... Because fireblight in the UK is sporadic, monitoring is best linked to weather, to identify risk periods when symptoms may be present, and field information. However, it can be kept under control using organic methods to prevent the disease from spreading and killing the tree. Erwinia amylovora favors rain and temperatures above 60 degrees F. If these conditions are met during apple and pear bloom and early growth stages, infection can be severe. Named for the scorched appearance of infected leaves, fire blight is a destructive bacterial disease (Erwinia amylovora) found on apples, pears and other members of the rose family.The disease enters the tree at the tips of the branches and then travels down the stems causing dieback. Fire blight is one of the most devastating and difficult-to-control diseases of many fruit trees, including apple and pear, as well as of other rosaceous ornamental plants. Impacting pear, apple, crabapple, cotoneaster, mountain ash, hawthorn, pyracantha, spirea, and many species in the rose family, it is highly destructive and difficult to control. Fire blight is a destructive disease caused by a bacterium (Erwinia amylovora) that thrives in the warm, humid, and rainy weather that coincides with the start of the growing season, and it is easily spread.You can identify fire blight by several characteristics: Cankers on a tree’s bark that look like discolored or wet patches, often with areas of dead or decayed sapwood around their edges Fire blight canker The fire blight bacteria survive winter in cankers on the trunk or branches of infected trees. The bacteria seep out of the canker through natural openings or cracks as a sweet, sticky liquid known as bacterial ooze. ; In spring, during warm, wet weather, bacteria begin to multiply. The bacteria overwinters on or under infected bark and in the early spring begins to ooze out. Fire Blight is caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora and is a frequently common destructive disease of some fruit trees and related plants. Increased acreage of highly susceptible apple varieties on highly susceptible rootstocks has increased the danger that infected blocks will suffer significant damage. It is caused by the bacteria Erwinia amylovora. It is most prevalent on the following trees: apple, pear, hawthorn, cotoneaster, firethorn and mountain ash. Fire blight is a common and potentially fatal disease among trees in the rose family, especially pears and apples. Apple, crabapple (Malus species), and firethorns (Pyracantha species) also are frequently damaged. Is Your Tree Infected? Infections commonly occur during bloom or on late blooms during the three weeks following petal fall. Stem blight (branches and trunks) usually follows blossom or shoot blight when stems are expanding rapidly in summer, especially on young trees. 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