ISHS Acta Horticulturae 411: VII International Workshop on Fire Blight
HAWTHORNS AS A SOURCE OF FIRE BLIGHT INOCULUM IN ENGLISH PEAR AND APPLE ORCHARDS |
| Authors: | A.M. Berrie, E. Billing |
| Keywords: | Blossom blight, Crataegus monogyna, shoot blight, storms |
| Abstract:
Diseased hawthorn trees or hedges have sometimes been important sources of fire blight inoculum for pear and apple trees in English orchards. Outbreaks of blossom blight have occurred when there was warm weather during bloom and the flowering times of diseased hawthorns and of healthy pears or apples overlapped. Outbreaks of shoot blight have followed damaging storms with heavy rain and strong winds with gusts of 30kt (15m/sec) or more. In most years, English fruit growers escape fire blight so they become complacent. Many have not replaced hawthorn hedges with other forms of windbreak. Hedges are not always trimmed regularly to prevent flowering. Too often, growers fail to inspect regularly all hawthorns in or near their orchards or they fail to take action when fire blight is seen. Examples of orchard outbreaks of fire blight are shown where diseased hawthorns have been implicated. | |
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