I don't know, but it may be. You can treat fireblight to some extent
by spraying it with Benlate, Bordeaux mixture and a few other things.
Yes, I know it's not a fungus. Benlate is now illegal for use by
private citizens, because it caused major birth defects when used
by pregnant women in commercial horticulture; as far as I know, no
extra safety conditions were placed on its commercial use when it
was removed from private availability.

My advice is to cut back affected branches hard, and spray the rest
with Benlate if you have it and Bordeaux mixture if not.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I've now cut back all suspect branches on both trees, bleaching the pruners
and secateurs between each cut. I've got a few packets of Benlate left
lurking around somewhere so will spray with them too.
Thanks for the advice.

It sounds like DEFRA has given up on the disease. Just trying to keep the
disease at bay within registered orchards doesn't sound like a strategy to
combat the problem. I suspect that all orchards will probably end up
encircled by infected plants which continually re-infect their trees.
Commercial growers just need to hope that one of the pesticide manufacturers
comes up with a suitable treatment, but this leaves organic growers between
a rock and a hard place.

--
Drakanthus.


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will never reach me.)