Herbert:

I'm really sorry to hear that man. FB can be a crushing blow. Makes these freezes everyone complains about sound like a stroll in the park.

I'd think you'd need to try to prune it out. But if it's everywhere nothing may help. I hope you have a resistant rootstock or the whole tree could be dead in a couple months.

I'm sorry to hear that Herbert! I hope some of the trees will survive. -Glenn

Ouch. With a couple blighted blossoms I often just leave them or yank off the blossom only. But if you had nearly all blossoms infected you may not have any spur wood on the branches so it may be better to just cut it all out (and lower risk of re-infection). Blossom infections rarely infect the rest of the tree, maybe one in a hundred do, and they can be cut back further if they do.

Scott

Thanks guys.

I'm going to cut all the small branches back and leave some buds to regrow. It should grow and flower in a couple of years, just in time for the next d**m freeze and fireblight strike.

What a heartache.

Herbert

I would definitely cut it out, but I've never had it strike my blossoms- it's always on shoots. It has never threatened the lives of any of the many apple trees I manage that have been struck. I've even had major cankers spread into big wood on a site where the owner didn't want to pay to cut them out and the FB hasn't returned the last couple of years there anyway.

At that site it affected the apples and not the pears also, which weirdly has been as often the case as for it to hit pears and not apples.

It's most threatening to apple trees on dwarfing root stocks (if they're not of the Geneva series).

http://www.caf.wvu.edu/kearneysville/articles/FB-MANAGE00.html

This is about the most comprehensive and intelligent thing I've seen written about fire blight.

Dethride, All of my apple trees have also been covered with fire blight this year despite several copper and other sprays when dormant and at bloom, etc. I have debated removing the apple trees as mine just don't do well in this part of Georgia due to fire blight and it is becoming more trouble than it is worth. I may just take the hours drive north to ellijay in the fall where in the "mountains" they grow delicious apples and sell them at roadside stores.
GaRedneck!

Are you sure it is fireblight on the blooms? Could it be cold damage?

I agree, scottsmith. Good info and advice. I have wondered how your "Suntan" apples did. I had to draw a line as to whether to get more trees and it fell on the negatory side. (insert frowny face here)

Thanks, Glenn. Good to be back around this great site. How did your trees do?

H'man, thanks for the great link and advice.

Randy, I wondered the same thing. I snapped off some blossoms and there is an orange ooze at the break. Some of the blossoms escaped damage and they are very high off the ground on long branch tips. Clue?

GAredneck, come on up! Mercier's Orchard is near me and I would like to know how they did thru the freeze and fireblight conditions.

Herbert, bummed.

I see oozing cankers (little white nib, then turns brown and stains the bark) on many big limbs and they are close to the main trunk. I am thinking I need to get radical and hack away, but it will reverse over a decade of training and care.

When one sees a canker that close to the trunk, is it a given to cut off the limb?

This rain ain't helping.

Herbert

Herbert, I usually just chip away at them and at some point they stop oozing. But, thats not the "recommended" approach.

I just got nailed in the last day or two, three apple trees with some very late blooms got hammered and lots of minor damage spread around. Its the first time in several years I have had trees nailed like this.

Scott

Scott, yeah, that's what I'm doing. I see a dying branch, off it comes.

The pear is the worst. I may end up with a stumpy, three-legged thing before it's all over with.

Yes, worst year ever!

BTW, how did your "Suntan" apple do?

Herbert

Herbert, the Suntan I had died and then the re-graft died; I hopefully am on the successful tree now but it was grafted last year.

The fireblight has continued to nip me this spring, no big strikes but lots of little ones.

Scott

Herbert, so sry about your orchard. Harvestman posted an excellent article which can help us all.