ABSTRACT
Bacterial diseases of plants are usually difficult to control and often require a combination of control measures to be successfully managed. Chemical control of bacterial plant diseases is generally much less effective than chemical control of fungal diseases and
is not widely used in either annual or perennial crops. There are often stark differences between the means available to control bacterial diseases in annual crops versus a woody tree crop, such as apple. In annual crops, the most common and effective means of control for bacterial plant diseases are sanitation, host resistance and the use of pathogen free seed and transplants. In apple, pruning to remove infected plant tissue and orchard sanitation are important but often less effective than with annual crops. Host resistance is a common means of controlling bacterial diseases in annual crops; however, in apple, resistant cultivars with required market quality are often not available. Control of bacterial diseases in apple has relied heavily on the use of antibiotics.
