Yes, that is fireblight. I have been pruning off small touches of it on my apple trees all season long. Small strikes are not a serious problem unless they occur on very small trees, and/or progress to the central leader. You can never predict what they will do. Sometimes, when you prune off a strike that is it; at other times it appears again below the pruning cut.

Whether or not to use an agricultural antibiotic early in the season is your call. I did, using streptomycin that is a little suspect because of its age. I don't think the shelf life of this stuff is all that good. I used it at blossom time, since that is when I have had the most serious problem of entry through the blossoms, and it either worked or the FB was not present -- you never know which has occurred. Maybe my two early sprays helped, but they have not completely prevented later minor branch strikes from occurring here and there throughout the orchard. I always prune them off immediately when spotted. I think the weather has been favorable to FB so far this season, and am thankful I don't have more. Certain apple varieties, such as Braeburn and Esopus Spitzenberg are just impossible, but I have even seen FB on Freedom.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Still, I would follow your prescription: Cut well back from each strike, use careful hygiene, etc. BUT: I think your strikes are localized right now, and if your weather cooperates you may have seen the last of it. I doubt you have to go into the central leader. I sometimes get one or three or so of these on my pear and it seems to go no further. Given that we can obsess over these things we have the luxury of prompt action and close observation that a professional with many acres might not have. More experienced folk may give you fuller advice. Take theirs first!

Good luck and give 'em hell!

:-)M

After writing the post, I had pretty much convinced myself that it was FB, and went out there and pruned those shoots off, sterilizing with rubbing alcohol between cuts. I believe I was able to satisfy the 8-12" requirement without touching the central leader. I’m happy that I caught it good an early, though now that I know FB can occur in my orchard, I think I’ll be able to recognize it and prune one day sooner next time. I do have a Spitzenburg that I just planted this year, so I'll have to keep a close eye on it. I think I agree that these are just "small strikes", so hopefully that will be the end of it. I may yet still be able to sleep tonight :-) Thanks guys,
-Glenn

This year all the strikes I've seen have been in apples- no pears yet. It's yet to be a fatal threat in any of the orchards, except maybe for a couple of quince. Quince is such a sponge for FB I don't recommend having them in an orchard- they spread it around, or at least did at one site. They had it for a year before the pears and susceptible apples started getting it. It was always worse on the quinces so we plan to cut them down.

I've yet to have any clear fireblight symptoms in spring- it's always early summer that it has shown up here. I think they call it shoot-blight.

I'm uncertain as to just how far back you find it necessary to prune (if I find a strike that appears to be localized to a leaf or very small shoot I may just pluck it- is that foolish?) I read conflicting information about sterilyzing- and I suspect that much of the advice is of the "better safe than sorry" variety. What really works for you in the real world? I'm scrupulous about removing strikes at once and disposing of them carefully. What else would you suggest?

Thanks very much,

Mark

My question is -- isn't Agri-Strep or tetracycline a treatment for this. I bought two bottles of Agri-Strep last fall on clearance, 75% off, just in case I need it for something, like cucumber wilt -- just wanted to experiment with it if need be.

I manage so many trees in so many sites that I'm not as thorough as a home grower is likely to be because I'm not sure I need to be. I don't cut way back- just an inch or 2 below the strike- as long as the cut tissue looks healthy, and I never sterilize between cuts anymore because consequences have never clearly followed this ommission. I try to do only the essential to keep the bills smaller.

I've had orchards with hundreds of strikes on small one year shoots where a lot of the strikes created cankers on older wood. Sometimes an owner doesn't want to pay the high fees I charge to do the time-consuming work of locating and cutting out such cankers. In such orchards I usually don't get FB the next year even though I was far from thorough. Some people say removing strikes has very little to do with control of the disease although that certainly isn't the orthodox view of the academics.

I have never used antibiotics, and up here it's never been needed. Commercial orchards that grow susceptable varieties on dwarfing rootstocks in my area can be literally wiped out by FB, however- Another reason for home orchards to be grown on more vigorous rootstocks.

Not at all the case with pears where I've had it rapidly infect the main leaders even with vigorous pruning. Thankfully, thus far this year I've not seen a single fireblight strike on any of my pears. I find it rather puzzling but I sure won't complain.