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Fireblight

Symptoms

To establish whether a tree has fireblight, the following systems should be recognised. Firstly, the flowers will wilt and die back, followed by the leaves, branches and then the stem. Usually this die back will be seen starting from the crown first. In infected areas, a foxy red discolouration can be seen in the wood and also bacterial ooze.

Cycle of Infection

The infection is encouraged by warm weather, so that indicates that it usually infects in summer to mid summer, though fireblight is not a frequent case and only happens in certain parts of the country, mainly in the UK, NI and the Isle of Man, with some cases in the Channel Islands. Raindrops dispersing bacteria and pruning tools spread this infection.

Implication for host

Once the infection is established in the tree, the bark begins to sink inwards usually on young stems. If the wood is pealed back, a foxy red discolouration can be seen followed by bacterial ooze. The infection will then disfigure the tree from the crown downwards before finally killing it after a couple of seasons.

Treatments

This infection is quick to kill its host once established and it is said that it must be reported to the Ministry of Agriculture, fisheries & food. Ways of controlling this infection are limited depending on how far the tree is gone. If the damage is not too bad, it usually can be pruned out though you must prune back onto good wood. If the tree is too far gone, it should be taken out altogether. Whether you have pruned it or cut the whole tree down, your tools should be sterilised and the tree/branches burnt.

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