Prune out fire blight in the winter
< 1 minute read
I often wonder where fire blight comes from in the spring. Often, fire blight strikes are localized in several areas in an orchard. If I get to the orchard early enough when the symptoms are just starting, I usually find shoot blight symptoms on a limb that has an old canker from last year.
The old canker was the source of the infection. Fire blight bacteria do not survive well outside the tree and do not overwinter outside of a host. That means the fireblight must come from trees that are already infected. Next year’s fire blight will come from trees that had active infections last year. Bacterial ooze from overwintering cankers is the cause of infections during bloom. Michigan State University Extension
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