BLIGHT OF PEARS, APPLES, AND QUINCES 



By John W. Roberts, principal pathologist, Division of Fruit and Vegetable Crops 

 and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry 



WHAT IS IT? 



Blight, also known as pear blight and fire blight, is a common disease 

 of bacterial origin, attacking the pear, apple, quince, and other 



Figure 1. — Blight of pear twig. 



pomaceous trees and shrubs. It attacks (1) the blossoms and often 

 the young fruits (fig. 1), causing them to blacken and die; (2) the 

 tender tips of twigs and water sprouts, often killing them back for a 

 foot or more and causing their leaves to turn black but not fall (title- 

 page illustration and fig. 1); and (3) spurs, large branches, trunks, 

 collars (base of tree), and even roots, chiefly by extension of the disease 



2 



