Leaves and fruit on Pear tree turning black & dying

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by RhondaKay, May 12, 2006.

  1. RhondaKay

    RhondaKay Member

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    Location:
    Niceville, Florida, USA
    I have a Pear tree (maybe Bradford) that was planted 3 years ago. It has flowered and produced fruit but never to maturity. The first year it was planted Hurricane Ivan got it and then Hurricane Dennis did a number on it too. This year it finally looks like it was going to have 10 - 12 pears on it and then the leaves suddenly started curling in and the stems would turn black and then the black would travel to the branch and also to the buds or fruit and then die. Now it is covered in very small insects (ants?) and some very large red colored ants. New buds are still trying to come out ....what can I do?
     
  2. nessiedmf

    nessiedmf Member

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    I've had a few pear trees die of a disease called fire blight which has symptoms that sound very much like what you're describing. The symptoms in all 3 cases with my pear trees were that some of the outermost leaves would begin blackening at the edges, looking like they'd been singed on the edges with a flame. The blackening would continue effecting the leaves over a period of days to a couple weeks until they looked as if they'd been completely burned in a fire. And during the process the disease would travel further up the branch and begin effecting more leaves and even making the branch itself look as if it had been in a fire. The more moist the conditions in conjunction with cool nights would tend to make the disease travel faster. It will also effect the fruit and eventually even the trunk. One of the tell tale signs of the disease is that it can make the very tip of the branches that are effected look as if it has a crook like a shepherd's hook (much smaller than an actual shepherd's hook of course, but you get the idea). The severe blackening of the leaves and branches is a very good indication as well. It's a prevalent disease especially of fruiting pear trees here in the southern United States.

    By the way, it's not unheard of Bradford pears producing a few small unedible fruit, but Bradford pears are known foremost as an ornamental pear tree and are extremely fire blight resistant. So...I'm guessing that your pear may be some other kind of pear tree.

    You can take a portion of an affected branch to your local nursery (place it in a baggie and seal it so you don't infect any of the nursery's plants). They ought to be able to readily identify the disease if you don't think that my description fits. Fire blight can be treated with products from the nursery, but I couldn't tell you how effective it would be. I've heard that fire blight is a recurring disease in the springtime, and you'd have to probably treat it every year. My three trees that caught fire blight were all in their first year and I deemed that it did such bad damage to them that I chose to dig them up and dispose of them instead of treatment. Besides, I didn't want them to infect my remaining pear tree.

    Dee
     

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