Apple Tree Issues - Is This Fire Blight??

Broke Down Ranch

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I planted 2 Mollies Delicious apple trees this year. The bigger of the 2 bloomed then promptly died. the smaller one leafed out, developed new growth and now is starting to show signs of "something" going on. I took pics of the leaves to see if someone could help me figure out what I should do before I lose this tree too....

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Rosalind

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Looks like fire blight, but does not look very serious. There are several sprays that are supposed to be for fire blight, but AFAIK none of them have ever been proven to actually work--the infection starts when the plant puts out new growth & flowers in spring/summer during an exceptionally rainy stretch of weather, when there isn't a whole lot of sun or wind, and when the wet weather would effectively wash off most any type of spray.

As I said, doesn't look too serious. You could probably yank off the infected leaves, be patient and hope for the best next year. And plant another tree that is known to be fire blight resistant. I had one tree, a Westfield Seek-no-further, that got et by deer thrice over and then when it tried to come back it came down with fire blight. I thought for sure it was a goner, but it did well this year and has lots of nice leaves, some good-looking new branches. If you get a resistant cross-pollinator in now, it'll be established in time for next spring.
 

journey11

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