Two years ago, we had an very bad case of Apple Blight in our orchard. It got worst last year. Curled Stem end is a typical sign of fire blight, which damages apples, pears and some ornamental shrubs. Few trees in the field were not infected by this troublesome bacterial disease.
In the earlier postings here, I wrote about this issue. My finale solution was to take out the infected trees that displayed the bacterial disease within the trunk of the tree, and then severely prune back the remaining trees to 3.5 ft height. We lost 20% of the orchard in the end. Cried all day, while I was butchering my 3 year old orchard!
Well............the results are in. We won the war! The trees are now 5.5 to 6 in height, full body of branches with lush green leafs. No detection the blight. Use of copper spray in abundance, keeping the tree dry (no irrigation over spray), clearance of the ground for no moister to sit for days......well worth the hours spent out there.
Defeat is not in this farmer's vocabulary!
No comments:
Post a Comment