Jul 29 2009
Fireblight On Fruit Trees: How To Identify And Treat The Disease
Fireblight primarily attacks apple and pear trees and is easily recognizable. The fruit tree will look as though it has been burned with fire. Blackened twigs and branches with dry, brown curled up leaves.
Fireblight will spread throughout the tree and kill it if the disease is not controlled. Uncontrolled Fireblight will spread to nearby fruit trees also.
To treat a fruit tree that has Fireblight, prune away all affected limbs and branches. Make the cut 8 inches below each blackened branch.
It’s important to disinfect the pruning shears between each cut, if you don’t the shears will spread the Fireblight with each cut. Make a disinfecting solution of 1 part bleach and nine parts water, dip the pruning shears into the disinfecting solution between each cut.
Clean up all debris after pruning and discard the Fireblighted branches away from all other trees.
