Purdue Extension Service
Purdue Extension Service
Vanderburgh County, Indiana
Subject: HORT ALERT: Lack of communication, fireblight, garden tour
6/2/2008
Dear friends,
If you have been having trouble reaching my office by phone, there’s a reason. On May 25, our office was hit by lightning, which fried our phone system and our computer server. We got the server replaced on Thursday, but we are still without phones. I’m hoping this gets fixed in the next day or two...but I’ve been hoping for that since May 26. I had put off making a Hort Alert about this, ‘cause I expected this to be fixed long before now.
Anyway...if you or your gardening friends need to get a hold of me or anyone else in my office, please do so by e-mail. I’ll let you know when we rejoin the 20th century and have phones again.
I’m getting lots of questions (by e-mail) about problems with apples, crabapples, and pears. The flower clusters and the ends of the twigs are turning brown, then black. The ends of the twigs are beginning to curl up, looking a little like fish hooks.
This is caused by a bacterial disease called fireblight. This year, we had ideal weather conditions (warm and wet) during the most susceptible stage of tree development (bloom). As a result, we were set up to have a major problem.
At this time, there’s not much you can do. Since this is a bacterial disease, spraying with a fungicide won’t stop it. (You may want to use a fungicide on your apples to prevent scab, though). We normally recommend pruning off diseased twigs in the winter, when there is very little likelihood of spreading the bacteria. If you must prune now, cut at least 6 to 8 inches below where you see the dark, discolored bark. After every cut, dip your pruning shears in rubbing alcohol or Lysol (or some other disinfectant). Do not use bleach, as this will rust your shears quickly. I don’t think anti-bacterial soap is strong enough to kill the bacteria.
You can learn more about fireblight in this Purdue bulletin: http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/BP-30.html
The Garden Club of Henderson will be holding their second annual Garden Tour on Saturday June 7th from 10 am to 4 pm in Henderson Kentucky (rain or shine). It's a bargain, twelve gardens for $15.00!! Many homes located downtown, within walking distance. Also, they will have hand painted flower ornaments by local artists to purchase and a raffle for a painting by Chris Thomas whose work you might have seen at Nance Gallery. After the tour you can enjoy the music at the local HandyFest celebration.
For more information, contact the Garden Club of Henderson at: jdhayden56@hotmail.com
[Hort Alert is a free service of the Purdue Extension Service of Vanderburgh County. Back issues of Hort Alert can be downloaded from this web page: [ http://www.ces.purdue.edu/ces/Vanderburgh/horticulture/hortalerts/ ] Your name and address will never be shared with anyone. To be removed from this list, hit the "REPLY" button and type the phrase "UNSUBSCRIBE HORT ALERT" in the subject line.] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Larry Caplan, Extension Educator -- Horticulture Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, Vanderburgh County 13301 Darmstadt Rd., Evansville, IN 47725 Ph: (812) 435-5287 Fax: (812) 867-4944 E-mail: LCaplan@purdue.edu http://www.ces.purdue.edu/ces/vanderburgh/ Larry Caplan, The Magic Gardener Making Environmental Science Fun and Magical! http://www.ces.purdue.edu/ces/vanderburgh/magic/ Purdue's Equal Opportunity Statement: http://www.ces.purdue.edu/eeo.htm