![]() ![]() The dead leaves and fruit remain attached and can be brown or black. Affected branches often curl back in a “shepherd’s crook” or J-shape. Depending on the severity of the infection, leaves can be patchy with dead spots, or entire sections of new growth and even whole limbs can be killed off. Is Your Tree Infected?įire blight is named for the scorched appearance of infected leaves and branches. However, it can be kept under control using organic methods to prevent the disease from spreading and killing the tree. Once a tree is infected, it is nearly impossible to eliminate. It is caused by the bacteria Erwinia amylovora. Unless specified, it should be remembered that all dates mentioned are dates of publication only.Fire Blight Is A Common Disease For Roses, Pears and Applesįire blight is a common and potentially fatal disease among trees in the rose family, especially pears and apples. With these additions, corrections, and explanations the official listing of countries where fire blight has been reported totals 40 entries (Table 1). Reports of fire blight on cotoneaster in the Royal Botanic Garden in Melbourne, Australia were made in 1997, but these observations have never been confirmed. Recent microbiological and molecular investigations in New York and West Virginia have shown that the organism causing Bacterial Shoot Blight of Pear, recently reported from Japan, is closely related to the regular fire blight organism. ![]() In Europe, the only countries that have not reported fire blight to date are: Finland, Liechtenstein, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the independent states of the former Soviet Union, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Since the last workshop in 1995, new records of fire blight were received from Albania and Spain in late 1995, and Hungary in 1996. Within 20 years, fire blight was present throughout western Europe.įrom Egypt, fire blight spread rapidly to Cyprus and Israel, and from there into Turkey, Iran and Greece and into eastern Europe.įollowing the creation of independent countries from the former Yugoslavia, the number of countries increased by three (Bosnia, Croatia and Macedonia). Once established, the disease spread easily inland in the wind currents to pear, apple and numerous plants in the family Rosaceae. Not until after WW II did the disease move long distance eastward from the North American continent to England (1957) and Egypt (1964), from where it spread to numerous countries in Europe and the Middle East.įrom England, fire blight spread across the English Channel to hawthorn in the coastal regions France, Belgium and The Netherlands. In the early 1900's, fire blight spread to Japan (1903) and New Zealand (1919) to pear and to Bermuda (1943) on loquat. The causal organism, Erwinia amylovora, was not discovered until 1880 at the University of Illinois. The disease eventually spread into all the fruit-growing provinces of Canada and the northern states of Mexico. Not until the late 1800's did fire blight reach the western states and caused serious damage in California. ![]() The Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, combined with western air currents slow down the spread of the disease. The disease spread rapidly south and westward across the American continent and north into Canada.īy the mid 1800's, fire blight reached the Midwestern states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and caused severe injury to apple and pear. Fire blight was first observed in 1780 and recorded in 1794 by Denning on apples in New York. ![]()
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