Probably the most likely is scab since that is a common pear disease. I have seen apples with scab cracking like that so I expect pears could do it as well. The disease you name is not common (I have never heard of it) and so that lowers the odds a lot that you have it. Follow up to your own post to add pictures. If you get some error about re-posting just change the subject and it will go thru. Scott

corkball, I have clay soil.......and there are veins so heavy and white it could be used in a horse shoe pit. I avoid those, lol. For the most part, I plant trees in it without issue and never with ammendment. I am careful, however, to consider the tree because some are less tolerant of water issues for the most part and I get around it by planting those on hillsides, of which I have many. That's why raised bed planting comes up. I dunno......the chestnut I suspect you may find be futile and may want to consider waiting until dormancy and if it's small enough to try and move it. If you do.....look at roots carefully. It may have been a dead man walking when it was planted. Why I am saying this is I'd hope that the newest growth would show signs of "pulling out if it". And that doesn't seem to be the case. In fact it looks almost as if the newest growth has some leaf curl and distortion compared to the other picture of the healthy oak. Sometimes that's a symptom of calcium deficiency and that can be exacerbated by magnesium applications, foliar or root. How large are these young trees?

Decades ago, someone planted kudzu on our farm, and on thousands of other farms throughout the American South, to combat the erosion that had resulted from generations of improper farming practices. I'm not sure of the exact year kudzu was introduced, probably ca. 1900, or possibly earlier than that. I seem to recall reading that kudzu was a star attraction at the Great 1876 Centennial in Philadelphia. At any rate, we all know that vigorous Oriental vine has swept the South during the following century. The vigor of ivy and wisteria pale in comparison to the vigor of kudzu. We fight kudzu, Japanese honeysuckle, wisteria, and ivy on a yearly basis, but, simultaneously love, enjoy, and respect these exotic vines--akebia, or violet vine, too. Gardening is a never-ending struggle. There are successes; there are failures. _C'est la vie._ Over the years, I've made my peace with these and other vines. At present, I'm allowing kudzu to have its way with the plot of ground that includes our septic tank drainage field. It grows luxuriantly and forms undulating waves of lush, large-leaved greenery for months on end, with beautiful, fragrant wisteria-like racemes of purple blossoms in late summer. This sea of green provides an above-ground canopy for the groundhog, or woodchuck, colony that lives underground in a maze of tunnels. The groundhogs are kudzu connoisseurs (sp.?) who relish the leaves as a dietary staple. A bamboo grove provides a fine backdrop to the kudzu "lawn." No mowing required.

I have learned this the hard way too. I am now looking for the best price I can on a Weber E310... I really do not need the side burner. The one thing I would like to do is convert the Weber to natural gas. Casey "Sean McDonagh Racing"