Jeongeup-si, Full Effort in Preemptive Guidance for Apple and Pear Fire Blight Prevention

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Jaegil] The Jeongeup Agricultural Technology Center (Director Lee Wanok) in Jeollabuk-do announced on the 14th that it will support preventive pesticides to actively prevent fire blight disease (果樹火傷病), which causes fatal damage to apples and pears.

Fire blight disease causes symptoms where leaves, flowers, branches, stems, and fruits turn black and dry, appearing as if they have been burned by fire.

There is no special treatment method, and infected trees must be removed. It is designated as a prohibited disease managed by the state under the Plant Quarantine Act.

When it occurs, all host plants within a 100m radius must be discarded, and the infected orchard is prohibited from planting apples and pears for three years.

Last year, the disease spread to Gyeonggi-do, Chungcheong-do, and Gangwon-do, and since it occurred for the first time this year in the Gyeonggi-do area, preventive control is more important than ever.

The optimal time for pre-winter control of fire blight disease is before flowering: for apples, from bud break to the green stage, and for pears, from bud break to the full leaf stage, between late March and mid-April.

Application of preventive pesticides is mandatory, and farmers growing apples and pears in the region must apply to the eup/myeon/dong office where their orchard is located by the 20th of this month.

After receiving the pesticides at the end of this month, they must be applied at the appropriate time. Failure to comply with mandatory control may result in disadvantages such as reduced compensation in case of orchard destruction due to disease occurrence.

Fire blight disease can also be transmitted through pruning shears or saws, so work tools must be thoroughly disinfected every time when entering the orchard.

An official from the Agricultural Technology Center said, “If fire blight disease occurs, it causes great damage to the affected farms and the region. Since timely preventive pesticide application is the most effective prevention method, we urge fruit-growing farmers to actively implement it.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.