitoring and removal of fire blight strikes starting a petal fall until > end of August. Strep on hand in case hail or strong wind storm creates > risk of fire blight spread (up until strep PHI gets in the way). > > Be careful that you don't mix summer pruning and fire blight removal. > They should be handled as two separate jobs. I suspect it would be best > to complete fire blight removal first. Summer pruning before fire blight > removal will create open wound surfaces. Going in after to handle fire > blight material could mobilize bacteria which can infect those wounds. > Thus, better to remove fire blight before creating summer pruning wounds. > Same thing applies to sucker removal. Thoroughly sterilize tools after > using them for fire blight removal before using for anything else. Ugly > stub pruning to allow winter removal of cankers created by sanitation > cuts. Don't leave fire bight cuttings in the orchard as fire blight > bacterial can remain active in dried ooze for 2 years. Burn, bury, or > compost the fire blight cuttings. > > It is possible to work your way out of a moderate fire blight > outbreak. But it can take an extended period of sanitation vigilance. > There are no silver bullets." > ************************************** > -- > Glen Koehler > University of Maine Cooperative Extension > Pest Management Office > Voice: Office 207-581-3882, Cell 207-485-0918 > 491 College Avenue, Orono, ME 04473 > > > > _______________________________________________ > apple-crop mailing list > apple-crop@virtualorchard.net > http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop > > -- Art Kelly Kelly Orchards Acton, ME
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