Pear Tree Fire Blight
- Thread starter KY wild
- Start date
Check the trunk for borers?
We found what looked like some cracking at the base of the trunk and some black bark.
I could see that. We have had a good amount of water. The mulch isn’t up against the trunk or any thing
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
I think you still have time to save the tree, but I wouldn't wait too long to treat it.
I've had the same before with younger apples.
Charles Clear
5 year old buck +
I lost my Johanthorp to fireblight this year. Trimmed all my other pears and they seem ok. Time will tell.
The Ure pear looks to be going down the same road as the Golden spice pear Will some Neem oil max work or Copper?
I have only seen fireblight on apples & crabs in my life. Last fireblight strike was in 2024 on a Dolgo planted before Covid times. I had no clue Dolgo could even get FB but it’s ok now. Pears are new to me. Guessing FB looks the same in apples as it does in pears??
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Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Pretty sure im seeing the same thing. The rain has been great though!
blueKYstream
5 year old buck +
I planted about 30 pears in 2019, mostly from The Wildlife Group (and a few other places too). Late frosts have taken out all pears in a couple years and squirrels have cleared pear trees that did fruit. I may have gotten 1 or 2 pears to make it to August. I lost a Moonglow to what appeared to be fireblight the year I planted it and I lost an Arkansas Black apple tree to being girdled this year. Knock on wood, though, I haven't lost any to fireblight other than the one I mentioned in 2019. I'm bummed to hear that about Becton, because that's been my fastest grower and was the first to fruit (I have 4).
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Over the last few days, I'm estimating that I have knocked in excess of 2,000 pears off of my trees to keep limbs from breaking. I was too late on some of them. Last year was also a limb breaking nightmare. I can't explain what has changed to cause this. I don't remember limb breaking being such a problem before last year.
One thing I have learned is that European Pear varieties are the worst for breaking limbs. My Asian pears are also loaded, but I haven't had a single limb to break on any of them.
Another observation that you might be interested in - when I walk back to the trees in a few days after unloading the green pears, every single one of them will be gone.
PS - I have had some FB this year too. The European varieties seem worse for that too - except for Ayers and Moonglow. I also noticed that on one of my Olympic Giants that I have some leaves yellowing near the top of the tree - kind of reminds me of scab on apple leaves. However, it is loaded with big pears and the few yellowing leaves don't seem to be causing any problems.
The pic below taken about 13 days ago is an example of the sagging limbs. I got to this tree in time. Some others were not so lucky.
One thing I have learned is that European Pear varieties are the worst for breaking limbs. My Asian pears are also loaded, but I haven't had a single limb to break on any of them.
Another observation that you might be interested in - when I walk back to the trees in a few days after unloading the green pears, every single one of them will be gone.
PS - I have had some FB this year too. The European varieties seem worse for that too - except for Ayers and Moonglow. I also noticed that on one of my Olympic Giants that I have some leaves yellowing near the top of the tree - kind of reminds me of scab on apple leaves. However, it is loaded with big pears and the few yellowing leaves don't seem to be causing any problems.
The pic below taken about 13 days ago is an example of the sagging limbs. I got to this tree in time. Some others were not so lucky.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
And here is one I didn’t get to in time…
I have had a granny smith break a big limb this year and a kiefer pear break some limbs. The squirrels and coons were a little slow in thinning them this year. Usually they have every one of the fruits eaten off the trees by now.
Do you not have many coons, possums, or squirrels - of you just overwhelm them with fruit load?
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
We have the critters but not as many as you. My limb breaking is strictly from fruit overload. Kieffer and Becton seem to be the worst for this, but I think Becton is just Kieffer.
My Asian pears are bigger than the Kieffers but don’t break limbs. Pic below is one of them. Senator Clark is a European pear but it also doesn’t break limbs.
blueKYstream
5 year old buck +
Looks like I had some fireblight on one of my Gate pears. It looks like it was confined to some of the current year growth. Same thing happened to one of my Moonglow pear trees. Others I check on seemed fine.
