What should I do? Should the tree be dug up and disposed of just in case?

A young pear tree which I bought a few months ago from a local garden centre
is showing signs of what I think may be fireblight - according to my fruit
tree book. I'm a novice regarding fruit trees so am not confident about my
diagnosis. However I understand this is a notifiable disease and emailed
DEFRA but they are not interested since I am not a professional fruit tree
grower and just emailed back an URL to their page - which I'd already looked
at in the first place. This sounds a bit like ignoring cases of SARS if it
is not in a hospital or cases of foot and mouth if the animals are kept as
pets. Presumably the disease cannot spread in such circumstances to nearby
fruit trees in mine and neighbours gardens!!!

The flowers and leaves on one branch were dying and turning brown but not
falling off the branch, so I cut off the affected branch. However since
then, the solitary pear which had set on another branch has now turned black
and is shrivelling and a few other leaves nearby are turning completely
black. Some other leaves are showing black patches - a bit like some black
ink has been splattered on them. Most other branches on the tree look
healthy at the moment except for a couple which are showing signs of the
wilting tip as described on the DEFRA web page.

Is this fireblight? Should I wait and see what happens or destroy the tree?

--
Drakanthus.


(Spam filter: Include the word VB anywhere in the subject line or emails
will never reach me.)

In article ,
"Drakanthus" writes:
|
| A young pear tree which I bought a few months ago from a local garden centre
| is showing signs of what I think may be fireblight - according to my fruit
| tree book. I'm a novice regarding fruit trees so am not confident about my
| diagnosis. However I understand this is a notifiable disease and emailed
| DEFRA but they are not interested since I am not a professional fruit tree
| grower and just emailed back an URL to their page - which I'd already looked
| at in the first place. This sounds a bit like ignoring cases of SARS if it
| is not in a hospital or cases of foot and mouth if the animals are kept as
| pets. Presumably the disease cannot spread in such circumstances to nearby
| fruit trees in mine and neighbours gardens!!!

To be fair to them, the notifiability was an attempt to stop it
spreading - as it failed, there is no point in continuing. I believe
that it is still notifiable north of Newcastle, or somewhere. That
does not exclude the incompetence of spreading misleading information
and perhaps even failing to stop the spread. But what do you expect
after the the Whitehall mandarins and the ineffable Thatcher eliminated
the Scientific Civil Service as a functioning entity?

| Is this fireblight? Should I wait and see what happens or destroy the tree?

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.

In article , Nick Maclaren
writes

Whitehall mandarins and the ineffable Thatcher eliminated
the Scientific Civil Service as a functioning entity?

ah... so it's not *all* civil servants that you hate!
;-)
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

In article ,
Kay Easton wrote:
In article , Nick Maclaren
writes

Whitehall mandarins and the ineffable Thatcher eliminated
the Scientific Civil Service as a functioning entity?

ah... so it's not *all* civil servants that you hate!
;-)

Correct. And you can hate an organisation without hating the people
who work for it. My venom IS directed, and it is aimed at the very
small group of arrogant and self-serving ******s who have caused and
are causing so much harm to this country.

The fact that there is a much larger group of people who go along
with them is another matter, and such a conglomeration of ignorance,
stupidity and short-sightedness makes me despair more than loathe.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I had an apple tree that came down with something that I was told was
fireblight. A limb would die and turn black. Not all of it sometimes, but
the fruit located in the affected area would also turn black. The rest of
the tree was OK.

They told me that if I had pruned off the dead wood, the tree would not have
had the problem. I cut off the dead branches and pruned the tree very well
the next winter and the problem did not return.

Good luck. Dwayne

"Drakanthus" wrote in message
...
What should I do? Should the tree be dug up and disposed of just in case?

A young pear tree which I bought a few months ago from a local garden
centre
is showing signs of what I think may be fireblight - according to my fruit
tree book. I'm a novice regarding fruit trees so am not confident about my
diagnosis. However I understand this is a notifiable disease and emailed
DEFRA but they are not interested since I am not a professional fruit tree
grower and just emailed back an URL to their page - which I'd already
looked
at in the first place. This sounds a bit like ignoring cases of SARS if it
is not in a hospital or cases of foot and mouth if the animals are kept as
pets. Presumably the disease cannot spread in such circumstances to nearby
fruit trees in mine and neighbours gardens!!!

The flowers and leaves on one branch were dying and turning brown but not
falling off the branch, so I cut off the affected branch. However since
then, the solitary pear which had set on another branch has now turned
black
and is shrivelling and a few other leaves nearby are turning completely
black. Some other leaves are showing black patches - a bit like some black
ink has been splattered on them. Most other branches on the tree look
healthy at the moment except for a couple which are showing signs of the
wilting tip as described on the DEFRA web page.

Is this fireblight? Should I wait and see what happens or destroy the
tree?

--
Drakanthus.


(Spam filter: Include the word VB anywhere in the subject line or emails
will never reach me.)

I had an apple tree that came down with something that I was told was
fireblight. A limb would die and turn black. Not all of it sometimes,
but
the fruit located in the affected area would also turn black. The rest of
the tree was OK.

They told me that if I had pruned off the dead wood, the tree would not
have
had the problem. I cut off the dead branches and pruned the tree very
well
the next winter and the problem did not return.

Good luck. Dwayne

Thanks. I'll do that, plus give it an assortment of sprays Nick suggested. I
just noticed this morning that a 20 foot ornamental crab apple at the bottom
of the garden is showing similar symptoms - it may have been the source of
infection for the young pear tree. I guess I'm going to be busy pruning
today!
--
Drakanthus.


(Spam filter: Include the word VB anywhere in the subject line or emails
will never reach me.)

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.


(Spam filter: Include the word VB anywhere in the subject line or emails
will never reach me.)

My pears suffer from all sorts of problems, none of which seem to kill
them. They've got pear midge in the fruits, leaf blister mite on the leaves,
die back on several branches, and the occasional blackened leaves and
shriveled fruit on the end of branches. This last ailment sounds like
what you have, and it doesn't seem to be terminal; leave the tree alone,
though I generally pick off the blackened leaves and shrivelled fruits.

Andy.

"Drakanthus" wrote in message
...
What should I do? Should the tree be dug up and disposed of just in case?

A young pear tree which I bought a few months ago from a local garden
centre
is showing signs of what I think may be fireblight - according to my fruit
tree book. I'm a novice regarding fruit trees so am not confident about my
diagnosis. However I understand this is a notifiable disease and emailed
DEFRA but they are not interested since I am not a professional fruit tree
grower and just emailed back an URL to their page - which I'd already
looked
at in the first place. This sounds a bit like ignoring cases of SARS if it
is not in a hospital or cases of foot and mouth if the animals are kept as
pets. Presumably the disease cannot spread in such circumstances to nearby
fruit trees in mine and neighbours gardens!!!

The flowers and leaves on one branch were dying and turning brown but not
falling off the branch, so I cut off the affected branch. However since
then, the solitary pear which had set on another branch has now turned
black
and is shrivelling and a few other leaves nearby are turning completely
black. Some other leaves are showing black patches - a bit like some black
ink has been splattered on them. Most other branches on the tree look
healthy at the moment except for a couple which are showing signs of the
wilting tip as described on the DEFRA web page.

Is this fireblight? Should I wait and see what happens or destroy the
tree?

--
Drakanthus.


(Spam filter: Include the word VB anywhere in the subject line or emails
will never reach me.)