I asked and received this clarification from Ben Gutierrez, curator of the apple collection in Geneva. No scionwood distribution in the spring of 2022 and no walking tour this year.
“Due to our fire blight situation, we are not distributing scionwood again this year. This includes dormant scions collected in 2021 and distributed in 2022. The collection is improving, but we don’t want to spread this pathogen (something we’re all too familiar with!).
Why am I not surprised they are not sending scions out again next year. That will make the 3rd season in a row, 5 if you want to split the season into winter and summer scions.
Why cant the world’s leading agriculture group, the USDA, fix the issue? Lack of funding or lack of ability?
I think the issue is they have been stricken by an antibiotic resistant strain of fire blight, so effective treatment isn’t readily available. I have to confess I haven’t read up on anitbiotic resistant fireblight and I should, Geneva isn’t all that far from me.
It’s not far from me either. There is only 1 medication available for treating it, however, how do other large orchards deal with fireblight?
I would think that they would have better controls than most orchards, and the resources to treat diseases and insect pressures. Maybe not though.
I understand them not sending out diseased material, but it sucks when you are waiting on certain cultivars that aren’t commercially available.
These are extraordinary times. I imagine they don’t, even in normal times, have a bunch of marginal budget or staffing to deal with novel disease pressure.
I would cut them a ton of slack. I’d be surprised if they aren’t in triage mode for resources, and probably focused on critical activities and remaining viable for the long term.
I requested in the summer of 2020 and they weren’t sending out scions due to fireblight, and same with the winter and summer of 2021. Tgis coming winter and summer, (2022) will make 5 seasons of not sending out material.
Good thing they are trying to get it under control and not propagate that to anyone. Hopefully it’s not on a massive scale and they don’t completely lose any varieties. They have a lot of FB prone varieties to deal with.
My contact with the experimental orchard in Geneva works inside a building, so she doesn’t often get to the orchard. When I saw her yesterday, she told me about her recent visit to the apple orchard. It was a shock, she said. Trees had been severely cut back to get below the fireblight, and while there was re-branching, limbs were small and there was almost no fruit. When I asked her if she thought they would be able to distribute scionwood the year after next, she had her doubts.
Geneva is sending out scionwood early this season. I’m just happy they accepted my order. I asked for Peck Pleasant, Reinette Clochard, Adams Pearmain, and Loyalist, all varieties I’ve grafted before but failed or died young.
The scionwood arrived this morning before the storm did. Only Peck Pleasant was omitted from the order. Reason given was “removed from collection.” Makes me wonder if it was a victim of fireblight.
