Apple, pear and quince share fire blight, and the tree you plant decides most of the fight: choose a resistant cultivar, hold back on nitrogen, and prune strikes out well below the damage.
Promising · suboptimal if ignored → advise
How it works
Erwinia amylovora infects some 75 rose family species, pear worst, and moves between trees on rain splash, on bees and other insects drawn to its ooze, and on pruning tools; soft, fast growth from heavy pruning or excess nitrogen is what it infects most easily.
What to do about it
Plant a resistant cultivar where you can - apples such as Liberty, Enterprise and Freedom; pears such as Moonglow, Magness and Kieffer. Avoid excess nitrogen. Cut strikes out at least 8 to 12 inches below the damage, in dormancy where possible, and clean the tool between cuts.
The evidence
Evidence: confirmed against 3 sources in the research-based literature.
the 3 sources
Clemson HGIC, 'Fire Blight of Fruit Trees', hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/fire-blight-of-fruit-trees (fetched in-container 2026-09-02; read by the maintainer 2026-09-02): 'Fire blight can be very destructive to apple and pear trees. Pear trees are particularly susceptible' (crabapple and quince named as well); 'Both rainfall and insects (such as bees, ants, flies, aphids, and beetles) that are attracted to the bacterial ooze spread can spread fire blight'; 'Avoid excess nitrogen fertilization, which results in excess succulent growth, because if injured, succulent new growth is easily infected'; 'Pruning cuts of twigs and branches are made a minimum of 8 to 12 inches below any sign of infected tissue'; resistant apples 'Empire', 'Enterprise', 'Freedom', 'Gold Rush', 'Honey Crisp', 'Liberty'; pears 'Keiffer', 'LeConte', 'Moonglow', 'Orient'.
UNH Extension, 'Fire Blight' fact sheet, extension.unh.edu/resource/fire-blight-fact-sheet (fetched in-container 2026-09-02; read by the maintainer 2026-09-02): 'the bacterium can infect over 75 species of trees and shrubs, fire blight is also a significant disease of landscape plants including crabapple, ornamental pear, mountain ash, cotoneaster, hawthorn, firethorn, and quince'; 'The bacteria may be spread to blossoms, twigs, and branches by splashing rain, insects, and pruning tools'; 'Make the cut at least 8-12 inches below the edge of the infected area or canker.'
UMN Extension, 'Fire blight', extension.umn.edu/plant-diseases/fire-blight (fetched in-container 2026-09-02; read by the maintainer 2026-09-02): 'Heavy pruning and excess nitrogen fertilization stimulate excessive succulent growth of leaves and shoots. New growth and fast growth are very susceptible to fire blight infection'; 'carefully remove infected shoots during the growing season by cutting at least 12 inches below the infection point'; resistant apples Haralson, Liberty, Red Baron, SnowSweet.
Plants this fires on
Change history
Every change to this rule is one commit. This is what the project's version history records — the date and the reason — not a summary of it.
- rules: another rule here - fire blight across apple, pear and quince (verified) (O133 step 8)
Cite this page
Milpa Gardens. "Apple, pear and quince share fire blight, and the tree you plant decides most of the fight: choose a resistant cultivar, hold back on nitrogen, and prune strikes out well below the damage." Evidence grade: Promising. https://milpa.garden/rules/apple-pear-quince-share-fire-blight-tree/
A garden-planning corpus: every claim states its evidence grade and links its sources on the page. Cite it with the grade, and add the date you read it.