Antibiotics have long been key disease control materials for fireblight, one of the few uses of antibiotics in plant agriculture. These materials are natural compounds produced by naturally occurring soil microorganisms. For the past several decades, the most common control for fireblight has been the use of antibiotic sprays based on need using a predictive model of disease development. The two antibiotic materials used are oxytetracycline (from the tetracycline group of antibiotics) and streptomycin. The former is primarily used in the Pacific Northwest, while Midwest and eastern growers rely on the latter. Streptomycin is now generally ineffective in the Pacific […]