Sick Pear Tree (fire blight or deficiency?)

13 years ago

Hello,

I hope you can help me to identify a problem with my pear tree. I have it for 3 years and finally this spring it looked settled, up until now.

I noticed a couple of days back that it got blackened leaves - mostly old leaves in the middle of a branch, young shots and the rest of the tree seem to be clean. It hasn't been fertilized this spring and the ground is pure clay there, also not weeded recently. The problem appeared when we got a wave of warm and humid weather, but it is already a month past its bloom time and leaves seemed to be clean up to now. Some other leaves show uneven green (lighter and darker), also veins have pinkish tan.

I have no idea what it is, it does not look like fire blight, since shots did not wilt and I did not find very good pictures of mineral deficiency online to figure this out.

Bellow is a link to more pictures.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sick pear

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Comments (8)

calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
13 years ago
I am sure it is not fireblight. The problem I think is related to the soil, possibly a poor drainage problem or a mineral unbalance in the soil. Sorry I could not be more help. Al
terencewel
13 years ago
I have a similar problem in an area with poor drainage and pH of 8. We had a wet ("El Nino") spring, and the last rain was around June 1st, very unusual for California. If I find out what the problem is, I'll try to navigate back here to post it.
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Mark, once a tree has fireblight, the bacteria is spread through the entire tree, even if the wood is healthy. At that point, all you can do is just cut out any branch that shows signs of infection. The aim at removing the branch isn't to rid the tree of fireblight, but to prevent the infection from spreading to other trees. I've read the literature on this and didn't believe it when I first read the fact that fireblight bacteria will travel all the way from the point of infection (flowers) down to the roots. However, over the last couple of years, I've had numerous fireblight infections that I got to observe. On an apple tree, fireblight entered through the blossoms and fast growing MM-111 rootstock sucker tips started to show infection. On a pear tree, a branch got infected, but the variety was fairly resistant. However, on the same tree that was grafted with other varieties, grafts of obviously highly susceptible varieties started to get infected starting from the graft point upwards. That was proof beyond any doubt to me that the fireblight bacteria had traveled all the way through the entire tree. Fireblight thrives on fast growing shoots, but can't really grow much in areas of the tree where the level of carbohydrates is high. So the best thing to do is to cut the infection out down to last year's wood. If the infection goes beyond that, then keep cutting to the next big branch. Oh, and cleaning nippers is a waste of time since the bacteria is throughout the tree.
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I'm going to give you the counter opinion to copingwithclay. I had to seriously cut out fireblight two years running in my Hosui when it was small and it went on to survive girdling by goats. It it currently loaded with fine fruit. I've cut back Nijiseiki to just above the graft twice and it recovered (though I had to be really patient). Both of these, like the majority of Asian pears, are considered fireblight susceptible. I chopped the top out of my YaLi due to FB even though it is supposedly fireblight resistant. Shinko is also supposed to be resistant but it's not much for taste (for me at least). Most of my other Asian pears are considered susceptible though they have not gotten infected. Bottom line is that in my limited experience, most, if not all, of the Asian pears worth having are potentially susceptible and I would definitiely try to save them before getting rid of them. The recommended spray to prevent FB is streptomycin which is available from some of the mail order places. I have used it but I don't have enough experience to say how well it works in general. Close monitoring with quick pruning is my recommendation.
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matthewwilliam
13 years ago
I think tree contain some fungus or bacteria in the phoem due to weather conditions like rain etc. Because of this, lack of nutrient supply. So, you have to buy some medicine or any product which save life of your pear tree.
Scott F Smith
13 years ago
It could be sunscald. Look if the leavers under the canopy are not as damaged. From the pictures it looks like only the upper leaves are affected but its hard to tell for sure. Cool cloudy weather followed by a period of hot sunny weather can scald leaves.

Scott
orto
13 years ago
Hi,

I see you live in the Netherlands. I live near Kobenhaven.

My pears (nice mature trees and 1 years olds) all are diplaying the same symptoms. We have been having such a crazy spring and earlier summer that I would bet that is it some environmental variable causing the problem. Sun scald or too much rain are likely.

Scott, I have been following the forum for several years and I realy respect your opinion. What do you think about wind damage?

Sincerely,
Sam
jmmedeiros
13 years ago
Not fireblight.I happen to have currently a 20 feet high Comice tree with firebligh braught likely by insects or birds from neigborhood backyards with apple and pear trees showing fireblights.Very hard to control in an urban setting beacause people do not know nor take action to stop it.Close to this pear tree I have one Warren pear tree and one Flemish Beauty pear tree. Totally free from fireblight. They must be resistent to fireblight bacteria.
You likely have one of the following issuess:fungus
mites or lice, soil elememts deficiency or watering issue due to poor drainage. I suggest you take your leaves to a nursery for an expert to diagnose the problem.You also might send to a lab a sample for analysis.Eliminating the first 3 possibilities you might do a drainage test for your soil.The info to do it is in the net.Just google it.The result will give you an idea how to water the tree.
Good luck.Jaime.
elemire
Original Author
13 years ago
A small update: by the looks it was indeed a sunscald. Since I was not sure what was causing the problem I did not do anything and it seems it was a good choice. The tree grew considerably this season and did not seem to be annoyed by the weird leaves.
kokos
13 years ago
I had something similar but it was BLACK SPOTS on the leaves. This is not fire blight. Fire blight cooks the stems and leaves and it has a shepard's crook look.

Sick Pear Tree (fire blight or deficiency?)

Comments (8)

calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9

terencewel

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Sick Pear Tree (fire blight or deficiency?)

Comments (8)

calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9

terencewel

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Scott F Smith

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