Hi ,for the last couple of years my Bartley pear tree had theses red spots on it. This year there is this thorn like thing on all the leaves. Here are a couple pictures of the tree,I was wondering if you can tell me if I can save this pear tree? IT had plenty of pears on it this year but they all disappeared. Thanks for your help. Robert
Malbern, Please go to the forum entitled - Garden Pest Management and ID - and look for the thread "Pear leaves are infested" by firth/ thread started 7-12-09. He is dealing with the same thing, "Pear Trellis Rust". The site I sent him to is (I believe) the University of Ontario. barb
What type of pear is it my friend? If the bark is not damaged and there is only spots on the leaf...I WOULD NOT cut it down...imo Spray some Copper spray on it...get it from your local farm retail outlet or I think it is called bordeaux spray. Spray it everywhere on the tree: leaves, trunk. Do this now in the fall or early spring again but not in the summer.
Malbern, Please keep us posted as to whether the copper spray works for next year. Maybe if each person that runs into this problem tries a "fix" we can get a better handle on what to do down the road. I certainly wouldn't cut the tree down now, work with it for a while. I've heard the bordeaux spray recomended this year also, but it's to early to tell if it worked. barb
Thanks Barb,I will post the results next year. Hopefully it will be ok, it is a very nice tree and the stem and branches look healthy.
I have the same problem - was told... In a Garden Shop by the head gardner there that this was "Juniper Pear Rust" - which carries some type of disease from Junipers to Pears and back. If there are any Junipers in your area or neighborhood there is no hope, according to this one source. Also, that the Pear tree will slowly over time lose more and more of it's fruit to the point that there will be no more fruit on the tree. Suggested I cut it down and try something else! She also told me that the entire Okanagan Pear harvest was almost wiped out as a result. Solution? They dug out and burned down ALL juniper bushes in the area. Result? The rust went away and the Pear Trees were saved. Who knows? I do have the same exact problem per your pictures in particular. The tree is next to several Apple trees as well, which ocasionally get a few spots, but they look nothing close to what the Pear tree gets. I may yet take out the Pear tree and plant more Apple trees, which appear to thrive in that area. Good luck!
Today I pruned a pear tree for a customer, in Port Angeles. He told me the tree lost its fruit this past summer (all the remaining fruit was misshapen and cracked), and that the extension service diagnosed the problem (from leaves he took to them), as pear trellis rust. I had pruned this same tree last February, and gave it a good soaking of Bordeaux (10-10-100) fungicide. I am going to spray it again with Bordeaux, later this week. I will try to report the results, here, later this year. For those who also wish to try a Bordeaux mixture, here is how I make it. First, you should wear a respirator when handling these chemicals. I use five pound bags of hydrated lime and copper sulfate, just because they are very convenient for me. I have two plastic 55 gallon drums, with taps on them. I put 25 gallons of water into each. I put the five pound bag of hydrated lime into one, and the five pound bag of copper sulfate into the other. I cap them and shake each thoroughly, until the copper sulfate is completely dissolved (hydrated lime does not dissolve, but it becomes suspended). I do not mix these stock solutions together, until I am ready to spray. When I am ready to spray, I pour half of the desired spray amount from the copper sulfate drum, into the sprayer. Then I shake the lime solution to re-suspend the particles and pour the same amount of stock from the hydrated lime drum, into the sprayer. Then I shake the sprayer to mix the stock solutions thoroughly. Once they are mixed in equal proportions, I have a Bordeaux mixture with a ratio of 5-5-50 (5 pounds copper sulfate, 5 pounds hydrated lime, 50 gallons of water). More often the same mixture is described as a 10-10-100 mixture.) Adjust your stock mix according to the ratio desired, for example: 3 pounds to 25 gallons of water, for each chemical, will give you a 3-3-50 (or 6-6-100) mixture, after you combine the stock in equal proportions. Bordeaux is a great fungicide. I have been using it for several years because it is the only good fungicide I can find that has any effect, in addition to constant pruning, on the apple antracnose problem that is so prevalent around here. It sticks great, and does not wash off easily. I have to say, that I am a bit concerned that Bordeaux may not be the perfect solution for the pear trellis rust, just because this particular tree was treated with Bordeaux and still developed a serious problem with this fungus. I will check in from time to time to see what others have had any success with. It will not be easy to get all people to voluntarily remove their junipers so their neighbors can grow pears.
I don't think that Bordeaux mix will solve the problem. I tried fixed copper spray on a D'Anjou graft which was suffering from pear trellis rust, and it had no effect. I understand that the only way to cure this disease is to destroy the alternate host juniper(s). I noticed that the oriental portion of my pear tree resisted the fungus quite well; so I removed the D'Anjou graft and can rely on a crop of Twentieth Century pears.
