Some disturbing reports are that a few pear varieties that we have recommended as resistant or tolerant of fire blight have been hit hard. If you have observed this, please let me know. Just drop a line and tell me the variety and how bad you feel the damage is. I would appreciate hearing from apple producers also on this. This will help us in making recommendations to new growers and homeowners.
Blackberry harvest is well under way, and crop is excellent.
In the future, we may have apple varieties and rootstocks that are resistant to fire blight. Researchers at Cornell University recently transferred genes from a giant silk moth to M.26 rootstock. The transferred genes code the plant to produce a small protein that inhibits the fire blight bacteria. This technique is also being tested in an attempt to produce apple cultivars that are resistant to fire blight. This could be good news for the tree fruit industry.