My pear tree has fruit!

14 years ago

I know lots of you have been helping me with my pear tree, so I thought I'd let you know that it's loaded with fruit. I have no idea how, as none of my new grafts bloomed.

But now I have another problem, I didn't do any spraying because I didn't expect fruit. I did just purchase a good Solo backpack sprayer at Costco.

What to do now?

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Comments (7)

theaceofspades
14 years ago
What insect problems or disease has the tree had in the past? Many pear trees don't need spraying. I don't spray my pears and I may see one or two OFM marks on fruit. If the old tree is over loaded the fruit may stay small and lack flavor. The fruitlets may not be pollinated and drop soon. Time will tell.
milehighgirl
Original Author
14 years ago
All I've ever seen is codling moth here in Denver. The new scion I grafted did infect it with something that is making little brown spots on the leaves. I haven't had time to contact the Extension office about it yet.

Please don't tell me they might fall off! Oh my, I just couldn't take it!

I know I will have to deal with the squirrels. Time to get a good trap but there's no fence in the yard currently to hide my endeavor.

{{gwi:104041}}

Any idea what these spots are?
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Scott F Smith
14 years ago
That could be pear left blister mite; search for pictures of that guy and compare with yours. If that is what you have its not a major problem in the larger scheme of things.

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milehighgirl
Original Author
14 years ago
Scott,

Wow, you are good! That's exactly what it looks like. I found some information, but it looks like it's too late to spray for it this year.

"In most seasons, blister mites are controlled by natural enemies or by dormant applications for other pests; however, they can cause damage in unsprayed or abandoned young trees. If blister mites were a problem in the previous season, apply oil or lime sulfur in the early spring just prior to bud swell."

Any ideas if I can do something now to prevent further spread?

Here is a link that might be useful: Pear Leaf Blister Mite
alan haigh
14 years ago
You can do nothing once they are in the leaves. They're untouchable until they exit in the fall so you'll have to spray as recommended, just prior to bud swell, although I seem to get them when I wait until bud swell- too busy that time of the year. They only affect pears and don't seem to move during the growing season.

In Denver you probably won't need to spray pears for anything else, although I have to say that Ace is very lucky and that his luck will probably one day run out. Pears are difficult in the east once psyla and fabracea make their entrance in any given location. Pears used to be easy on my site, but no more.
theaceofspades
14 years ago
Harvest, I've never seen Fireblight here either. The PC are done here all three of them. My Apricots bloomed late March and no late frosts to boot.

Milehigh suggested maybe she got pear blister from scions from the repository? I did about two dozen new pear grafts from the repository in Corvalis,Or., I'll keep an eye out. The grafted pears will get sprayed today.
marknmt
14 years ago
Hi Milehigh- good for you on your pear setting fruit.

I have a big cm problem on my apple, and my neighbor's pear is wormy with cm every year, but so far my little pear has shown no inclination. I'll put a cm trap in it this week, and if/when I see more than a couple of the little buggers I'll get ready to spray with spinosad at the same time I do my apple- just a couple or three days after I spot the moths, and a week later. I really want to be thorough with the first generation, as knocking it down goes a long way to reducing the succeeding generations (we can have up to four per year.)

There are stronger and better choices than spinosad, but they aren't very good for me in my situation, and the spinosad seems to be gaining on it.

As a kind of "PS" I'll mention that pear will sometimes form fruit quite nicely, and then drop all of it that's not pollinated, which happened to me last year and may well again this year.

Good luck,

M