Two weeks ago we were sitting on the back patio talking about our fruit trees. I glanced over my shoulder to the cherry tree, which is FULL of cherries. I noticed the apple tree had some branches that were curling and turning brown. I immediately call my dad who used to work in Cooperative Extension and knows people who are in the know. His former co-worker (who is also my chicken guru) called back and told us we have fire blight.
Fire blight is a bacterial infection that affects apple, pear and crabapple trees. It can spread very quickly and if not contained can wipe out an entire orchard in a week! I now understand why so many commercial orchards spray their apples. I'm not saying I agree with that, just that I understand better. Our tree, while still alive and has apples, is basically dying.
Bryan did trim some of it our tree. He cut a huge part of the front of the tree. I was going to continue to trim the smaller branches. After each cut, the blades need to be dipped in a bleach and water solution which makes it a time consuming process. After looking at the poor tree today, we made the decision to cut it down now. Every branch is infected to some degree and we are not going to prolong the inevitable.
I am upset that we will lose our tree and that we will not have any apples again this year. There is a lady down the street that has a huge apple tree and always lets up pick her apples. According to our expert we will be able to plant another apple tree in the same place but not for another season. Which will give us time to research apple trees and find a variety that has some resistance the fire blight. Bryan is now campaigning for a peach tree, but with the randomness of our springs here we'd get peaches less than we get apples, but we'll see.
- 9:28 PM
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