Hey there,
I am a horticulture student trying my best to treat crown gall on a recently started (2-3) year mini orchard. I have read a bit about the agrobacteria radiobacter k84 strain and how it is essentially the only solution, other than pruning/management or killing/burning the plants. See, I was just put in charge of taking care of these trees and I feel I may be fighting an uphill battle. Are there other options for crown gall in fruit trees? Can I even purchase this bacteria without some sort of nursery license? Could I attempt to manage with pruning? Are there identifiable trees where this strain naturally occurs so that I could take soil around it with the bacteria and replace the soil around the infected trees with it? Or should I simply recommend all trees be killed/burned and replaced with resistant strains of these fruit trees. They have about 15 fruit trees, 14/15 being only a few years old. I would love some advice!!
I am a horticulture student trying my best to treat crown gall on a recently started (2-3) year mini orchard. I have read a bit about the agrobacteria radiobacter k84 strain and how it is essentially the only solution, other than pruning/management or killing/burning the plants. See, I was just put in charge of taking care of these trees and I feel I may be fighting an uphill battle. Are there other options for crown gall in fruit trees? Can I even purchase this bacteria without some sort of nursery license? Could I attempt to manage with pruning? Are there identifiable trees where this strain naturally occurs so that I could take soil around it with the bacteria and replace the soil around the infected trees with it? Or should I simply recommend all trees be killed/burned and replaced with resistant strains of these fruit trees. They have about 15 fruit trees, 14/15 being only a few years old. I would love some advice!!