Chris:

I don't have much experience with fb. Never had it in my own trees but my neighbor had it in a Bartlett when I lived in CA. I fought that battle for him. I was told to peel back the bark of the part cut off and you can see if you got all the fb. It's been too long to remember if that helped.

Do you have any way on these small potted trees to keep them out of the rain in the spring? If they were kept dry from first bloom until temperatures stay hot or the rain quits, you'd be home free. At least that would be my plan.

Thanks for replying. I assume the trees are lost, but was why I was asking. Do you think they aren't?

>>>> If they were kept dry from first bloom until temperatures stay hot or the rain quits, you'd be home free
For new healthy trees in the future, rt? Though moisture makes for optimal environment, it spreads from the bees. My blossoms were definitely hit first.

>>> I was told to peel back the bark of the part cut off and you can see if you got all the fb
Yeah, I did the bark peeling to check. Obvious is easy. I just can't discern yet natural darkening or flecks of the inner bark and young wood. The UC IPM pics are of older woody trees.

Per the docs, FB continues to move with normal growth (affected by light, fert, water, and vigor) and head toward the roots. These are pushing out a 2nd growth flush, I guess why it spread so fast in the last 3 weeks.

I have 5 of these pears (Bartlett/Danjou). Two were clearly gone as the lower trunk is showing black under the bark. A third has it on the upper and middle trunk, but I'm hoping I pruned off enough. Two others don't have any symptoms but they were crammed right up against the others. They should have it, too.

The HoneyCrisp Apple I special ordered (and paid dearly for) had ONE blossom cluster die back with brown symptoms. But I'm hoping it's not FB as it's probably in the trunk by now, since the blossom was on a low branch, right near the trunk.

I wonder if painting the trunks made it worse. The paint would've kept the fungus/splashes from landing on the trunk (good) but it kept the rot nicely hidden from the sun and I assume allowed it to thrive easier.

Frustrating... This must be why my young Fuji died last year (it only had two branches as I pruned it heavily when I first got it, per HMan's advice). It never had a chance after that.

To me it looks less like fireblight and more like environmental stress.

What's the water condition of those containers?
A drainhole?
How moist or dry is the growing mix?
And what did you fill the containers with -- potting mix or garden soil?

Like I say I haven't seen much fire blight but it looks like fb to me. I wouldn't write the trees off. Cut back, keep watching, and hope for the best.

Poor sickly little potted trees near death, from the pics I see fruit still on them both...Shame

Fruitnut, thanks for helping.

Jean: Yeah the trees in the pic are water stressed right now (several branches show wilting leaves). I delayed watering (trying) to slow down the spread (they are in growth flush now) until I got some responses from the forum. They are fabric containers (so drainage is great) with a mix of 50/50 heavy/light potting mix, no soil. Other than the mistake right before rain, I had watering down.

It certainly looks like the UC-IPM pics of FB as I reviewed my trees pics of when it started. Almost all started @ blossoms going to black fruit, then started spreading in strange ways. In a couple examples, the foliage at the ends of the scaffold were all nice and perky with several healthy shoots, then mid branch shows dead fruit and blackened+withered bark, then near the trunk it's healthy again with good shoots. A week later the rotting spread toward the trunk, yet the growth at the tips stayed healthy. I've water stressed these before and most leaves wilt, young shoots droop, esp. at the tips.

Some of the shoots that are just drying up are probably from FB strikes to the bark below - you don't get the classic crook neck shape in that case since the infection is below the shoot but its suffering the consequences.

Definitely FB, definitely prune it out. That one cut looks like it may be over for the poor little tree, thats definitely FB at that cut and its right by the trunk. If that were my tree I would keep pruning back until the wood looked good and then do a couple inches more. Even if it means you have nothing but a stump. At least you have a living stump which can grow back.

Scott