Both of you mentioned that high temps will suppress FB. Is this true in high humidity?
No, FB loves high humidity and rain.
Here’s a chart that rates various apple varieties for disease resistance. It impresses me as candid and knowledgeable when it rates King David “Moderately resistant OR susceptible” to fire blight!
http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Disease-resistant_apple_varieties/
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Update: After an email from me relating some of our problems with King David and fireblight, Cummins Nursery changed its catalog description to say fireblight may be a problem in zones warmer than Zone 5. Bravo Cummins.
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I have a few grafts of KD that fruited this year. As of now I haven’t seen any FB but I will keep a check for it. Very few apple varieties in my area escape without some damage. Thanks for the update.
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My King David (on G-16) is on its 6th leaf and do not recall ever having a FB problem with the tree. FB is so unpredictable that I have come to the conclusion that, until proven otherwise, a low tolerance FB rating (with a few exceptions) is not going not keep from growing a variety that I want to grow.
I have been proven otherwise with Pink Lady - had 2 PL trees die from FB so I have thrown in the towel on PL even it is a great tasting apple.
Here is a picture of my King David tree I took today, tree looks pretty good even though I have been lazy and not done any spraying for a couple of months.
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Glad to get a good report on King David. I’m like you in that if there is no issues it stays until proven wrong. Jonagold has been my problem tree.
The most accurate description I’ve seen of King David and blight is from a blog or website called Walden Effect where they rate it “resistant OR susceptible.” Ha! I’ve never seen another variety described that way but I think it perfectly fits KD’s jekyll and hyde behavior.
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I had a King David tree that was over 30 years old. I planted it on my father’s property before it was sold. It hasn’t been pruned or sprayed in probably 20 years and is still alive. It’s the only tree alive out of the 12 I planted. The rest died from FB or defoliation due to CAR. I’m pretty sure it has had fire blight. It just didn’t kill it. Just thought I’d put my experience out there for consideration. I have a three year old graft at my home now. I spray for fire blight and rarely have more than a few strikes a year on any of my trees, though I have many susceptible varieties.
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The only tree I noticed any fireblight on was a Winesap. It never kills them, just the ends of limbs in my experience.
I finally grafted King David…too early to tell, but no problem so far. On a Budagovsky root.
Do have one great standard tree 30 years old that I’ve yet to positively ID. It was suggested by a couple on this forum a couple years back it might be King David. So, I’m growing King David and will compare.
But, my 30 year old tree has never had fireblight nor any big problem with anything…on a seedling root. Someday maybe I’ll know.
Winesap is notorious for splitting down here. I have a Kinnard’s Choice that’s supposed to have Winesap in its parentage, that also splits badly. My Grandfather sprayed his Winesap with Alar to prevent splitting until it was outlawed. He took the tree down eventually because of the splitting. I sprayed Kinnard’s Choice with Promalin growth regulator last year during the rapid fruit expansion period and had much less splitting and russet. Hopefully, I can get it under control because Kinnard’s Choice is an excellent apple.
The 30 year old King David tree I mentioned was grafted onto a Red Delicious seedling rootstock. I have other apple trees on my property that are 25-30 years old that are also on RD seedling rootstock. The King David I have now, is a multi-variety tree on M-111.
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Splitting happens to cherries, peaches, tomatoes, too. Especially with a lot of rain after a long spell of dry weather.
Can’t control the weather.
(But, I bet regular drip irrigation or something would reduce the splitting.)
Also, some apples heal up rather than spoil, when they split.
(This wouldn’t help much if you’re selling apples to the public.)
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duplicate withdrawn
My King David in CA was not bothered much by FB for the 5 yrs I had it (sold the property). It had full blooms in the 4th and 5th year. A few minor strikes that did not move much. Spitzenberg on the other hand was a pain in the neck, I had to amputate a few major branches. So,!in my experience, relative to Spitzenberg King David has good resistance. I did however spray with copper and streptomycin and monitor the trees on a daily basis. I suspect that “resistance” depends on the bacterial load that you have in your orchard.
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Absolutely.
I have read through this thread and it’s just amazing how the internet can give you paralysis by analysis! You can literally find anything you want to agree with what you think, or to oppose it. I love to hear from others but I hope people try things for themselves as well, because you don’t know till you try. I emailed David at Century Farm Orchards about King David and he said this:
“In 25 years, our King David has never had fireblight. I think it can get it, but obviously it must not be highly susceptible. I have a Pristine 2 trees down from my King David and it gets some degree of blight almost every other year… but none in the King David.”
I’m sure it matters where you get your trees from (specific strains), where you live, the position of Mars and Jupiter on a Tuesday, etc. But, I guess what I’m learning is don’t be discouraged at trying to grow a delicious fruit and let the chips fall where they may! Also, David does spray a modest spray program of Strep for FB, but 25 years…that’s the tree not the Strep. I just planted a 1 yr old King David on M111, from David, in Virginia so I’ll try to let people know how it goes. When I tried it at his place this month, it was absolutely worth the chance. Happy growing
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I’ve been growing it in my nursery and orchard for a few years and it hasn’t been a problem in my part of NY- but then, in 30 years I’ve never lost an apple tree to FB. Trees on relatively vigorous roots seems to survive it well here and the occasional tip blight a few trees get isn’t a huge issue. Out of thousands of trees I’ve managed over the years, only a handful have lost whole scaffold branches to the disease.
This year a lot of the KD apples lacked good flavor as was the case with many varieties. A branch grafted on a tree in an area with very good drainage had much better fruit (higher brix) than my mother tree growing in a wetter spot.
In the couple of years I’ve harvested them before their flavor has been outstanding. One of my top 5 heirlooms.
Nurserymen should be careful about dissing other nurserymen. We all have very different anecdotal experiences so the one quoted higher up here is assuming the worst possible motives based only on his own experience with the variety.
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King David is an apple I grafted 4 or more years ago. I no longer have it. Died.
Didn’t observe until much too late so not sure if lack of moisture or if disease got it.