May 26th and they are already here!
Yes; two plagues of the South have arrived. Oppressive heat and high humidity. And if you try to go out in the cooler morning the swarms of Yellow Flies have arrived. And only some heat relief.
Monitoring fireblight it seems to have stabilized with the drier weather. But the damage is done. Have vigorously sprayed fungicides, and some copper sulfate though it's a bit late for it. I'd guess a 3rd of the grafts were seriously damaged. I've topped and beheaded about 4 grafts to save the root stock after a through cleaning. More are coming.
Of the late grafts courtesy of UGA; Mrs. Bryan is the first to leaf out.
Sill have 7 or 8 community pots to re-bag. So far the trees bagged seem to be doing well. But aghast! Have to make more soil mix to finish. Going to add more sandy loam to be less wet.
Talking to other growers this is a bad year for fireblight with a new strain. I have Rouville which was a bullet proof rated tree on Fireblight. I think one will die. Pear growers seem to be having real issues too.
Lastly one minor pest has appeared. Leaf Rollers. Not major but still another pest. The war on aphids seems to be won for the moment. I credit a furious war with ants near the trees.
Comments