Fire blight strikes area homeowners' trees

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Homeowners with flowering pear trees should watch for signs of a potentially devastating disease.

They should also be careful to watch for promises to have a quick remedy for the infection fire blight.

A Purdue University associate professor of botany and plant pathology, Janna Beckerman, said arborists throughout Indiana are reporting hundreds of trees with fire blight.

“I see it on many trees in my own neighborhood,” said Beckerman.

Trees are more susceptible to fire blight if a freeze occurs after they bloomed, as happened this spring.

Symptoms of fire blight are wilting shoots, cankers on branches and blackened leaves. Beckerman said the trees actually look as if they had been scorched.

A single neighborhood could have more than 100 affected trees.

Beckerman warns homeowners to watch out for people claiming they can kill the disease-causing bacterium with chemical sprays or injections.

“Nothing can be done to halt the disease,” Beckerman said. “It starts at the flowers and works its way down the branches. Trees can die if the infection reaches the main stem.”

If fire blight only affects a few branches, Beckerman said it can be successfully pruned.

“Generally, homeowners can handle the pruning if it is just 1-2 branches,” she said. “if it’s more, they should consider contacting a certified arborist. Severely damaged trees may have to be removed.”

If trees have multiple strikes, or cankers, Beckerman said homeowners may want to put off pruning until winter. She said if homeowners are considering new plantings or replacing diseased trees, to consider more fire-blight-resistant callery pear varieties.

There is another bacterial blight, called bacterial blight, which has similar symptoms to fire blight, but is not as severe.

Homeowners with questions should contact the Purdue Plant and Pest Diagnostic Laboratory at (765) 494-7071 or head to their website .