Fire Blight Management Options

This season has turned out to be challenging, to say the least, for many orchardist across the state who have worked hard to keep this bacterial disease under control. With a prolonged bloom period extending for a month or more in many orchards across varieties, and hot humid weather conditions paired with just enough moisture to facilitate infections, growers are seeking the latest information and best strategies for control.

With these challenges in mind, UNH Extension’s Fruit and Vegetable Team coordinated a webinar featuring Dr. Kari Peter of Penn State University to provide an opportunity for her to share her research and recommendations for how to best manage fire blight in New England orchards.

Participants from five states joined the call, including growers, Extension specialists and university researchers. The webinar was recorded and can be accessed through our university media page here: https://media.unh.edu/media/Fire+Blight+Control+Options/1_om8zj2u0

Additionally, a PDF file of the presentation is accessible here: https://unh.app.box.com/s/o3pw6n3ys08vudezk4fyuj085msrnddj

Lastly, Dr. Cheryl Smith presented a step-by-step tutorial during our May 20 Tree Fruit webinar detailing how to utilize the fire blight forecasting model on NEWA. That recording is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klvQaflGbh4

 We hope this information will be helpful as orchardists continue to use best practices, leverage technologies like NEWA, and utilize the latest research to make informed decisions.