garedneck:

I don't see any fireblight on that tree at all, either on the trunk or the leaves/twigs. Do you really know what fireblight looks like? It's easy to find out, just Google and do some looking. You will find lots of photographs.

The damaged section of trunk looks like physical injury to me; possibly from a little antler-rubbing by a buck deer. I see no disease at all, and the tree will be fine in spite of the damaged section. I have had apple trees damaged by deer that were in far more serious shape than that, and they recovered fully.

That tree does, however, have an urgent need for some branch spreading, and I suggest you get right at it. All of your growth is vertical, and, with the exception of a few small horizontal branches at the bottom, there are too many branches in a concentrated space. Select a number of branches to become your scaffolds, then install branch spreaders to bring them down to at least 60 degrees from vertical. At this point I would completely remove the thickest and most vigorous of the vertical branches and spread the others. You can find lots of guidance on the net on how to prune for a central leader tree, or, my personal favorite, a vase-shaped tree. Branch spreaders can be made from hardwood dowels or stakes with nails driven into the ends and the heads removed with a sidecutter.

You have the makings of a nice tree there, and it is by no means to late to begin shaping it for apple production as well as attractive appearance.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

The second pic looks like physical damage but the top one looks like fireblight, with the cracking and darkened wood there. I expect in a commercial orchard they may remove such a tree but I keep them. Last winter I mixed doc farwells grafting compound with copper and painted these wounds, to both kill the blight and cover it. I have continued to have fireblight problems so maybe I should not be trying to keep such trees.

Scott

PS the picture:

{{gwi:124891}}

Don' get concerned until the trunk looks like it has gone through a forest fire. I just removed a Cox Orange Pippin that looked that way. It only had a hand full of apples this year that never developed disease free. It could have been removed last year, but I left it for one more year. I removed it last week. I had very little fire blight this year on my apples, but two pear trees were removed and they both looked like they had been in a forest fire. The trunks were blackened and over half of the upper branches were dead or dying. At that point they have to go. One did produce about a box of good pears, but about a third of the pears shriveled up from the death of the branch they were growing on. Maybe a fourth or less of the tree was still green when I removed it after harvest.

I believe we get too concerned about a little fire blight. I used to run out and cut it out immediately. This is unnecessary.

The two inch section of trunk looks ugly, but the tree is still growing. The bark on one side is unaffected, but the bark on the other side (in the picture) is cracked and darker color. The disfiguring is not from wildlife (deer, cattle, etc.), but systemic and I suspect from the fire blight. Thank you for the limb spreading advice.

If I keep the tree I assume there is no cure for fire blight, but just remove the affected branches when they show signs... Maybe the tree will outgrow it, maybe not? Does having the disease present mean there is a constant risk the other apple trees will get it at any time instead of just the risk at bloom? Can I just sand off the discolored bark to remove the fire blight or is it inside (system) tree? Maybe try Messenger (harbin)?

Some trees are more resistance than others. I have had it in my orchard on a number of trees, yet other trees were not affected. At times I have had fire blight so bad I could see the bacterial ooze dripping off the blossoms. But, as mentioned no infection on other trees.

If I felt like I needed to do something, my first action would be to do just what you suggested. I have thought about trying to remove the canker tissue, but never have tried it. Canker blight that overwinter can cause water sprouts to become systemically infected by the fire blight bacteria if its on a nearby overwintering canker. If I cann't remove the whole branch because the canker is on the trunk, I just leave it alone. However, I do spray the trees with Kocide (copper) along wih my dormant oil spray and maybe it helps, but I am not sure it does much for the fire blight. There is a lot of information on fire blight and all of it does not agree. Studies have been done where it has not helped even to cut out the first strikes, just leave it alone until you do your dormant pruning and then cut out the dead branches. I used to put a lot of time and energy into fire blight, but now I take a more casual approach to it. I have had a lot worst looking trees than yours and one time ordered a new tree to take the place of the fire blighted one, just to pick a couple box of apples off of it this summer. I sprayed painted all the strikes with red paint, then pruned out all the branches during my late winter purning. The tree looked like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, but is now doing well.

Go ahead and try what you suggested. Unless you completely girdle the trunk, it should not harm the tree too much. Use it as a learning experience. See what works and what does not work. I have had some trees die from fire blight, replaced them and they again died. Now, I avoid that particular variety.

Looks like a good application for some bridge grafting.