You have to cut several inches below the infection line. I had to do this myself. It is painful to do but you will save the trees. There are some sprays you can also use, which I have never used and so I don't know how well they work. Fireblight is normally spread through the blossoms and then spreads. This year I sprayed every three days through the blossom period with Kocide and have no fireblight.

Also, learn from this lesson and don't replant those apple/pear varieties - or they'll be doomed to a repeat performance. In high-pressure settings, some varieties just can't hack it.
Esopus Spitzenburg and Korean Giant were yearly fireblight casualties in my orchard, and will be replaced by something else.

Same here, I'm still snipping away at several of my pear trees and lost 2 entirely. I learned a hard lesson last year when frost killed all the blooms and that's where the FB took hold and spread. From now on I'll snip all failed blooms ASAP in Spring if at all possible, esp those single bloom clusters that grow right out of the main trunk. My only pear tree that had Zero FB last year was the tree that had no blooms to begin with. The failed blooms are the point of origin of FB IMO.

How does fireblight enter a tree long after blooming and with the absence of hail? Insect damage?

Why are copper (or streptomycin) sprays not normally recommended for bad fireblight conditions anytime in the growing season (with new flushes of growth or wet weather)?

I once read that fireblight was not normally a problen when temperatures were above 90 or 95 (I forget which). I saw some this morning that had just started and it's been over 100 for several days running now.

You probably are still dealing with fb beause it is not new infections. You may be spreading it as you prune or not taking out enough below what you can see. It also holds over in cankers that you may miss.

Another consideration is the importance of a fb resistant rootstock. If the rootstock is susecptible and the fb reaches the root, you have a dead tree.

The Fruitnut

Lucky, I also have a bad case of it in the Esopus Spitzenburg. This is the second Esopus Spitzenburg, the first had to be replaced due to fireblight. This one had a bad case of CAR last year and now FB. I like the apple, but if I lose this one I will move on. However, my Korean Giant Asian Pear is beautiful. The 20th Century and Hosui next to it have been plagued with fireblight and have kept me busy cutting it out. This is by far the worse year. You can easily see the amber liquor on the stems and just know that stems and leaves below have already been infected as you cut out the diseased parts.

The other apples and pears that have been a real problem are Comice and Honeysweet for pears, (Moonglow and Stark Delicious minor problems), Cox Orange, Calville Blanc, Lodi, Yellow Delicious and minor problems on a Northern Spy. I have about 10 other apple varieties with no FB at all. Eventually, I may only have those 10 varieties. I hope not, but I am not sure I can maintain a spray program that would be aggressive enough to keep FB down. I did do an excellent job of keeping Cedar Apple Rust out this year, but it took several sprays to do so.

VgKg, I think you make a good point. Another consideration is the new shoots, such as suckers and water sprouts. I summer pruned last year, but went back this winter and did some more as I was trying to lower the height of my trees. With all the rain this spring, new growth was heavy and I have noticed a lot of the FB is showing up on the tips of the new growth.

I sprayed with Lime-Sulfur last winter and this year I have almost no fireblight on my three Asian pear trees. I don't think Lime-Sulfur is supposed to stop fireblight, so maybe its just a coincidence. Last year I had to cut quite a few infected branches off.

I have two pears, one that is likely 20+ years old, one that is much older. This is the first year I've ever seen fire blight. We've cut away the younger tree by nearly half. I really think the damage was done with the late frost last year, coupled with a hot, droughty summer, leaving our trees in a somewhat weakened condition this spring.

-Julie K

Fire blight spreaads like well fire and humidity is not a friend cut atleas six inches from infected area, agg strep helps alot with the spreading of fire blight but needs to be a plied soon