- Fire Blight Attacks Southwest Michigan; Disaster Aid Sought
Managing Editor
Federal disaster assistance is now in the pipeline for growers devastated by fire blight and hail damage that was a result of a May 18 storm that hit Berrien and Van Buren counties. Smaller outbreaks have been reported in adjoining counties, such as Allegan.
This season’s outbreak is far wider in magnitude and severity than the 1991 outbreak. Michigan Gov. John Engler has requested the USDA to declare the blight-stricken regions a disaster area to qualify growers for low-interest loans. Exact figures are being compiled for the purposes of disaster relief, but as of late July, officials were pinning down what they would recommend to federal officials.
“I am constantly revising the estimate upward,” said Mark Longstroth, Michigan State University Extension district horticultural and marketing agent based in Paw Paw. For this season alone, he and fellow Extension fruit agent Bill Shane are estimating losses of $10 million in income and 2.7 million bushels of apples.
Officials are also tallying additional economic losses to growers beyond this season. Between 1,550 and 2,300 acres of apple trees will be claimed by the disease. Figuring the cost per acre to plant these trees, add another $9 million to the total. Then figure the loss of income from the dead trees that would normally have borne fruit for the next three to five years and add another $15 to $20 million to the tally, said Longstroth.
“It will take three years to re-grow bearing surface on the trees that are there, and five years to get new trees planted into bearing,” he said.
Officials from area congressmen and from Sen. Carl Levin were part of a first-hand look at some of the damage during a June 21 tour organized by Michigan Farm Bureau. Following the tour, nearly 100 growers gathered at the packing shed of Rodney Winkel’s Greg Orchards near Watervliet to let the officials know the severity of the situation on their farms.
“We will be taking out 60 to 70 acres of trees and doctoring up other trees. These are huge dollars we’re talking about,” said Winkel.
Speakers and growers stressed the fire blight outbreak was weather-related and not a management issue. Temperatures were warm during bloom, causing the Maryblyt predictive system to detect a high population of inoculum but not to predict an infection.
A violent May 18 storm tipped the balance and provided the perfect scenario for the disease to occur. Heavy rain, high winds and hail combined to create the perfect conditions for trauma blight to occur.
The cold front, which triggered the storm, sat over the area all day. Rain and winds persisted so long that growers were physically unable to get out and apply the sprays needed.
“I try to spray preventively – ahead of weather events,” said grower Bill Austin of Hartford. “But I couldn’t spray until 16 to 24 hours after the May 18 storm and by then it was too late.”
After the storm, blossom blight symptoms appeared mainly in unsprayed blocks of susceptible varieties, but also appeared in varieties such as Golden Delicious that normally do not suffer from fire blight. As the disease spread, it could even be found on varieties that are very resistant, such as Empire, McIntosh and Red Delicious.
Blocks worst hit were the younger high density plantings.
“I feel any tree less than five years old is at risk of dying and any tree older than seven years old is not at risk. The five- to seven-year old trees are individual cases,” said Longstroth.
As the disease spread, some growers sprayed copper in an attempt to slow the disease’s march or tried to cut the blighted vegetation out. In general, the disease had become so severe that most growers chose to do no pruning.
Many trees will not survive the season, but those that do have a chance for next year. After trees go dormant, growers should prune out all the diseased branches down to the next branch, said Longstroth. They should go through the orchard at least twice during the winter to make sure they got all the diseased material. Copper in the spring can help keep populations down.
“We do know that streptomycin resistant bacteria have spread from Van Buren County into northern Berrien County,” he said. “The growers will want to run Maryblyt and spray before infection periods.”
Fire blight does not strike heavily in the same location two years in a row. There is enough inoculum in orchards to cause trouble in 2001 for growers who avoided the disease this year.
Gov. Engler’s petition to the USDA actually covers two separate agricultural disasters. One request asks for disaster aid to growers in 18 counties due to freeze damage sustained March 30-31. The second request covers the May 18 storm and is for a seven-county area in Southwest Michigan. USDA Secretary Dan Glickman must approve these requests before growers can apply for low-interest loans. Other programs could be used to give growers direct grants to help them recover disaster losses.
The Fruit Growers News website offers a sampling of articles and features from each month. Subscribe to get all the news offered in The Fruit Growers News delivered right to you home!
Permission is granted for reprinting material, except for commercial or advertising purposes, provided The Fruit Growers News is given full credit.
- Copyright 2000 Great American Publishing, Inc.
- The Fruit Growers News
- 343 South Union Street - PO Box 128 - Sparta, MI 49345
- Phone 616-887-9008 - Fax 616-887-2666 - email
- All Rights Reserved
- The Fruit Growers News