Fire Blight

[bowdonkey]

Does anyone know how long this persists? Had it here the last 3 years and the old orchard is about done for. I prune off the infected branches when I'm around, but due to work it frequently gets ahead of me. Sometimes I'm gone weeks at a time once things get rolling. From what I gather the best way to alleviate it is to plant tesistant varieties.  Lots to choose from in the far north, but does anyone have some favorites?

[hermitjohn]

Forever. You can try battling it as you have been, but it is an endless battle with little positive result. You need to plant fire blight resistant apples and pears. Thats really the only answer.

You probably be happy with Chestnut Crab, Whitney Crab, Honeycrisp, and Pristine. If you want a tart apple, try Duchess of Odenburg or Wolf River. There are quite few resistant varieties, both old and new. Depends what kind of apple you want and where you live. YOu want to make sure both rootstock and the scion are resistant. Cant beat Antanovka rootstock for full size tree. You can restrict size with judicious pruning. Or if you want cold hardy dwarfing rootstock, then Budagovski 9. Its a very hardy Russian developed dwarfing rootstock. Interesting that both Antanovka and Bud9 if left ungrafted will produce edible apples.

I remember at one point finding better North Dakota University webpage comparing apples that can grow on the tundra but cant find it.

www.ag.ndsu.edu/hort/info/inform/fruit/apple.htm

www.cumminsnursery.com/disease.htm

www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/fruit/apples-and-pears-in-minnesota-home-gardens/

EDIT: Was looking and Pristine, as wonderful tree as it is, not probably good choice for colder than zone 5. Maybe something more like NovaSpy?

[bowdonkey]

Thanks Hermit. I've been cruising all the northern university sites and finding lots of info, just nothing on the longevity of this stuff. The wild crabs are also dying. Lots of them in the surrounding woods. The bears won't be happy. Or the grouse. I live in a cold zone 3 and luckily there's quite a few apple trees that survive here. Thanks a heap for the info on rootstock. Can a new orchard be planted where the old one was or a new spot altogether?

[hermitjohn]

Probably better to plant in fresh site, but if property small and no choice then do what you have to do.

Friend of mine that died last fall has family vacation place not too far from me. There was an old Kieffer pear there that probably was many decades old. They are immune to fire blight. Well they planted a Bartlet cause they preferred soft pear. Anyway Bartlet is probably one of most susceptible to fire blight pears. That poor thing hangs on, but its horrible to watch it suffer year after year turning black. Occasionally it will produce one or two pears in a good year. But just saying if the trees you plant are resistant to fire blight then doesnt really matter. Fireblight seems to be wind born so if you live in a fire blight area guess really doesnt matter where you plant. Though fresh site might help with any other diseases.

Wow zone 3. Ok, of my suggestions, I know Chestnut Crab grafted to Antanovka root would be fine. Its not real crabapple, its just small regular apple. Anyway I learned about them when I lived in U.P. It was popular in cold northern tier of states cause it could handle short season and the cold and easy to grow.

I couldnt find one mail order place selling them, so got scion and grafted my own. Its still pretty small but doing fine. I live on dry rocky hill in Ozarks and found interestingly enough that apples from north tend to do well here, suppose cause they are genetically used to tough climate.

You might also want to look for apples that do well in Maine. Used to be guy in upper New York that had nursery. St.Lawrence Nursery. All older and local varieties. All grafted to Antanovka rootstock. Found it: www.sln.potsdam.ny.us/ But webpage says "2015 is our retirement year" and they have taken down their plant listings. Might email them, they probably have some good advice if they respond. I know they had lot heritage apple trees from Maine and upper parts of NE states. I thought at one point some young couple took over, but apparently they didnt make go of it and original family got it back.

Think Fedco has some of the heritage apples from that area too. Not as big of a selection, but they are still in buisiness.

Here, place I have bought scionwood: maplevalleyorchards.com/Pages/ScionWood.aspx They do give zone range so can look at zone 3 apples.

Oh and you might do search for apples that do well in CAnada. I long ago even ran into some webpage about apples in Alaska!

[Deleted]

My experience with fire blight is you just have to take the trees out.

[bowdonkey]

TTT, for claytonpiano. Bad stuff guy.