Pear trees and Fire blight

Fire blight is a bacterial disease; It attacks the rose family, including apple, pear, quince and crabapple. <br />Symptoms include dead leaves and branches, that look burnt, discolored bark.<br />A fire blight bacterium is spread by insects, rain or contaminated pruning tools.<br />Disease Management, there is no cure for this disease, so prevention is the best solution for the management of fire blight. To help prevent fire blight the best methods are with  [http://www.tree-doctor-houston.com/kingwood.htm arborist kingwood <br />]With Fire blight spraying chemicals is not recommended for homeowners because of chemical availability, potential phytoxicity and the critical timing of sprays theres a lot of reason spraying wont work.<br />Using resistant varieties is the most effective prevention method.  If you put in pears or apple trees, choose a resistant variety. But none are immune,  you may want to  consider putting in Chinese plums instead of pears. Chinese plums are more resistant to fire blight than pear trees.<br />Here are some suggestions.<br />Cultural practices: Don’t fertilize trees with fire blight. <br />Pruning: Remove all blighted twigs and cankered branches. The cankers can store the fire blight over winter.<br />Prune twigs and branches 8 to 12 inches below the edge of visible infection. Sterilize all tools used in pruning in household bleach or ethyl alcohol.<br />If you have fire blight the best suggestion is to call your tree doctor, he has chemicals to help prevent or treat fire blight. He also has the special equipment needed to treat the tree  with [http://www.tree-doctor-houston.com/kingwood.htm arborist kingwood  ]