Sansa - Extreme Fire Blight Magnet

General Fruit Growing
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Not only does it have zero FB resistance, I think it’s sucking FB directly out of the atmosphere. I cut back infected shoots just to return the next day to find more.

Anyway, it’s full of small apples, and I very much wanted to try these apples, but I’m thinking it’s probably best just to remove this tree now. I certainly don’t want to deal with trying to control this every year, and don’t think I could keep up with the rate of infection anyway.

If I do remove the tree, I’ll eventually want to replace it as it will leave a gap in my apple tree orchard. Any recommendation for FB resistant apple trees? I’d prefer another fresh eating type apple. A russet would be nice, but I’d consider anything.

Here is a list of other apple trees that I already have: Williams Pride, Pristine, Liberty, Enterprise, GoldRush, HoneyCrisp, Sweet Sixteen, Bella, Gold Star, Hudson’s Golden Gem, Grime’s Golden.

Thanks in advance!

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Arkansas Black is reported to be resistant to FB.

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Another possibility is to consider salvaging the root for grafting a desired variety later. If you are just cut back to good wood and later add a FB resistant variety. Bill

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Several decades ago a number of developers and public works facilities in southern California bought 1000’s of ornamental pear trees for use on streets. Fireblight is symbiotic with this plant. It’s the bane of many a fruit grower. There are folks who go around chain-sawing them off at the base …

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Rob I lost an apple to Fireblight last year and have some shoots coming up I’m grafting over.

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Sundance did a nice job for me fighting off the FB outbreak in my orchard last year and is a nice tasting fall apple

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Are Bradford Pears not popular down there anymore?

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Not by me.

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Thanks, guys. I’ve considered Arkansas Black before, but isn’t it a very hard apple?

Chris, Sundance is one I’ve been considering since I started with apples a few years ago. I may look into that one further.

I’ve read that Roxbury Russet has good FB resistance, and has good flavor. Does anyone have any experience with this one?

Richard, speaking of Bradford pears, there are tons of them around here. I despise them.

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Rob,
I ate Arkansas Black right of a tree at PYO. It was like biting into a hard, tart rock. Found out recently that it is better in storage.

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Tom Burford rates Ark Black as susceptible to fireblight. A friend’s old AB is filled with blight. I believe this is another case of “tolerates” being confused with “resists.” I think AB tolerates blight.

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Bringing this thread back to life as I tried my first Sansa just now. So glad I didn’t remove this tree as I had been considering last year. Fire blight wasn’t near as bad this year. The apple I just ate has moved Sansa to the top of my list of favorite apples. Super sweet, great texture, non-chewy skin. It was very very good. Unfortunately, it was the only one ripe. I’ll have to be patient for the others!

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