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Possible fireblight infection of orchard trees #867636

Asked May 08, 2024, 5:13 PM EDT

My wife and i have a 5 acre piece of land just south of Donald. We have planted a small orchard consisting of pom and pit fruit trees starting about 8 years ago. We have 2 varieties of cherries, several bush cherries, apricot, mulberries, several types of plumbs, figs, almonds, liberty/sansa/enterprise apple trees, three varieties of pears, and two varieties of quince. Last year we noticed die-off on our quince trees where the leaves would shrivel and turn brown. The best we could determine was it might be fireblight infection. This year, we are seeing a much broader die-off across many of our trees. The mulberries have leaf-less branches in places, the bush cherries have massive die-off of leaves and fruit (this happened last year too). One of the apple trees has branches that are bare along some lengths with leaves at edges of bare areas with brown spots. We are very concerned we have a major infestation of something bad and getting worse. Pictures attached here illustrate 3 plants affected by something: mulberry tree has multiple bare branches among normal leafing, new problem this year; bush cherry shows normal green foliage and dead branches, leaves and fruit, 2nd year of this problem; enterprise apple picture shows example of a bare section of a branch with leaves and growth further on at end of branch, new problem. We're concerned something(s) are going to kill off our small orchard that we've spent so much time and effort cultivating and lost revenue from loss of salable fruit.

Marion County Oregon

Expert Response

Hi given the diversity of your orchard, it is likely that there are multiple things going on here. I don't have enough detail on any one problem to diagnose it. If you are not familiar with the disease handbook that is a good place to start. Mulberry is not going to be in there but you can search cherry and apple to see the common diseases. https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease
An Ask Extension Expert Replied May 10, 2024, 5:59 PM EDT

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