Fire Blight

Fire Blight

Signs of Fire Blight on a Pear tree.

What is it?

Fire Blight is a disease that usually attacks Apples and Pears. It's caused by a bacteria that survives the winters in branch and trunk cankers(1). Once springtime rolls around, the bacteria begins multiplying once the temperature is above 65 degrees.

Infected trunk of an Apple tree

Do you have it?

You can sometimes see the white, liquid bacteria oozing out of cankers on the tree. It is called Fire Blight because of the symptoms it causes. It will look like the leaves, flowers, and small twigs have been scorched away. You'll usually notice the symptoms rather early in the year.

What does it do?

The infection starts in tip shoot tips and moves downward all the way to the trunk. The leaves will start turning brown or black, depending on the type of tree it is. (apples and crab apples usually turn brown, pear trees look black.) The disease will also infect fruit. This next picture is an apple infected with fire blight.

That's bacteria seeping out of it... gross.

The areas most commonly affected are the open flowers in the spring. It sometimes stays local to a certain part of the tree, but sometimes will spread to other areas. It can kill susceptible trees and even if it doesn't kill it, it can severely disfigure it. Once the tree has fire blight, it stays forever.

How to manage it:

Fire Blight can be avoided by planting certain types of trees that aren't affected by it. For example, if you want to plant a pear tree, you would want to avoid Asian and Red pears as they are the most susceptible.

If you've already got the trees then there are some tips to preventing the infection from spreading.

• Do not use excess nitrogen fertilization
• Do not prune if you can help it
• The tree should not be irrigated during the bloom cycle
• If you see an area that is showing symptoms of blight, remove and destroy it immediately
• With no cure known yet, the recommended spray to help would be a Copper blossom spray. It stops new infections, but it's detrimental that you cut the old infections out as best as you can.
• These sprays should be applied the entire time the tree is in the blossom stage, and should be applied when the temperature is above 60 degrees. Do this every 4 to 5 days until the bloom is over. This could mean as many as 12 treatments in one year.
• When trimming out infected areas, make SURE you clean your clippers after every snip. A bucket with 10% bleach in it will be fine.
• The best times to trim is in the summer and winter. During these seasons the infection has stopped reproducing and is dormant, thus making it easier to find the infection and destroy it.

(1) A canker on a tree is a small or large portion of dead bark that was killed during the previous years' infection.

When/Why/How to Water!

So. Let's get this blog going. A lot of my customers have been asking a lot about their trees/shrubs looking wilted and scraggly in the last few weeks. I felt this would be a good subject to start on. Without seeing the plants, I can't give you a positive answer on what the problem is. However, if you live in the corn belt, then it's pretty easy to guess. A severe drought, as you may have noticed, has all but taken over America. 

Source: http://capitalclimate.blogspot.com/2012/07/us-drought-coverage-expands-to-decade.html

This does NOT mean you have to sit and watch everything die. The obvious answer is to water everything, but there is more to it than that. 

1. Everything requires different watering techniques. 
   a. Grass/turf needs to have anywhere from 1 to 2 inches of water every week, depending on the temperature.
   b. Trees (depending on size) need to get nice and soaked at LEAST every 3 weeks.
   c. Flowers should be watered daily. Since flowers vary a lot from species to species, make sure you look up your particular flowers' watering methods. 

REMEMBER: Whether the trees/flowers/turf is on an incline or a recces does have a large effect on how much water is needed. Obviously if you have a tree in the bottom of a pit, it will need less water, as the water flows to it. On the other hand, If you have a tree right on top of a hill and you want to keep it green, you better prepare for the big water bill, because that water will mostly be leeching down into the hill. 

If you plan on watering, one of the most important details I can tell you is when to water. It is always best to water before sunrise, and if needed, after sunset. Watering in the daytime, while helpful, will not accomplish as much as this preferred cycle. The sun cooks a lot of the water away and pretty much just wastes your time and money. Also important to remember: if you water at night, there is a slight chance of contracting mildew/fungal problems. This isn't a huge threat, but one to consider. Make sure that when you water, you are watering the ground. Splashing water onto the leaves of a tree will magnify the suns rays and scorch the leaves, leaving you with a bigger mess than what you started with.

There is such a thing as pointless watering. If you water a 50 foot maple tree, for example, for 5 minutes, It gives the tree the idea that there is moisture, essentially putting it into grow mode. This is bad because the tree THINKS there is plenty of water, when in reality there's just enough for a taste. When it comes to larger trees, a "slow drip" method is your best choice. Turn your hose and to just a slight trickle, set it at the base of the tree and walk away. Check on it every few hours, and if you see a puddle forming, move the hose to a different spot.

Remember that just because a tree looks healthy and moisturized, doesn't mean it is. Larger trees can be negatively affected by drought, but not show it until up to 3 years later! So make sure your paying attention to ALL of your trees, not just the ones that look stressed. 

There's your advice for the day. The most important thing to remember is that your trees/shrubs/turf needs to be watered when we are in a heat spell like this. No exceptions. 

pro-tip: A lot of communities offer a discount if you call and let them know that you are watering your lawn. In my city, for example, if you call and let them know that you're watering a lot, they drop off your sewer charge so that your bill isn't sky-high. Recommend calling them and seeing if they offer this deal in your city!