I have had severe Fireblight damage this year (its been a hot, wet summer) on my Pears. I was reading the article on this site by Ted Swensen on Composting & Compost Tea for Disease Control, this article claims compost tea controls Fireblight. Has anyone tried this and found it effective?

thanks

Bruce:

Ted here, visit the website below. Columbia Gorge Organic has been using compost tea for disease control of scab, fireblight and other foliar diseases. Several years ago I visited the Hood River Experiment station and observed many trees dying from fireblight. Some of he Stewart orchards (Columbia Gorge Organics) are located within one mile of the experiment station. When Ron Stewart was asked if he had fireblight problems he said, "No." When asked asked if he sprayed for fireblight he said he did not spray because he had no problem. Then said he did spray compost tea on his trees every two weeks and thought that that is why he had no fireblight problem. He worked with Soilfoodweb, Dr Elaine Ingham. Visit their web site; she is the Compost tea guru.

Columbia Gorge orchards stared with a 45-50% scab problem, it was reduced to <1%, thought to be due to compost tea.

Also visit Columbia Gorge web site listed below.

http://www.columbiagorgeorganic.com/facts_growing.html

Compost tea will control fireblight, IF the compost contains the "right" blend of microorganisms. See Soilfoodweb site for detailed information.

Ted Swensen

Thanks Ted, this is most interesting. I may be too late to save my trees but will research this and see if I can get the right ingredients for a good foliar spray.

cheers,
Bruce

Fireblight is a bacterial disease that attacks pears in places where the spring is warm, such as San Joaquin valley in California. It is similar to bacterial canker that occurs in peach trees in areas where the spring is cool, such as Willamette valley in Oregon.

Compost tea has been used to control diseases because it establishes a balance between bacteria and fungi.

Marc Camargo
fruit-tree.com nursery
Visit us at http://www.fruit-tree.com
Our motto: "Preservation by dissemination"