I thought I would be immune to it in my tundra. That is just great. It doesn't seem to harm the tree in any way. What should be done with this, if anything. How come one tree has it and the one 10 yards away doesn't.
100% fireblight.
But, the good news is that it's a big full sized tree which lessens the impact. More good news is that it appears to be stopping before it goes into hardened wood. That's a characteristic of a cultivar with some resistance.
If you never see it any worse than that, I would do absolutely nothing. I could show you pictures of a tree that was much worse than that every year, yet it produced loads of apples without fail. The tree was removed last year (at 70 + years old) due to a new road coming through.
There are very few apple cultivars that show absolutely no signs of fireblight if not sprayed. In my life I have seen two and maybe three. Even Liberty (when not sprayed) will usually have just a few limbs that look like your tree.
I guess that is some what good news. I always wonder why these trees did this. I guess that is why some of the trees loaded with blossoms have very little fruit and it looks like the blossom cluster just dried up. I knew it didn't make sense that these trees weren't all loaded this year. One more set back! I did notice one of the limbs on a Wolf River I planted had this. I will take a closer look this weekend. I guess another reason to give up on my pears. Thanks for the help.
Everything I read said pears get it worse. They have been a constant struggle for 4 years. Two more died this winter in a very mild year. I am just looking for the final reason to mow them down. They were varieties hand picked for my area by cummins for DR and ease of care. So much for that.Why give up on pears? There are some pears that have outstanding fireblight resistance. I have pears that have never showed FB on one limb that were beside apple that showed a lot of FB.
I don't know if they grow in your zone, but in my zone it's no trouble to find pears that are almost bullet proof.
Everything I read said pears get it worse. They have been a constant struggle for 4 years. Two more died this winter in a very mild year. I am just looking for the final reason to mow them down. They were varieties hand picked for my area by cummins for DR and ease of care. So much for that.
They have not shown FB yet. They have a hole different set of issues. So I guess that would probably mean they are immune it? Off the top of my head, Flemish beauty, summer crisp, can't ember the rest. I will take a closer look, maybe I over looked the possibility they have FBWell I obviously cannot speak for your area, but in my area - "If DR apples are Humvees, DR pears are Sherman tanks."
Nothing is easier to grow here than a DR pear. In my yard this year there are zero limbs with FB on several pear trees. At my farm I saw one limb on one tree out many pear trees, just loaded with fruit. Every apple (except Priscilla and Black LT) shows at least a few limbs with FB.
Just out of curiosity - what are the varieties of pears that you have which are being affected so badly by FB? I would like to know if they are any of the varieties that I grow.
Thanks - Steve
Chummer - I've read the same thing about pears and FB - more susceptible than apples. I've got an ornamental pear in my yard ( a Redspire ) that gets some limb-tip FB each year, yet it puts on loads of small pears each year. I also have a Profusion crabapple that gets tons of CAR on the leaves, but also gets loaded with crabapples. Some fruit tree varieties are DR, and others are disease tolerant, which means they may get some disease, but it won't hammer the tree. That's according to what I've been told by a Penn State prof. Maybe that's why some of us get some CAR or FB on some trees, but they still produce. Good enough for wildlife trees, I suppose.