If you are noticing droopy, dried-out flower clusters on your pears, Asian pears, quince, apples or crabapples, fire blight may be the cause.
The first sign of fire blight is often the blackening of flowers, shoots or leaves followed by a watery, light tan ooze from affected shoots. Open flowers are the most common infection site and remain susceptible until petal fall.
Initially, fire blight infections might be localized, affecting only a flower cluster, but then the infection grows downward, extending into twigs and branches. These twig cankers kill more and more tissue as they advance. Dead, blackened leaves and fruit cling to dead branches throughout the season, giving the tree a scorched appearance -- hence the name “fire blight.” The pathogen can kill highly susceptible trees, while others may suffer significant branch dieback. Once infected, the plant will harbor the pathogen indefinitely unless the cankers are pruned out well below the infection.
Monitoring trees regularly, a couple of times a week, will allow you to identify and deal with new fire blight strikes before they become a branch infection. It is important to remove and destroy any new fire blight infections before they spread and affect more tissue. Dip pruning shears in a 10-percent bleach solution after each cut.
If fire blight strikes have been ignored, the infection will spread and infect the branch. Once the wood is infected, the branch must be pruned out well below the infection. In this case, you will need to remove the diseased wood in summer or winter when the bacteria are no longer spreading through the tree. Again, dip pruning shears in a 10-percent bleach solution after each cut.
If fire blight occurs on a trunk or major limb the wood may be saved by scraping away the bark down to the cambium layer in affected areas (removing both outer and inner bark). When scraping look for long, narrow infections that can extend farther down the branch or trunk. If any are seen, remove all discolored tissue plus six to eight inches more beyond the infection. This procedure is best done in winter when trees are dormant and bacteria aren't active. Don't apply any dressing to the wound. If the limb has been girdled, scraping won't work and the entire limb must be removed.
When selecting new fruit trees, choose those that are less susceptible to fire blight, if possible. The most susceptible varieties are Fuji, Gala, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Gravenstein, Jonathan, Mutsu, Pink Lady and Yellow Newton. Unfortunately, most pear varieties are susceptible to fire blight.
PLANT SALE! Mark your calendar for our plant sale onSaturday, May 18, 2024 from 9 am–noon. The sale will be held at the Master Gardeners Demonstration Garden at Patrick Ranch. The plants, which are selected to thrive in our climate, have been propagated by UC Master Gardeners of Butte County. For more information and a partial list of the plants that will available, visit our website.
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.
- Author: Linda J Forbes
From August 2023 to March 2024, UC Cooperative Extension in San Bernardino County provided interactive classes and demonstrations in English and Spanish for ethnically diverse and limited-resource residents that led to increased food security and reduced food waste.
These efforts were funded by the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program Small Grants Program, which supports the development of sustainable community food systems.
Workshops draw on experts from variety of UC ANR programs
The project in San Bernardino County, led by Christine Davidson of UCCE and the Expanded Food Nutrition Education Program, mobilized a team of EFNEP, UC Master Gardener Program and UC Master Food Preserver Program staff and volunteers to educate families in underserved communities through a series of hands-on workshops.
Thirty-six mothers attended EFNEP lessons from the “Eating Smart, Being Active” curriculum focusing on improving knowledge and skills in the areas of diet quality, food resource management, food safety, physical activity and food security.
They also attended Master Gardener workshops to learn how to grow vegetables in their home gardens and compost food waste, and Master Food Preserver classes where they made healthy recipes and learned about safe food preservation with a focus on food waste prevention.
Two hundred and twenty children at two schools attended a series of EFNEP lessons and a workshop to learn about composting with worms or composting in a jar. “The students love the hands-on activities, and with this knowledge they can participate in composting food waste at home,” said Davidson. “It was especially rewarding to teach the kindergarteners about composting since it was a new concept for them.”
The SAREP grant provided funding for kits and materials that parents and children took home to apply their new knowledge in making different salads, using scraps to make vegetable broth, growing herb gardens and composting at home. “The kits are great incentives for people to attend the classes and reinforce their learning at home,” Davidson noted.
With better meal planning and proper food storage, families can save food and money. “I have begun saving scraps to make vegetable broth that I use to make rice. My kids love collecting the scraps and it saves money buying the broth,” said a parent at Bradley Elementary School in San Bernardino.
Additionally, families are educated on the organic waste reduction requirements of Senate Bill 1383 and how they can do their part to reduce food waste.
The final product of the SAREP-funded project will be a Food Waste Prevention Workshop Toolkit in Spanish and English that will be shared widely and delivered in UC ANR workshops by staff and volunteers in other counties. “Our goal beyond providing these materials to support our community is to help grow their use across UC ANR so more families can benefit from them,” said Davidson.
Small grants, big impacts
Funding priorities for the Small Grants Program include supporting California farmers, ranchers and land stewards in the adoption of environmentally regenerative practices and partnering with rural, urban and tribal communities to expand access to healthy, sustainably produced food and promote community well-being.
“The Small Grants Program is an important part of our mission,” said Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, interim director of UC SAREP, a program of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. “Program outcomes show that a small financial investment can have a large impact in improving the lives of Californians.”
This article is part of a series on the impact of the UC SAREP Small Grants Program. To support this program, please donate here. Choose SAREP Small Grants Program for the designation.