Looking to Control Fireblight

Looking to Control Fireblight. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Tim Smith with WSU is to many the fireblight king. It’s a subject he knows a lot about and works hard to try and find answers. He spoke at this years Hort convention regarding development of non-antibiotic products to enhance control of fireblight.

SMITH: Years ago growers that grew pears were afraid of fireblight but they kind of hat the secret love affair with it. They say don’t cure fireblight. Well I haven’t, It’s worse now than it ever was back in the pear and Red Delicious days so don’t you worry. We haven’t cured fireblight.

Obviously Smith was speaking tongue-in-cheek. But he does say they have learned a lot about fireblight.

SMITH: We can see these things coming. These abnormally warm periods that occur often in late April, early May. Certainly by the middle of May we’ll have a really warm period and you can see them coming. Well this year they came about the first week in May. And it happened to coincide exactly with the side blossom cluster that came off of Bartlett's.

He says it just spread from there and got worse all season long.

SMITH: After that initial phase of infection on the side blossoms this contaminated the orchards and then that wind and rain and the rubbing of string or black tape on young trees was enough to trigger vegetative infections.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.