Just as some kids in a 5 child family can be more or less disease resistant than the other kids in the family, I suppose that "variability varies" in plants as well. Some Keiffers have been the tougher family members and some the weaker. Multitudes of plastic tags on Keiffer trees at retail outlets declare the frequently false statement of comfort that the tree is fireblight resistant. As a former president stated to those who learned of his bad behavior, "Are you going to believe me, or your lying eyes?" I bet that a photo of a Keiffer branch with both FB on it and the original plastic tag boasting of it's FB resistance...would be instructional.Since there are many Keiffer trees that have not proven to be FB resistant, the tags are untrue. Seedling fruit trees can have fruit with differing fruit qualities, and I suppose that 'seedling' fireblight bacterium can be different from their kinfolk also. Some may be 'Leroy Brown' bad....and possibly coming to a pear tree near you.

I grow both Shinko and Korean Giant. Taste-wise, they are at the opposite ends. KG tastes great, juicy, sweet and crunchy (just what I like). My shinko is bland, very bland. KG produces profusely. I thinned at least 600 fruitlets off last year. Not so long ago, there was a tread in this forum about taste of Asian pears, It appears those who get good tasting Shinko live further inland. The East Coast people don't seem to have good luck with it re. taste. I don't get fire blight (so far) on either one. Both have little to none of pear blister mites problem, either. I am partial, I would plant KG and graft Shinko and other fire blight resistant variety to it. In my orchard, I've grafted KG and 20th Century onto Shinko. (first year trial, don't know if it would work yet). This is the only way that I can justify keeping Shinko!!!

So.. if we have fireblight in the summer (which I do on both pears and apples) what is the best thing to do to save the tree? And then what exactly should we do in the winter to prevent it? I've cut off many branches already (while sterilizing my snippers between cuts) but new areas show up (or were there in early stages which I did not see). Poor things are looking pretty sad and I'm seriously thinking of taking out all my pears and apples (only 2 of each) and using that ground for something that actually produces food. We don't really need more fruit anyways. More herbs and greens maybe. Thanks, Ron

streptomycin Is not only the answer but illegal for anyone other than a commercial orchardist. My trees were all selected for there resistance to fire blight. I have decided that I am going to us a torch and burn the affected areas off to prevent spreading. These are twigs from the main trunk and every branch to the trunk. 6 inches in front leaves me with a 4 foot stump at 5 inch diameter. This tree is called a summer Rambo and produces sweet/Tart out-of-hand eating apples as early as June 3rd week. It is also my heaviest producer at 2-3 bushels per year. We will see. If it dies I will replace it with a peach tree. My tree is on M-111 root-stock to deal with the heavy clay soil and the occasionally 12 week rain-less periods in 90+ July-September. I also get no sun under 10 feet off the ground and need tall trees (first limb at 6 feet north & 12 feet south). Peach trees from seed grow well in low sun areas. They produce in 3 years from seed and the peaches taste very good despite seed grown. The tree picture in the link was started from seed in august, grew 8 inches before winter, I moved the 8 inch tree to its current site, and this is a picture of it in its first year. When I get back from my business trip I will post this years picture. i'll be harvesting next year. My wife and I together are 122 years old and can't wait 15 year for a M-111 root-stock apple tree to start producing. Thanks for helping everyone and I'll hope for the best. Here is a link that might be useful: https://plus.google.com/u/0/111099372377958308731/posts/BFtD6y9Vriq?pid=5907281462689877058&oid=111099372377958308731 This post was edited by poncirusguy on Thu, Jul 24, 14 at 22:17