Fighting Fire Blight or the Blight of Our Summer Vacation

When school starts and the kids start comparing their summer vacations, our kids will probably rank pretty low in the coolness factor. At least twice a week, sometimes about daily we have been out helping Rick cut Fire Blight. Our job is to help Rick spot the dying branches, hand him the pruning sheers, spray denatured alcohol on the sheers after he's made his cut. Help him manhandle the ladder and pick up the branches he has cut. Cutting out all the fire blight is important, if left untreated it can kill the tree. Insects are attracted to the sticky sap and spread the bacteria to other trees. So far we have cut down about 25 trees. We have also cut the tops out of many trees. Rick said that this is the worst he has seen it in many years. One of our neighbors estimated that she has lost over 50% of her crop. We were out last night and will probably be out cutting another day this week. These photos are from last Thursday, one of the hottest days of our summer. It was also Rick's birthday. I tried to get some good photos, but the sun was too high, and I needed to get to work. It is very important to look up into the trees to spot the fire blight.
Cristine likes to work in style.
After cutting the diseased branches we load it onto a trailer. When it is full, we unload it onto our burn pile. When we have a big enough pile we get to have a hot dog roast.
Can you spot the fire blight in this photo?
Rick scaling the ladder. Happy Birthday!