Whats up with the leaves on my pear treess?

[crappieman2380]

Was out caging a few American plum seedlings today and too a walk through my young pear trees. I have 2 ayers pears in their second year that have a bunch of small red/green bumps all over the leaves. The other pear varieties I have around them don't seem to have this issue. Can anyone tell me what this is and if there is something I should be doing about it?

 

[Native Hunter]

Looks like blister mite. If the tree is small, the best thing to do is remove the affected leaves and burn them. If you had a strong magnifying glass you could probably see the mites.

 

[crappieman2380]

Thanks native. Seems to be on a lot of the leaves. Am I doing more harm than good if I remove too many leaves?

 

[Native Hunter]

Thanks native. Seems to be on a lot of the leaves. Am I doing more harm than good if I remove too many leaves?

I've never seen those mites here, and I'm only aware of them vicariously, What I've read is that they seldom kill a tree. If you remove too many leaves that isn't going to be good either. I just zoomed in and looked at your picture closer. My recommendation would be to leave it alone unless it gets much worse. Good luck.

 

[crappieman2380]

Thanks again for your input

 

[homerj]

Not much to do once pear leaves have blister mites, at least until the following dormant season. A shot or two of horticultural oil when dormant will oftentimes solve the problem.

 

[crappieman2380]

Thanks homerj. I will have to keep in mind to spray them next year. I'm pretty new to all of this. Can you recommend an oil I should use?

 

[homerj]

Thanks homerj. I will have to keep in mind to spray them next year. I'm pretty new to all of this. Can you recommend an oil I should use?

Lots of options out there. Some people make their own. I use Bonide All Season oil. You do want to pay attention to true "dormant" oils vs. horticultural/dormant oil. Most all oils are now able to be used outside of the dormant season.

 

[crappieman2380]

Thanks!