Apple Tree Fire Blight

[Rydogg282]

Can anyone help me identify if this is the start of fire blight on my fuji apple tree?

 

[oneeye]

Fire blight is a recognized problem for apple trees in Ohio, with reports of its presence across different regions, including Northeast Ohio and Cincinnati. It looks like it to me. Can you post a photo of the tree trunk going into the ground showing the whole tree?

 

[cpp gardener]

Fireblight starts at the tip and works down, so no that doesn’t look like it. The tree seems to have grown past whatever caused the browning. You can remove the damaged leaves and then it will be easier to tell if it’s getting worse or better.

 

[Rydogg282]

I defoliated most of the browning leaves. There isn't signs of shoot damage/dying back. All the new growth looks healthy and so does the trunk. No signs of scab on the branches/truck or powdery mildew… Just curious to know what is causing the leaves to brown like that. We’ve has a very wet spring in NE Ohio so maybe too much water? I appreciate everyone’s feedback

 

[DirtMechanic]

Is a rust I bet. Fungal, overwintered because no dormant oil perhaps? You gotta spray the day away when you have fruit trees. Anyway fireblight is not red. Its black, as in it looks burnt up blackened. Also it spreads easy, but probably no differently much than any other fungal hellspawn out there in the garden. They all make spoor to float on the wind. They can overwinter in the bark or other trees. Just do not get started using copper. It builds up over time in a toxic soil way it turns out. Start prevention in the fall but spray now also.

 

[cpp gardener]

Copper is the recommended control for fireblight, but there is another suggestion from Ohio State for Serenade, a beneficial bacteria that inhibits fireblight.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Copper is the recommended control for fireblight, but there is another suggestion from Ohio State for Serenade, a beneficial bacteria that inhibits fireblight.

Copper is banned in UK last I heard because of buildup. Fungus is hard to deal with. We finally pulled the fireblighted fruit trees. All the production hybrids only work with the spraying of not nice chemicals. I forgot that fireblight is bacterial. Much easier to fight in some ways than fungus. There are antibiotics available for it but they have the problem of creating resistant diseases.

 

[cpp gardener]

OP is in Ohio. Copper is okay there.

 

[DirtMechanic]

OP is in Ohio. Copper is okay there.

Legal yes. I had a customer that had all his gas pipe testing gear in his vehicle. He said is was worth about 100,000usd. I asked what he tested and it was for the various piping in hospitals like oxygen and anesthesia lines and so forth. I asked what the most toxic thing he tested for might look like and he said one word, "metals". Since then I have come to understand how sensitive we are, and I guess plants and nature also, to small concentrations of metals. I think it has to do also with soil acidity, since acids dissolve metals. In my soil, at 5pH the iron and aluminum dissolve in the clay and are capable of keeping large areas barren. We add lime here, the dolomite variety, and lots of it relative to other areas of the country. This raises pH and reforms the metals into a more inert state. Then its organic matter being added all day every day it seems. Phosphorous (a metal) window of availabilty peaks are low around 4-4.5 and higher than 5.5pH as I recall. Convenient for blueberry and the veg garden. I am not sure what tricks are used in alkaline clay save more organic matter.