Fireblight is destroying our flowering ornamental trees

Fireblight infected tree

Fire blight is a serious tree disease. It is caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora. The disease can attack some 75 species of plants of the rose family.

It has attacked our aging ornamental fruit trees. These trees are 40 years old, and most ornamentals have a lifespan of 25 to 35 years. So our ornamentals are old and more susceptible to disease. Infected, dead and dying trees are being removed. Our board has not revealed how many are being removed.  The board didn't mention this during the annual meeting. Nothing at all in the quarterly newsletters, which were six times a year until I left the board.  "Nothing ever to report at BLMH" I guess.....

This year the disease has been noticeable as entire branches on trees have died, leaving misshapen, ugly trees.

The bacteria overwinters in infected bark and is spread by splashing rain, dew, wind and insects. It spreads rapidly in moist, warm weather, especially during bloom. If infected trees are not removed, the disease will continue to spread.

While treatment is possible with healthy trees, it must be done aggressively and continuously. Treatment can be labor intensive on a large property such as ours and can therefore be expensive.

Fire Blight or fireblight disease is named for the scorched appearance of infected leaves. It is a destructive bacterial disease which is found on apples, pears and other members of the rose family. The disease enters the tree at the tips of the branches and then travels down the stems causing dieback. It attacks soft new growth first, so the dieback can be noticed at the top of the plant. Most infected leaves and branch tips wilt rapidly turn brown or black; the leaves die but do not drop off. Trees will also develop reddish water soaked lesions on the bark. On warm days, these lesions ooze an orange-brown liquid. Fire blight kills blossoms, shoots, limbs and entire trees.

This is what one of these flowering ornamentals looked like in Spring: 

Healthy ornamental tree blooming in the Spring

A few more dead and dying ornamental trees which will be removed:

Fireblight infected tree

Fireblight infected tree

Copyright (c) 2019 Norman Retzke "All Rights Reserved"

Original material:  http://briarcliffelakes.blogspot.com/