At this time, the bacterial emerges from its dormant period and the cankers become more pronounced. Late spring or early summer is the maximum time of risk of infection. Tools should be sterilized after use on an infected plant. Gardening tools can transmit the disease when gardening or even when watering.Plants make contact all the time, that way the bacteria can move from an infected plant to an uninfected plant.Rain drops splashes the bacteria among plants.Insects, birds, and animals transmit it from one plant to another.In wet spring weather, a translucent milk-like, sticky liquid that contains multitudes of bacteria oozes out of the infected part of plant.ДЇire blight spreads effortlessly in a lot of different ways and through different means, they include: Fire blight affects many parts of the plant including leaves, stems, fruits and blossoms. Cankers, which are slightly sunken areas show up on the branches and the trunk. These dead twigs go black and curl over like a shepherdвЂ™s hook.вЂќ Affected branches look fire scorched as their leaves are black and wilted. The disease moves through the branch, infecting and killing young twigs. Flowers infected by the disease turn black and die. The first signs of fire blight usually appear in early spring, when the weather is humid and rainy and when temperatures rise above sixty degrees. Unlike dieback, fire blight attacks flowers first, twigs next and finally branches. In addition to fruit trees, it attacks ornamental plants like roses, cotoneaster crabapple, loquat, hawthorn, pyracantha, and mountain ash. It is caused by bacteria, its effects are devastating and it leaves a behind a burnt appearance this is where it gets its name from.

Short animated disease fact sheet: вЂFire blight A Bacterial Disease of Apples and PearвЂ™.Fire blight is a hard to control disease of fruit trees like pear and apple. Use antibiotics and biocontrol during high risk periods in combination with disease forecasting models.Prune infected plant parts and dispose of appropriately.Use clean plant material for grafting and rootstocks.Plant resistant scion varieties and rootstocks.How do I prevent and control fire blight? Alternative hosts of the fire blight bacteria are many other plants from the Rose family, including serviceberry ( Amelanchier spp.), cotoneasters ( Cotoneaster spp.), hawthorn ( Crataegus spp.), quince ( Cydonia spp.), blackberries ( Rubus spp.), raspberries ( Rubus spp.), and mountain ashes ( Sorbus spp.). Where does fire blight come from?Д«acteria overwinters in old cankers and in early spring insects, bees and farm management tools, rain splashes move it to natural openings of the plant or injured parts. The visual symptoms may slightly vary depending on weather conditions and plant variety. The inner bark of the infected stem turns from green to brown. Fire blight cankers on stems appear as slightly sunken, dark discolored areas with a narrow callus ridge. Infected twigs and young branches darken and their tips usually bend to form a вЂњ shepherdвЂ™s crook.вЂќ During warm and moist conditions, infected tissue may exude bacterial ooze in droplets. Infected leaves wilt, darken, and remain attached to the tree. Infected blossoms appear water-soaked, wilt, turn dark brown and remain attached to the tree. The name вЂњfire blightвЂќ comes from the fire-scorched appearance of infected organs. Blossoms, shoots, and rootstock infections are called вЂblossom blightвЂ™, вЂ shoot blightвЂ™, and вЂ rootstock blightвЂ, respectively. The bacteria can enter into the host plant from natural flower openings or injuries due to rain, hail storm, insect damage, or farm machinery. It is caused by a gram negative bacteria called вЂњ Erwinia amylovoraвЂњ. Fire blight is the most devastating bacterial disease of apples, pears and crabapples.

Fire blight apple trees